Marketing Planning Made Simple - Another Small Business Power Tool

Marketing planning must be really difficult and complex, otherwise why would there be so many books written on the subject ? right?

Well, I'm just enough of a skeptic to believe that many of these books were designed more to make money for their publishers and authors than to make marketing planning simple and understandable.

I spent more than 30 years working with very successful small business people who never wrote a single marketing plan. Why didn't they need complex, 100-page marketing plans chock full of statistics, charts and graphs like the experts recommend? It's because they knew exactly where they wanted to take their companies and how to get them there and they were universally successful.

The fact is they basically carried their product "marketing plans" around in their heads. That's how simple marketing planning can be. In fact, if you strip marketing planning down to its most basic elements, you could just about write your plan on the back of a napkin.

Okay, that might be a bit of an oversimplification, but let's look at the six basic things you need to know for successful marketing planning.

1. The situation. Is this a new or existing product or service? If it has competition, how is it better than the competition? Bigger? Lasts longer? Easier to use? Offers more features? Priced better? You should be able to sum up your situation in a couple of sentences. If not, maybe you don't really understand the situation.

2. The market. How big is the market for your product or service? This can be defined in terms of total dollars, number of units sold or any other quantifiable number. The important thing is to know the size of your market because only by knowing this can you define a marketing objective. You also need to define what the market looks like -- Males, age 25-45? Soccer Moms? Working mothers? Seniors? Childless couples? A market isn't just numbers, it's people. And it's important to understand where they are economically, what's important to them, and what problems you can help them solve.

3. Strategy. Now that you have defined your situation and your market, it should be easy to develop a marketing strategy. For example, if your product is footless, control top panty hose, your strategy might be to "focus sales efforts on figure-conscience women age 34-45 during the spring and summer months."

4. Tactics. If "strategy" is what you intend to do, "tactics" is what you need to do to accomplish it. In the case of the strategy example above, the tactics might be:

- Begin sales efforts against distributors by Feb. 1

- Have products in distribution pipeline by March 1 for delivery to retailers no later than April 1.

- Begin concentrated radio advertising in 12 key markets by April 15 ?and so on

5. Objective(s). You can frame your objectives any way you want but you have to assign a number and a date. It's no enough to say, "Successfully introduce the new product by year's end." In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, "If you don't know where you're going, you might end up somewhere else." If you don't include a number and a time, you will never know whether or not you were really successful. Write objectives like "sell 5,000 units by December 31." Then, on January 1, you can count sales and determine how successful you were. Best case, you will find you sold 5,000 or more units and will know your marketing planning was right on. And if you didn't meet the objective? You should be able to at least learn a lesson and do better next time.

6. Budgeting. The final thing you need to consider is how much money you can spend to meet your objective. The best way to do this is break down your budgeting by tactics. If you need to reach 100,000 women to sell 10,000 units of your product, do you have the money to do this ? in terms or radio, newspaper, TV or direct mail? Do you need collateral materials such as brochures or in-store displays? How much will these things cost? Depending on your product or service, you may also have to hire a PR firm or an advertising agency. Be sure to budget for this expense.

Can you add more elements to your planning? Of course. Just go buy one of these marketing textbooks and you'll find pages and pages of information that could be incorporated into your plan. The point here is that maybe you don't have to make your marketing planning a huge and laborious project. Do what many of my clients have done ? keep it simple, something you can just carry around in your head if that's your style. The important things are your situation, your market, your strategy and tactics, your objective and your budget. Know these things and you're well on your way to success.

Article by Douglas Hanna. Douglas is a retired advertising and marketing executive and long-time Denver resident. He is the webmaster of http://www.all-in-one-info.com, a free resource for information on a variety of subjects. Please visit his site to subscribe to his free newsletter, "Tips & Tricks to Save Money & Live Better."

---

Words that Sell

We all know the English language contains hundreds of thousands... Read More

How Can I Get Name Recognition?

Some of the ways in which to get your "name... Read More

T.E.A.M Profit

As you network and meet other business owners, keep this... Read More

Do You Get Attention With Your 30-Second Introduction?

I went to a networking event the other day where... Read More

How Well Do You Know Your Prospects? Find Out With This 10-Point Quiz

It's crucial to know your prospects if you want to... Read More

Strategic Marketing and Tactical Marketing Know The Differences And Profit

Most people mistakenly assume that when you talk about marketing,... Read More

How To Let Your Customers Search For YOU! ? Part 2

First I want to welcome you to part two of... Read More

The Power Of A Story

If you want your marketing to be effective, you absolutely... Read More

Why Do You Need to be in the SERPS?

Why does your business need to be in the Search... Read More

Trade Show Promotions That Are Memorable

If you have been to expos and trade shows as... Read More

Up Your Income Next Week: 13 Ways to Have a Sale

Nothing gets people buying products or programs like a special... Read More

Behold the Power of the Tip

You are an expert. You have lots of content -... Read More

If My Work is Good Enough

"If My Work is Good Enough, I Shouldn't Have to... Read More

The Fundraising Letter PS: 25 Powerful Things To Say There (Includes Examples & Samples)

Donors read postscripts. This is a sad but important reality... Read More

Hispanic Market Reality and Purchasing Power

How many Hispanic people live in the US currently. Well... Read More

Small Business Bonzai Marketing

Do you own a small business? Do you wish to... Read More

Mortgage Marketing - How to Earn More Business From Realtors®

Is your marketing strategy getting the results you desire?Mailing postcards,... Read More

Meaning and Marketing - The Trigger

In previous articles under "Meaning and Marketing", we have learned... Read More

Five Joint Venture Marketing Skills A Small Business Owner Must Have

Joint venture marketing is a lucrative way of leveraging the... Read More

Provacative Research Works

If you want to double your business, then you need... Read More

Demographics For the Masses

Information is the lifeblood of the economy. That's especially true... Read More

How to Take Your Law Firm to the Next Level

How to Take Your Law Firm to the Next Level... Read More

Customizing Booklets By Industry or By Company

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

Are You Overlooking Your Hidden Profit Centers?

There are other names given to "Back-End Selling". You may... Read More

The Marketing Recipe: Money, Marketing and Me ? 3 Keys For Success

You have a great product or service? Now, how should... Read More

Matrix Web Sites - Scam or NOT?

While I am not talking about the movie "Matrix", you... Read More

Gift Cards - Is It Time to Use Them for My Business?

You're probably thinking, here we go again somebody is trying... Read More

Fundraising: How To Avoid Three Common Mistakes

I'm a board member of a local nonprofit and we... Read More

Simple Marketing Strategies Versus an SEO Line of Attack!

Each and every day those of us on the Internet... Read More

8 Lessons in Strategic Marketing A La Daddy Daycare

I bet you thought the movie "Daddy Daycare" was a... Read More

Nice Guys Finish First

Volunteering your services can be an excellent way to form... Read More

What Is Multi-Level And How Should It Be Worked

Multi-level marketing is really a partnership. You go into... Read More

The 3 Unknown Steps of Marketing Success

To be your own marketing expert you first need to... Read More