I’m not going to try to say that this is what you should use for your marketing plan. I’m not even going to suggest any specific marketing plans. Unless I actually work for the company, and unless I’m well versed in the industry and the customers, I’m not going to be able to come up with anything worthwhile anyways.
There’s the first lesson to take to heart. Only someone who knows a lot about their industry and their company will have any hope of coming up with a successful marketing plan. If you own the company than you will be the best person to do it, but what I can and will do is mention some guidelines that will apply to any company.
The first thing is what you’ve hopefully already started doing: pay attention to the world around you. What I mean is look to the competition, look to your customers, and look to whatever else in your industry that you can to get a feel for what is already being done in relation to marketing.
You can’t start designing and implementing a marketing plan until you know what type of advertisements to use. If your competition is using direct mail postcards than they might be onto something. Figure out why they’re using them and if they’re working.
Once you know the industry take the time to assess your own strengths and weaknesses. What is it that you’re going to be offering to people and what makes you better than the competition? Also, figure out what it is that you can’t compete as well with. Maybe your service is a lot better, but you have to charge a higher price because of it.
Your strength is what your marketing needs to emphasize while you need to make sure to counteract your weakness as best as possible. If you have brochures printed up don’t necessarily shy away from the fact that you charge more, but explain that you offer things the competition can’t match, and you’re more than worth the higher price.
Next, set a goal and make sure you stick by it. Draw up a timetable if you need to that says, “I’m going to get this many posters printed by this date,” and don’t let yourself fall short of your goals.
Finally, decide on the best way to implement your marketing. If you are printing up posters be sure you know where to put them and how many you’re going to need. Be sure you know all the details of your marketing before you get started to avoid any avoidable problems. Ask yourself what can go wrong and try to be prepared for all of it.
The heart of any strong marketing push will always be a combination of two things: knowing yourself and knowing your market. If you have these two things down you’ll be in a prime position to develop a strong marketing agenda.
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