The basics of an effective marketing plan

A good marketing plan builds awareness

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02/06/2017

Why do you need a marketing strategy? The whole idea is to make people aware that your business exists. Keeping your brand front of mind for customers is the cornerstone of good marketing.

A good marketing strategy doesn’t have to break the bank – an important point to remember when you’re starting out. There are lots of ways you can increase brand awareness and successfully market your business on a shoestring.

The first and most crucial step is getting to know your target market. The more you know about your customers, the better chance you have of selling more to them and finding more customers like them. The best way to do this is to develop profiles of your target customers. Find out what, when, why, where and how your primary customers buy. You’ll want to know everything about them and their purchasing habits to enhance your chances of making sales.

Common marketing techniques

A good marketing strategy will normally include a combination of different methods which cover multiple platforms and give you the best chance of reaching as many potential customers as possible. Here are some of the most common techniques you should consider:

• Social media –It’s a great way to connect with your customers and get to know them, but make sure you’re not blatantly advertising on social media. Become familiar with the most popular social media platforms (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc.) and decide which one is the best fit for your business.
• Email newsletters – a great way to stay in touch with your customers and let them know what you’re up to. Create a database of your customers and send them a weekly email, making sure it contains something of value, such as a new product or a discount on services.
• Loyalty programmes – Reward your best customers with a loyalty programme or offer discounts for purchases over a certain amount. This can help to bring in new customers and keep them engaged with your brand.
• Cross promotion – With a dash of imagination and networking you can get others to promote your business for you. One way is to advertise your business through other businesses and do the same for them.

Position yourself as an industry expert

One of the best ways to promote your brand is to become a recognised expert in your field. Attend events related to your business and offer to speak at them. Lecture at trade shows and volunteer at community events. You could even organise your own event. Not only will this help to promote your business, you’ll also do some valuable networking.

Develop a strategy based on what you’ve learned

To increase your customer base, try to come up with some marketing tactics that will entice and retain customers, particularly during the early phase of your business. For example, if you’re opening a corner store, you might need some special ‘buy one, get one free’ deals to get people into your shop. Remember that word of mouth recommendations are still the best way to increase your customer base. And it doesn’t happen automatically – make your business as good as it can be and always go the extra mile for your customers.

Advice and resources

• Entrepreneur has an effective 5 step process to creating a marketing plan that’s worth following.
• Entrepreneur also has a great article on how to market on a shoestring budget.

This blog is not financial advice. The content of the blog is reliable at the time of publishing, but we can’t guarantee it is entirely free from error or omission beyond our knowledge. Links are provided for you to explore, but we have no connection with third party sites or responsibility for their content.