An Essential Tactic

So you've opened your business and put together your business plan because you want to be one of the smart ones; on of the survivors...one of the "thrivers".

The business plan. A work of art as far as your concerned. Now it is time to go do what you do best. Sell the widgets, your service; basically do what you love to do.

This is the usual demeanor within our shop keepers [internet and brick and mortar]. Open and sell.

The problem is that the world is full of places to shop and unless you get noticed there really is very little chance you will thrive. You need a plan.

A large number of business plans consist of numbers but rarely consist of an exact how-to plan for getting, keeping and selling to customers. the plan shows what will happen based on the assumption there definitively WILL be customers.

In a No Money Marketing world the essential tactic is to have a detailed plan for your marketing. A detailed plan so you stay within your budget, you never make a rash and costly decision and so you know where and how you will begin to gather customers. the rest of your business plan will then work because you will have customers and more probably money.

Businesses are essentially 80% a like. That's why financial data can be compared. The other 20% is just the differences in business style. Those that survive to thrive understand that 5% of their business is about expertise and 95% is about marketing.

Marketing, marketing and marketing.

So here is the essential topics in a great marketing plan. Just topics here. Each section can be a manual unto itself but this is what makes a plan.

1. who is your key market - if nothing else you NEED to know this
   
2. what do you want that market to know about your business
3. what do you want that market to do when they find out about you
4. how does your market find information
5. what are the key mediums [newspapers, magazines, websites] that your market uses
6. how do they receive these mediums, how do they look for them
7. do a competitive analysis if your business plan hasn't already got one in it; where does your competition display itself
8. establish your competitive advantage and create your brand around it
   
9. determine what mediums you want to use [all NO MONEY options first!] and how
   
10. take action by creating a calendar of marketing action items

Now, this isn't everything in a marketing plan but if you can answer the above questions and create a rough sketch for yourself you will see better results from your marketing and a more focussed business plan.

A business plan is not a marketing plan. A marketing plan will see your business plan succeed. It costs nothing but time and will save you a great deal of money as your business ages.

Can we help you create a plan?