Successful Small Business Marketing means different things to different people but the bottom line is that whatever you are marketing -product or service, your success will depend on having a marketing plan – and following it.
For sustained successful business marketing, you must have a marketing plan in place. And not just any old marketing plan that is looked at once a year and then stashed in the bottom draw to gather dust!
Your success will depend on having a simple, functional yet effective marketing plan in place against which all marketing efforts and marketing spend can be measured. In this way, irrespective if you are a one man home-based business or the next Microsoft, you ensure that your marketing efforts are coordinated and focused on your desired outcome.
Unfortunately, a traditional marketing plan is a pretty expensive document, produced by a consultant, that can run to hundreds of pages and seems to be specifically designed to baffle everyone who actually has to implement the thing.
However, in our experience, the most successful small business marketing plans are those that are concise,simple and functional and are produced “in house”. This means that the marketing plan is developed utilizing the expertise, knowledge and drive of those involved in the business.
Perhaps the two biggest challenges faced by small businesses in developing their own marketing plan are: (a)finding a framework for the marketing plan that ensures they don’t overlook anything and (b) having an experienced marketer to bounce their ideas off and who can provide guidance to ensure they come up with a realistic and practical marketing plan.
Consistent successful business marketing is not an act of genius or sheer dumb luck. Rather, it is the continual application and monitoring of a marketing plan that is simple to understand and easy to implement. Get it right, and the world is your oyster!
