Marketing Plan--Why they are Important
Small companies usually do not have a written marketing plan. They do not engage in strategic thinking or monitor investments to determine the greatest return. Their choice of marketing vehicles is situational: they sponsor a local event based on an existing relationship or advertise without giving much thought to the publication’s demographics.
Small companies usually operate on a shoestring marketing budget. They do not have the luxury of hiring professional expertise or purchasing big ads in popular magazines. For this reason, their marketing efforts must be very focused and disciplined to gain the greatest benefit.
In its most basic form, the marketing plan should define the benefits of the product and service, identify the target market, determine the deliverable message, identify several marketing vehicles and define a budget. The selection of marketing vehicles should consider reach and frequency (how far the message will reach and how many times it will be seen).
In many companies if you were to ask the question, "What does your company do"", you would get a different answer depending on who you ask. Sales and upper management would provide the best answer, defining the benefits along with the information about the products or services. Customer service may follow next with a similar message depending on how closely they interact with sales. As you move into the other departments, the answer will change drastically.
The reason for this discrepancy is the perceived necessity based on job description. Whereas sales must have refined their talk track (commonly referred to as elevator speech), it is believed such refinement is not as important in the finance department. However, in a smaller company these same individuals will have direct contact with clients or possible prospects. If the message received differs even slightly the company loses the branding advantage gained through reinforcement.
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Categories: Marketing Strategies
Tags: small businessa advice small business consulting Business Simply Put Lori Williams marketing marketi
Aligned with this post, I believe that marketing couldn't be more important to both existing businesses as well as pre-venture businesses largely due to the fact that consumer spending isn’t what it used to be.
It has become increasingly more important to know both "who your customers are?" and "where are they?" more today than ever.
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