Whether you're starting a new business, launching a new product, or want to increase sales for your existing small business, you need to understand your product and your market. You need to know who is most likely to buy what you sell, why they will buy it and what the best ways are to reach those potential customers.
If you start marketing without that knowledge, you'll waste time and money on advertising, social media, website development, networking and other activities that bring in little or no business.
Don't let that happen to you. You can improve your chance for success by researching your market before you start a small business or launch a new marketing campaign. Doing the research is as important for long-time business owners as it is for startups. The reason? Markets, customer expectations, and the ways to reach likely customers have changed significantly in recent years.
Use the marketing plan worksheet below to help you determine who is most likely to buy your goods and services today and what it will take to reach them.
Business Name ___________________________________
Your Products and Services
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Describe the types of individuals or businesses you expect to use these services. Include age, gender, income, and other important demographics.
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Indicate when and how often they might need your services. If you aren't sure,
ask potential clients and/or existing customers to tell you when they would use what you sell or why they use it now. For existing businesses, also ask customers if there's anything about your products or services they'd like to see changed.
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Describe the benefits your products and services will offer customers (the SPECIFIC problems the product solves or SPECIFIC advantages it offers to the customer)
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How many other services like yours are in your area?
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How will your service differ from your competitors?
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______Phone calls (including staff time)
______Online advertising
______Print classified ads
______Print display ads
______Yellow Pages
______Network at business meetings (include cost of meetings, if any)
______Window signs to attract walk-in trade
______In-store displays to sell add-on services
______Bidding on jobs
______Other (specify)
Compare your expected methods of finding customers and costs with the ways potential customers have indicated they are most like to look for this type of service. Then decide what steps you need to take to get customers to buy from you. List them below and set target dates for accomplishing each.
Action Item Start Follow-up Estimated Actual Results
Date Date Cost Cost
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Copyright 2016 Attard Communications, Inc
About the author:
Janet Attard is the founder of the award-winning Business Know-How small business web site and information resource. A small business and home business expert, Janet is the author of several books including The Home Office And Small Business Answer Book and of Business Know-How: An Operational Guide For Home-Based and Micro-Sized Businesses with Limited Budgets. Her company, Attard Communications, Inc., has been creating online content sites for 30 years. Follow Janet on Twitter and on LinkedIn. Read more about Janet on JanetAttard.com.
