First and
foremost, create a marketing plan.
By:
Kimberly McCall
www.inc.com
Know what you want to achieve before
spending a penny.
According to The Wall Street Journal, only 14% of small
businesses have an annual business marketing plan in writing, and 60% have no
marketing plan on paper at all. Considering that a business plan is the
precursor to a marketing plan, it stands to reason that even fewer
businesses have a marketing plan.
That's good news for you: if you
take the time to create a marketing plan, you will stand head and
shoulders above your competition. You should have a marketing plan before
spending any money on advertising or promotion. You may get great
deals on advertising, but if it doesn't fit your objectives, you are
wasting your money.
Know your audience demographics and
psychographics.
It's important to know that you sell most of your widgets to
39-year-old married women with 2.4 children. But even more powerful ad
decisions are predicated on psychographics - what are her hobbies,
politics, charities?
Don't try to be an expert at everything.
Small-business people are inherently self-sufficient, but we can take
it too far. Outsource tasks and projects that are outside your comfort
range or are simply too time- consuming. This goes for services from
legal and accounting to marketing and design.
Treat your employees as customers.
Employee churn can be devastating to client satisfaction and
retention. The impact of happy employees will have far-reaching
effects on other employees and your customers.
Not every customer is worth keeping
You cannot be all things to all people. Sometimes you have to let
customers go, and refocus energies on those clients who are a better
fit for your business. At the outset of a business, it's hard to
believe you will ever need to "break up" with a customer, but there
may come a time when you are no longer "meant for each other."
Getting a new customer is five times more
expensive than retaining a current customer.
Customer retention is a matter of business survival. Use your
successes with current customers to attract new referral business.
Focus on the happiness of your current clients, make them feel loved
and appreciated all the time.
Don't be rushed into making decisions.
If your media and marketing plan is in place, there is no need to make
hasty buying decisions. A marketing and media plan will help keep you
on budget throughout the year.
Don't abandon your marketing
plan and
advertising too soon.
Just because you are tired of an ad doesn't mean it's time to pull it
-- your prospect probably hasn't even noticed it yet. Don't expect
overnight success from your advertising, especially if you're selling
a service.
Select a "media mix" for success.
Advertising in one medium alone won't cut it. Mix TV with radio, print
with the Internet, direct mail with trade shows.
Goofs can be your friends.
You will make errors in judgment along the way. That's OK. Remember
the mistakes you have made, and you will make better decisions with
your marketing plan next
time.
