Plans - MARKETING PLAN

Every business needs a marketing plan. It doesn't matter if you are a one-man service provider or a major corporation with 1,000 employees across multiple states. Marketing is what drives sales; without sales, you don't make the money required to stay in business long-term. As important as marketing plans are, many business leaders don't devote enough time and resources to them. Great leaders take the time to regularly develop marketing strategies and plan to build a company with a purpose.

The purpose of a marketing plan is to decide how you will sell your products or services to consumers. Rather than assuming your product is perfect for everyone, the plan focuses on key people who are most likely to buy the product. For some small companies or professionals, the marketing plan might be completely referral based, which means the strategy is to provide the best possible results so existing customers tell everyone they know about you.

While this is one type of strategy often utilized, it rarely is enough to sustain a new business over years of growth and development and ultimately, it doesn't help a large business that may still need to capture a bigger market to be profitable. Business leaders should ask two key questions when starting to develop a marketing plan: What problem do I solve for my customers? What makes me different than everyone else on the market?

Marketing plans and strategies are important because they make sales easier for any business owner. When you target your ideal customer in a smarter way, you reduce the costs of marketing and increase your chances of converting leads into sales. Asking what problem you solve and why customers should choose you helps you identigy the specific issues of someone ready to buy.

Putting an ad for your services in the newspaper is one way small businesses start marketing. However, the business is unable to control who sees the paper on any given day. This means most newspaper, magazine or mailer ads are offering general branding services in most cases, and not targeted marketing. Consumers rarely jump on general ads, so this costly method is really developing branding. But creating an ad to solve a specific issue helps ready-to-buy readers understand that your company has the solution.

For example, an estate planning attorney can put an ad in the paper with his picture and a list of services. While he may get some results, his ad might perform better by targeting baby boomers who need to help their parents plan to pass assets to the next generation.

When developing a strategic marketing strategy, you want to create an "a-ha" moment in the reader's mind. These moments are where the reader realizes that you have an answer to something that has been on their mind to some degree.

When consumers are aware of their requirements and a solution is presented to them, they are more likely to buy. If a person doesn't realize they have a problem, it takes longer to educate them through the process of seeing why they might need you. You are less likely to get a sale if customers don't see a need or extreme desire.

Think about a chiropractor. Someone who doesn't have back pain might be a difficult person to sell the service to because they don't see a need. Someone with back pain might realize she needs a solution, but she isn't sure if that solution is chiropractic, massage or physical therapy. It might even be surgery. This is why you need to consider what the consumer needs and what makes you different – and the best solution.

This is a digital download which may include files such as .indd's .psd's .jpg's .pdf's  In order for you to be able to customize them for your business, you will need software such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Acrobat. After your purchase download the attached .pdf, as it has instructions on downloading everything!

Since this is a digital download, NO refunds can be given.

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