The only way to get into a business with assurance is to develop a good marketing plan, a plan that is supported by facts and research. This article will show how you will ensure that customers are interested in your products or services and to convince them to buy them. The marketing plan also helps to inspire confidence in lenders by demonstrating that your business has a great chance of becoming prosperous.
You must conduct a situation analysis
Many companies start by doing a SWOT analysis; that is, assessing their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats they may face. This involves figuring out who your competitors are, fully understanding how they work and knowing their strengths and weaknesses.
Make a description of the target market
Demographic portrait
This is to demonstrate that you know almost everything about your customers, including their expectations and whims. Your description should include basic demographics that provide a clear picture of your clients. Examine characteristics such as age, gender, occupation or career, income level, educational level and geographic area.
Estimated demand
You will also need to provide the results of your research on the estimated demand for your product or services, as well as the pace at which you expect this demand to grow. This information will help to build confidence in financial institutions as to your growth potential.
Purchasing motivations
It is also important to understand precisely what motivates customers to buy. Are your customers looking for bargains or a way to make their life easier, for example, or are they just shopping for pure pleasure? Ask yourself why they would buy your product or services. In the same vein, you will also want to know what keeps your customers from using the services of your competitors or buying their products. Are they too expensive? Do they lack a unique feature? This information will be used when designing a product or a service that eclipses the competition.
Marketing objectives should be clearly set
At this stage, you describe the desired outcomes of your marketing plan by setting achievable and realistic goals, targets and a specific timeline.
The most common approach is to use activity measures. For example, your marketing objectives could take into account the market share and total market segments, the total number of customers and the percentage of customers who have remained loyal to your potential market for purchases and volume of these.
Establish your marketing strategy
Once you have identified your goals and targets, you need to find ways to promote your business to prospective clients. Strategies usually take into account the 4 “Ps” of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion.
The choice of your marketing tools will be guided by the profile of your target market. So, you need to understand how different marketing tools can reach different audiences. Do not always assume that you will have to spend large sums on expensive advertisements. If you are targeting a specific niche, for example, you can leverage inexpensive marketing strategies: effective and inexpensive, such as email distribution. The most expensive options are usually advertising, sales promotion and public relations campaigns. Customer referrals and networking are inexpensive ways to reach your customers. E-marketing is a very interesting strategy because it is cheap and reaches targeted markets.
Build your financial statements
A marketing plan without financial statements is more inaccurate. Financial statements can also be included in a general business plan.
One of the documents you will need to produce will include a budget and sales forecasts. Preparing this document does not have to be a complex exercise. In fact, it is wise to seek simplicity. To help you begin the exercise, answer the following questions:
- What turnover do you expect to achieve?
- What price will you ask?
- What will be the cost of producing your products or the cost associated with providing your services?
- What will be your basic operating expenses? Do not forget to include the cost of recruitment and salaries.
- How much financing will you need to operate your business?
Answering these questions will allow you to make predictions about profit and expenses.
You need to make a business case
A business case is another important step in developing your marketing plan. This analysis tells you exactly how much you need to sell to cover your operating expenses. If you can exceed your break-even point and get your sales more than what is needed to cover your expenses, you have a good chance of generating a profit.
Unlike some common misconceptions, a marketing plan is not a one-off document that must be tidy in a workbook on your desktop. Rather, it must be updated regularly to reflect the changing needs of your business and customers.
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