By developing a marketing strategy that is carefully thought through and aligns with business goals, you will see a significantly higher return on investment from your marketing efforts.
Writing a plan can make the difference when it comes to realizing startup success. Plans support the process of turning an entrepreneur’s vision into tangible actions by promoting the organization and direction of startup activities.
In the real world, though, entrepreneurs rarely start with the question “To plan or not to plan?” More often than not, they begin with a hazy vision of what success might look like.
In these early stages, they may improvise or experiment to bring this vision into better focus, but as the startup begins to take shape, and innovation and growth become important, a plan begins to become necessary for the startup to succeed.
Here are the 5 P's of marketing:
Product – Describe the product or service offered to the customer by your home business, including the physical attributes of your products or services, what they do, how they differ from your competitors, & what benefits they provide to your potential customers.
Price – Outline the pricing strategies that will help you reach your target profit margin. How you will price your product or service so that the price remains competitive while still allowing you to make a good profit? When calculating price, make sure you take into consideration both fixed expenses (those that don't change) and variable expenses (costs that aren't set), as well as your time and expertise, to ensure you're charging enough to make a profit. Also discuss if your price will be lower or higher than your competition, and how you can justify the difference (i.e. what do buyers get by paying more for your product?).
Place (Distribution) – Indicate where your business will sell its products or services, and how it will get those products or services to consumers. For example, Will you consign your products to local stores? When you know what outlets our product and services will be available, indicate how much you expect to sell in each location. For example, will 65 percent of your sales be done online and 35 percent through face-to-face appointments? Also include any delivery terms and costs, and how those expenses will be covered (i.e. added to the sale of the item). Indicate if there any shipping or labeling requirements that need to be considered and how you will meet those requirements. Finally, outline the transaction process and your return policies.
Promotion – What methods of promotion you will use to communicate the features and benefits of your products or services to your target customers? Will you advertise? If so, where? What percentage of advertising will be handled by each advertising option? How much business do you anticipate each form of advertising will result in? How much is this all going to cost?
People – Decide your sales strategy and the people who will provide sales and service that will be used in marketing your products or services to the customer. Who are the people or sales team that will be providing this service, and what kind of sales training will they receive? Do you plan to offer any incentives to your customer service representatives and how do you plan to measure customer satisfaction?
Evaluating Marketing Effectiveness
As you make your marketing decisions, consider how you'll know what strategies are working and those that aren't. There's no sense in wasting time or money on promotional tactics that don't work. If you use social media to promote your business, you'll want to measure your social media analytics. Consider using A/B testing techniques to make sure you're using your best offers. Whatever form of marketing you use, find a way to quantify results so you can know whether it's worth your time and money to continue to use i