The Importance of a Marketing Plan

There aren't many things in life that you would get into with out a plan. Marketing is no different. Your overall marketing plan should cover about a six month period, and should be made up of weekly and monthly marketing schedules.

This is how you do it:

1. Figure out how much money is in your budget.

As we all know, marketing of any kind costs money. How much money you are willing to commit to the cause is going to determine some key factors about how that money can be best spent. Remember, you want to be economical but you also need to be realistic on what it will take to pull in the leads you need to close new and repeat business.

2. Determine your target market.

Who is most likely to buy your product? Are they married? Are they business owners? What is their income level? These are the people that you want to target. One of the most common mistakes in marketing is answering "Everyone" to the question "Who is your target market?" It may be that you have more than one target market, but there is no product in the world that appeals to each and every person. Even Coca-Cola targets different people with different messages. Decide who is MOST LIKELY to buy what you have to sell and target them. Your message to teenagers will be different than your message to housewives even if the product is exactly the same. Different markets may require different mail pieces or advertisements.

2a. Using the Right Mailing List.

In making sure that your message is getting across to the right people - people who are in the market for what you're offering usually comes down to finding the right mailing list.

There is a great deal to know about mailing lists. There are pointers you could follow when buying a mailing list that tell you what to watch for in a mailing list company to make sure they're reputable. They are:

i) Get references. Talk to other people that have purchased mailing lists from that company.

ii) Do they guarantee on delivery? That means due to the inevitable number of bad addresses there are in a list, can they still guarantee a high percentage of deliverable addresses. That number should be 90% or better. People move all the time so a mailing list company cannot guarantee 100% deliverability ? but they should guarantee at least 90%.

iii) How often do they update their information? They should be able to answer this question and should be updating their information monthly.

You can get burnt on mailing lists ? it is the most expensive part of your campaign. Ask friends who own businesses. Don't just purchase from the first person that tries to sell you mailing lists. Do your research.

3. Select what media to use. (i.e., Direct Mail, Television, Radio, etc.)

This decision will depend on both your budget and your target market. If you have not done a good deal of marketing in the past we recommend picking one media to start. This is much easier to keep track of and you will better be able to tell whether or not it is working. Also, since repetition is the key to marketing success, using one media to begin with will help you reach the same people multiple times. If you run a newspaper ad and send out a postcard, you run the risk of the majority of the people only seeing your ad once. However, if you send out the postcard twice you can guarantee that you get your message to the same people twice and you will start to build recognition.

Once you are getting the returns that you want from the first media, or if you decide that it is not working for you, you can branch out into another form of advertising. Over time you will build up a very diverse marketing plan.

4. Make a Schedule and Stick with It.

Figure out how many people you have in your target market. For this example we will use Direct Mail Marketing. If you have a mailing list of people in your target market that has 1500 names, figure out how many times per month you can mail a postcard to them and still stay within your monthly budget. Once you come up with this number, do it!

The importance of having a marketing plan cannot be stressed enough. Create one and follow it and you'll start seeing the benefits.

Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998; her only assets a computer and a phone. In 2004 the company did close to $9 million in sales and employs over 60 persons. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. Now she's sharing her marketing secrets with others. For more free marketing advice, visit her website at http://www.postcardmania.com

---

How to Write a Fundraising Thank-you Letter for Example (Includes a Free Sample)

Thank-you letters are one of the most important letters that... Read More

Attracting Clients With Incremental Marketing

Do you ask prospective clients to go too far?Must your... Read More

20 Power Marketing Tips

Use these powerful yet simple tips from the national best-seller,... Read More

Leverage The Power Of Using Flyers To Advertise Your Online Product or Service Offline

One commonly overlooked method of advertising offline is flyers. Flyers... Read More

Who is Your Perfect Client

When I started my coaching practice I believed that I... Read More

Identifying, Creating and Using Your USP?

What's your USP? Don't know, or worse still, you've never... Read More

Why You Buy, Part Two

More of the findings of the recent studies in behavioral... Read More

Marketing Strategy - Shift the Focus

Most of the service providers I've worked for or with... Read More

Small Business Marketing; Abstract Philosophical Discussion

Our bodies work like our small businesses. They work best... Read More

Read Your Markets Mind - 3 Great Market Research Resources

Starting a new online business, developing a new product, launching... Read More

People Do Business with People They Like

People do business... Read More

The Value of a Good Sales Letter!

Regardless of how many forms of promotional material you create,... Read More

Grow Your Business By Getting Your Customers Buying From You More Often - 35 Ideas

35 Ideas to Spark Your Creativity:There are 3 ways to... Read More

Boost Your Business With Testimonials

When used correctly, testimonials can boost your response dramatically. They... Read More

Fundraising Letter Envelopes: How To Make Them Irresistible

Readers spend only a few seconds deciding the fate of... Read More

Stop Searching - Joint Ventures are the Solution to Doubling Your Business

First, define the end user (or ideal client) of your... Read More

The Day I Learned to Start Saying No

It was the fall of 1998 when I had just... Read More

Promotions for Mobile Detailers

Mobile businesses are quite unique in the way they must... Read More

Customizing Booklets By Industry or By Company

Customizing booklets can be done by industry or by company."110... Read More

Direct Mail Strategy - Brand Identity Guru

1. Know your purpose: What do you want your direct... Read More

Loan Officer Marketing ? How Branding Shapes Your Prospects Perceptions

Social scientists have proven that people experience what they come... Read More

5 Print Ad Essentials!

Writing an effective print ad, particularly a classified advertisement, requires... Read More

Flesh Eating Spiders And Other Marketing Horrors

After a friend was bitten by a spider, I decided... Read More

How You Can Make Money From Competitors Easy

Are you market products and services using PPCs? PPC Advertising... Read More

The Most Important Marketing Principles of All Time

As you have probably experienced there is a lot of... Read More

The Magic of Using Booklets for Tradeshow Giveaways

Candy, squeeze balls, pens, and key chains -- these provide... Read More

Mortgage Marketing - Viral-Email, Referral Marketing Strategy

This is a devastatingly powerful way to extend your marketing... Read More

How to Develop an Effective Company Profile -- and Why

What is a company profile? ... Read More

Writing Sales Letters That Sell

The most important part of any marketing you do is... Read More

Mission Position

Ahh, the mission statement. For some companies it simply describes... Read More

Will Googles Gmail spell trouble for Email Marketing.

We wait with baited breath for the anticipated launch of... Read More

Multicultural Marketing ? Taking Care of Business At Hand

Multicultural marketing mirrors the changed face of America and is... Read More

Five Marketing Tips to Double Profits

It's a startling fact: almost all entrepreneurs aren't marketing their... Read More