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Welcome to the Momentum Business Coaching
Newsletter for Small Business
December 2004
Why Marketing Plans Fail and
What You Can Do About It.
There are literally thousands of books and research articles
written about the concept of marketing. There are books filled
with theory and concepts and there are other ones filled with
practical and not so practical action ideas. Knowing what marketing
is about is a good thing and having creative, practical marketing
ideas is even better.
However, within all this information that is available on this
core activity for your business, there is one thing missing:
the link between the two that will make your marketing plan
unique to your business: the link that separates a good marketing
plan from a great marketing plan. You won't find that link in
the pages of a book.
To establish the link for your specific marketing plan, you
have to look at a number of areas
Who are your customers?
Where are they located?
Why do they want your product/service over the competition?
What related products/services do they buy?
So here are a number of actions to take.
| 1. |
Create a profile of your
potential customers. Don't make the mistake that everyone
is a potential customer. In order to effectively market
your services, you must identify characteristics of your
potential customers so you can devise ways to bring them
into your shop. For example:
Potential customers: Business professionals
Characteristics: high stress levels, long hours, minimal
available time. |
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| 2. |
Identify the benefits of
your services to address each specific market segment.
How does what you do help your customers? What's in it for
them to use your services? You should make a list of these
and start honing in on what your customers tell you they
like best about your service. |
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| 3. |
Research, research,
research. You can't help clients if you don't know what
they want. |
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| 4. |
Choose one market and go
after it. Establish yourself with that market and gradually
add another. Choose a niche and carve out a plan to ''own''it. |
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| 5. |
Develop your Marketing Plan.
This is not a shotgun approach that goes out hoping to snag
a few customers, but it is more like a rifle approach, a
methodical action plan that you will gradually build upon. |
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So to iterate the above, initially target one customer niche
and link your marketing campaign to that one customer profile.
Every advert you place, event you plan, direct mail letter you
send, should be targeted at the same niche market.
If you pay attention to these basic principles, you'll capture
a significant percentage of a specific market and create a reputation
in which you can build on.
For a more complete description on ''Setting out a Marketing
Plan'' or a free consultation,
simply contact John Buckley of Momentum Business Coaching at
045-881888 or e-mail jbuckley@momentumcoach.ie
or visit www.momentumcoach.ie
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