What You Need to Do Before Spending a Penny on Marketing

10 Step Focus Marketing System (R)

What You Need to Do Before Spending a Penny on Marketing

10 Step Focus Marketing System ®

Most of us build our small businesses around a basic talent, skill or passion that we assume will easily make us profitable. Yet our surveys show that attracting new customers is the main area where small and solo business owners (SBO's) say they need help. Whether you're just starting out or are well established, your challenge is the same as any other business, including the IBM's of the world—identifying, attracting and keeping customers by getting a strong ROI from your marketing program. Here are 10 simple steps that can really rev up your marketing results.

Step One Define your ideal customer. Then conduct research to discover as much as possible about your target market and ideal customer.

Picture a dart board. In the center is the bull's eye. That's your ideal customer – the one who loves what you offer, buys often, doesn't complain about price and refers others to your business. Now surrounding the bulls eye are outer circles which are still within the target borders. These are your target customers. They may not be absolutely perfect, but they will buy from you and could well be a referral source. And who knows, you may impress them enough that they become ideal. The more you learn about your ideal customer and target market, the more you'll know how to create, package and sell your offering successfully. This approach to identifying and understanding your target market is routine for big corporations. But so many SBOs we've worked with don't understand how powerful it is. Here are some places to start gathering vital information about your market:

1. Do a survey (lots on this in our e-book--136 Ways to Market Your Small Business) http://www.136waystomarket.com

2. Get simple demographics information available from: · Chambers of Commerce, · media outlets, · credit card companies, · commercial Realtors, · county records 3. Do research on the internet

Step Two Decide, within the scope of what you can offer, what your potential customers really want or need.

The biggest mistake you can make is to assume that just because you are excited about your business, people will want what you have to offer. Actually it works the other way around. First find a need that's not being filled and use your skills, talent or passion to fill it. If you've been in business for a while and your business is not growing as quickly as you would like, remember the marketplace changes at lightning speed and you may need to repeat these steps to realign yourself with what your customer wants.

Step Three Research and assess your competition.

What similar products or services are your competitors selling successfully and how are they doing it? I'm not suggesting you copy them, only that you learn from them. You're offering may be unique, but they may have developed a successful way to reach your market. If you're doing research on the Internet, do a Google search for your type of business. Check out competitor's websites, particularly those that show up at the top of the search list. Also click on the "similar pages" link, which is positioned next to each listing on the search results page. You'll get a list of the websites your competitor's visitors clicked through to after they left the competitor's site. Make notes on what strikes you as interesting or eye catching. If retail competitors sell similar products and you know they're successful, go into their store and look around. Look for the kinds of marketing they're doing. This information is priceless, since someone has already done what you're trying to do. They've developed an approach that works.

Step Four Decide what makes you really unique. Define your "brand" and develop your 30 second sound byte.

What truly differentiates your business from the competition? What makes you unique and valuable? This is a really basic question but do you really know the answer? But you need to know the answer from Day One and it cannot be better price or service. Every business says that and it's a message with little meaning. Dig deeper, refer back to your survey results, and find out what will make customers think of you instead of your competition. Armed with the answers to these questions, develop a 30 second "sound byte" that verbalizes your message, your uniqueness, your brand and use it whenever possible. If someone says "the real thing" you think of Coca Cola. What makes people think of your company?

Step Five Develop a general marketing strategy based on your marketing goals and a marketing budget based on your projected sales goals for the year.

You may think you couldn't possibly have the kind of marketing budget that a big company has. But actually you can. Have you determined and written down your projected gross sales for this year? No matter how small your business you need to do this, so that you can plan daily, weekly and monthly activities to reach that goal. And, like big companies, your marketing budget should be a set percentage of sales. Figures vary, but we recommend setting aside 5 to 10% of projected gross sales. Then decide what you want to achieve with your marketing this year. For example, decide what percentage of your budget will be devoted to directly bringing new customers to you and what percentage will be allocated for building name recognition. Consider what overall strategies might attract your ideal customer. You have the research data that tells you what they might respond to. Is it print advertising, radio, direct mail, personal relationships? Develop an overall "best way to approach them" strategy.

Step Six Brainstorm creative marketing ideas. Choose only those which tightly focus on reaching your target market based on your research and which fit within your budget and strategy.

Make a list of the ideas that seem interesting. Think carefully about the time and money involved in implementing each. Then choose those that meet the highest criteria for meeting your marketing goals, fitting within your budget and your skill set (see Step Seven).

Step Seven Note which of the focused marketing ideas you've chosen fit well with your skill set.

Don't skip this step. We've seen SBO's spend months anxiously making cold calls with little or no result because they were so uncomfortable doing it. They would have gotten better results from marketing that fit their skill set. Here are the skills sets we analyze in our e-book: · Relationship building · Technology person · Writing · Creative or Artistic · Public Speaking / Sales Keep in mind that if a certain approach is essential, don't eliminate it because it's not a fit. You might be able to outsource it.

Step Eight Develop a detailed six month plan. Then stick to it.

Okay, we know what you're thinking. This is all so time consuming and you' re so busy running your business. Well, if you want to spend less time making lots more money in the future, this is the way. List each specific marketing activity you're committed to doing. Note how you'll do it, what marketing materials you'll need, how often you'll do it, how you'll schedule it and how much it will cost. Check each to make sure it will attract your target market, fulfill your strategy, fit into your marketing budget and your schedule. Then stick to it.

Step Nine Measure and track results so you can determine what's working and what your ROI is.

Measurement is not difficult and is essential in determining what is bringing in paying customers. If you don't measure results you're wasting your money. Here are some simple suggestions: · Code your ad or offer and ask for the code when a customer uses the offer or mentions your ad. · Ask everyone where they heard about you and keep track. · Ask customers to fill out a short survey when they buy that asks them where they heard about you. · Do the same for internet sales. Answering this question should be a required part of closing the sale.

Step Ten Monthly make any necessary changes or adjustments to your plan.

Measurement is so valuable because it allows you to make course adjustments to your plan to keep it focused and on track. We all can make misjudgments and mistakes, so here's your opportunity to correct them before you waste too much time or money. Once you've completed these ten steps you're ready to begin letting your imagination fly. Don't worry if you occasionally make a mistake. After all, marketing is a creative activity. But following these guidelines will produce powerful results.

Here's to customers knocking down your door!

Want a focused way to put these powerful steps to work in your business? Check out our E-book - 136 Ways to Market Your Small Business at http://136waystomarket.com

Copyright 2004 by Janis Pettit -http://www.smartrack.net

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