Creating a small business marketing plan

Duct Tape Marketing Founder, John Jantsch, talks about a calendaring system that helps small businesses focus on executing their marketing plan daily, weekly and monthly.

Smart marketing in a tough economy

Last week I had the distinct honor and pleasure of participating on a marketing panel organized by Leasa Maxx of Maxx Marketing & Design and the Maumee Chamber of Commerce.

On the panel with me were three very talented marketing professionals: Susie Joyner, marketing manager at Allshred Services; Deborah Rasmusson, director of vocational services for Sunshine Inc. and Georgette’s Grounds & Gifts and Tim Langhorst, executive vp at Thread Information Design.

We covered a lot of ground on topics such as:

• how small businesses can get more bang from their marketing dollars, without spending more
• what can small businesses do to combat the need for cold calling
• how can small businesses foster stronger relationships with clients and prospects
• what is social media and does it make sense for “my” small business
• tips and advise on how to build a practical online strategy

Small business marketing takeaway:

Carve out 60 minutes and watch this video. It’s loaded with tons of practical information and tips on how to market smarter in this very tough economy.

Make a referral - jump start the economy

We’re pledging to make a referral to a business we want to help as part of a national campaign to make 1000 referrals March 9-13. What a great small business stimulus plan – won’t you join us.

Check out http://www.makeareferralweek.com/pledge.

Make a Referral Week is an entrepreneurial approach to stimulating the small business economy one referred business at a time. The goal for the week is to generate 1000 referred leads to 1000 deserving small businesses in an effort to highlight the impact of a simple action that could blossom into millions of dollars in new business. Small business is the lifeblood and job-creating engine of the economy and merits the positive attention so often saved for corporate bailout stories.

The week long event also features a killer list of referral experts providing valuable marketing advice.

The difference between marketing coaching and consulting

I’m often asked what the difference is between a marketing coach or coaching and a consultant or consulting. Here’s the simplest answer I can provide.

A marketing coach will help you understand how and why you bake a cake, help you to determine what’s holding you back from baking a really good cake and stand by your side as you bake the cake.

A business consultant will explain why one cake mix is better than another, explain the best cake baking practices and, if necessary, bake the cake for you.

The one that is best for you depends on your budget, your time and your goals for your business.

As a Duct Tape Marketing Coach I work in a “hybrid” mode, as a coach-consultant. The Duct Tape Marketing System is set up to allow the best of both professions: advice and creative expertise when you need it, accountability and strategy when you’re stuck and proven tactics to help you systematically build your business.

The Duct Tape Marketing Program is based on 7 Steps that will be implemented in your business:
1. Narrow Your Marketing Focus
2. Find and Communicate a Core Difference
3. Package Your Business
4. Create Marketing Materials that Educate
5. Establish Your Lead Generation Trio
6. Automate & Dominate
7. Live By the Calendar

Are you ready to start attracting more customers? Are you overwhelmed by marketing? Not sure if The Duct Tape Marketing System is for you? Let’s talk.

No risk. No obligation. No strings.

Essential contents of a marketing plan

Excerpt from On Target: The Book on Marketing Plans by Tim Berry and Doug Wilson

Every marketing plan has to fit the needs and situation. Even so, there are standard components you just can’t do without. A marketing plan should always have a situation analysis, marketing strategy, sales forecast, and expense budget.

• Situation Analysis: Normally this will include a market analysis, a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats), and a competitive analysis. The market analysis will include market forecast, segmentation, customer information, and market needs analysis.
• Marketing Strategy: This should include at least a mission statement, objectives, and focused strategy including market segment focus and product positioning.
• Sales Forecast: This would include enough detail to track sales month by month and follow up on plan-vs.-actual analysis. Normally a plan will also include specific sales by product, by region or market segment, by channels, by manager responsibilities, and other elements. The forecast alone is a bare minimum.
• Expense Budget: This ought to include enough detail to track expenses month by month and follow up on plan-vs.-actual analysis. Normally a plan will also include specific sales tactics, programs, management responsibilities, promotion, and other elements. The expense budget is a bare minimum.

Are They Enough?

These minimum requirements above are not the ideal, just the minimum. In most cases you’ll begin a marketing plan with an Executive Summary, and you’ll also follow those essentials just described with a review of organizational impact, risks and contingencies, and pending issues.

Include a Specific Action Plan

You should also remember that planning is about the results, not the plan itself. A marketing plan must be measured by the results it produces. The implementation of your plan is much more important than its brilliant ideas or massive market research. You can influence implementation by building a plan full of specific, measurable and concrete plans that can be tracked and followed up. Plan-vs.-actual analysis is critical to the eventual results, and you should build it into your plan.

Source: bplans.com