Are you looking to:
• attract new customers?
• increase sales?
• Build more repeat business?
• increase traffic to your website?
Whether you have several marketing goals or just one, success starts with a plan. It’s so easy to get caught-up in the day-to-day tasks of running your a business. When you plan ahead, you have time to think about the best way to approach your goal.
Below we offer three steps to creating a clear, well-thought out marketing plan that will increase the chances that you will be successful.
Plan your marketing goals
We know how it goes. A big, important holiday is coming up, but you’ve been so focused on buying, staffing and displaying, that you forgot to plan your advertising. The local radio or print media sales person drops in and offers you a “great deal,” so you take it.
First, it’s good that you understand that you need to advertise. Few business are successful without having to think about advertising. But was that “great deal” really the “best deal” for you? Was it the best way to reach your target audience?
Also, there’s more to running advertising that buying space. What you advertise, where and when are all important factors in a successful promotion. Identifying and achieving your marketing goals takes forethought and analysis.
Avoid waiting for your ad rep to call with a special one-day only, buy-it-now offer. Frequent advertising with a consistent message based on seasonal highs and lows will pay off better than one-time shots when the newspaper has extra space. By creating an ad plan ahead of time, you can define the message while taking advantage of frequency discounts and bulk rate pricing. Translation: more bang for your buck.
Be consistent
Think about how you respond to advertising. Everyday you hear radio and television commercials, see newspaper, magazine and outdoor advertising, view banner ads on the internet. But you don’t respond to every offer. You are much more likely to respond positively when you hear the message often, and in more than one venue.
Imagine hearing an ad on the radio, seeing a similar web ad from the same company, then having a friend tell you about it. A good ad plan is frequent, consistent and targeted. These things all take planning.
Be specific
The truth is that regardless of the offer, only a portion of the population is likely to respond. Target marketing allows us to increase the chances that our audience will respond to our call to action. It allows us to be more effective and efficient. Resist the temptation to be too general in the hopes of getting a larger slice of the market. Plan, target, and be successful.
Would you like help identifying and achieving your marketing goals?
Having someone to bounce ideas off of, look to for marketing advice and lean on for extra help can a game changer. For decades, we’ve been helping small, local businesses organize, strategize and implement marketing plans. If you’d like to talk about the marketing goals for your business, call (518) 392-0846 or email [email protected]. We’re here to answer simple questions, discuss individual goals, or help you create a marketing plan for the next 12 months.