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!
February 13, 2009 at 7:44 am |
Talking to an Operations Director of a major engineering business this week made me think about how out business can be and is affected by the frame of mind of the leadership. He spent nearly an hour describing all the difficulties that the business currently faced! It made me wonder whether he talks the same way to his people? Probably!!!
And if we believe everything we read in the press and hear on the radio and television, we probably feel the same way he does at times. And if we look back at times in the past, we can find countless examples of executives publically predicting the demise of their businesses and their industries. In many if not most of these instances, the dire predictions never materialised – they were the hysterical rantings of people who were looking for excuses. Pretty much the same thing that is happening to-day!!
Sure circumstances have changed. The last few “years of plenty” are behind us. Yes, there are some real economic problems. But, as it has done in the past, the marketplace will sort itself out. We can adopt the cynical pessimist role – and infect all those around us with the same grim outlook or?
Or as leaders in our businesses, we can take our real responsibilities seriously and make a difference. I am not suggesting for a moment that we do not take cognisance of what is happening around us and make plans to protect against the worst possibilities – that is the prudent thing to do.
BUT, what I am saying, is that the requirement of responsible leaders in business to-day is to focus on the possibilities, on the opportunities and on the future progress of their enterprises.
We are faced with a situation – maybe not one we would have chosen but a situation nevertheless. It is simply the choices which we exercise at this time which will determine whether we survive and prosper or whether we simply become victims.
By implication, therefore, it is the mandated role of the leader to focus on the future, on the possibilities and on the identifying and capitalising on opportunities – because even in the worst of times, there are opportunities!!
So we, as leaders, should be vigilant about what we say and how we behave in front of our people. If we allow the circumstances to dictate our behaviour, we abdicate our role as generators of hope and we place ourselves and our businesses at the whims and fancies of the marketplace – instead of taking responsibility for guiding our ship through the storm!!!
So until we take ownership of our own thoughts and channel those in the direction of the future, looking for opportunities and possibilities, we fail in our role as business leaders – and we can only expect that our people will follow our lead!!