You’ve Started a Small Business, Now What?

You have paid your licenses, set up your company, bought your equipment and now you’re a small business owner. So, what’s next? In the movie, “Field of Dreams”, the catch phrase was, “If you build it they will come”. In the business world, it doesn’t work that easy. In order to get customers to your door, you have to market your business.

To many small business owners, marketing and advertising can be a mystery. In order to be successful, you need a plan. A marketing plan can be very simple to very complex. My recommendation is to start with a simple plan, then build on it.

Here is an outline for a simple marketing plan:

Section 1
Business Overview
This is your chance to discuss your business. Look at your company objectively. Where did you start? What are some of the major events in starting your business? Does your business have any special traits or qualities that make it unique? This is your chance to analyze your business and your mission. This section will explain to someone on the outside your beginnings and where you are going.

Section 2
Revenue History and Forecast
You should chart your revenue projections for the next 2 to 5 years. If it is possible, break your sales down by segments or niches to gain a better understanding of where you expect revenues. This section will give you a good understanding of your potential marketing investments because you will be able to determine your budget based on expected sales. You should be as detailed as possible in order to draw a clear picture of where your marketing budget should be spent, which products are going to give you the highest profits.

Section 3
The Current Business Environment
In order to be successful, it is important that you know your industry and the internal and external factors that can affect your business. This is your opportunity to study your industry to analyze the trends and major changes that can affect demand of your product and help determine pricing.

Section 4
The Competition
Now is your chance to see how you rate against your competitors. In this section, you will analyze your competition’s strengths and weaknesses. It is best to research and review 3 to 5 of your top competitors to assess how there business is performing and the amount of market share they currently hold. This is your chance to estimate or determine the market share you currently hold and anticipate gaining.

Section 6
Positioning Statement
From the information above, you will need to describe your company’s position for the upcoming year. The positioning statement should be about one sentence long and can be used as a tag line in your promotions and advertising plan. The positioning statement doesn’t have to be clever or witty. As long as it is clear, concise and is geared to your target audience, it will work. Here is an example for a home architect, “Elegant home designs at affordable prices.” Simple and to the point usually works the best.

Section 7
Marketing Objectives
In this section, you will need to come up with 3 – 4 measurable marketing objectives. These objectives are important because they are key objectives for your business. This is why they should be measurable on a monthly basis and have specific definable reports that track them. An example would be: Increase revenues by 10% each month, or gain six new customers per week.

Section 8
Marketing Strategies
First, you need to know the difference between an objective and a strategy. Objectives state what you are going to do and a strategies tell how you will accomplish it. Looking at your marketing objectives, what strategies could you implement to achieve growing revenues by 10% or gaining 6 new customers per month? In order to achieve these objectives your strategy could be to raise prices on your products, increase your average sale per customer, or enter new markets. Your job is to pick the strategies that work best with your company.

Section 9
Marketing Budget
If you have a new business, you will need to make some estimates for your budget over the next year. In this section, you will break down your marketing budget through specific expenditures or channels such as advertising, yellow pages, direct mail, new sales reps, marketing materials, your website, etc. Always be sure to analyze your return on investment to ensure you are getting the most for your money.

Section 10
Marketing Channels
In the previous section, you determined in which channels you were spending your marketing budget. In this section, you need to set the objectives and strategies for each of the channels you selected. Be specific how your budget will be spent in each channel and the objectives you want to achieve.

Section 11
Tracking
In this section, you can create a calendar to chart every activity and expense you have for the entire year. This will help you keep your marketing plan on track and on budget.

Conclusion
Creating a well-written marketing plan is just one of the first steps in getting your business off to a good start. Once you have completed your plan, share it with everyone in your company. It is important that the entire company understands your marketing plan so they can help in the execution and measurement of the plan.

A yearly marketing plan is an important tool for your business. Your plan will help to improve your marketing and advertising each year. As your year progresses, you will determine what is working best in your marketing plan so you can do more of the same and drop what doesn’t work. A marketing plan will give you benchmarks to measure your success and failures.

If you are just starting your business, a marketing plan might seem like an overwhelming task. Don’t worry about having the perfect plan. A so-so plan is better than not doing one at all. Having a plan will give your business direction, guidance and start you on your way to being a successful small business owner.

David Beckham, B.BA, MBA
MarketProMBA