Posted by Jess Saba on Tue, Oct 27, 2009 @ 05:25 PM
The Importance of The Marketing Plan
For small
businesses the marketing plan is one of the most important tools
available to ensure a company is on track to create and keep new
customers.
A well developed marketing plan will help companies
attract target customers by offering products and services that satisfy
customer's needs, demands and wants then delivers exceptional customer
service, convenience and value to keep them returning to the business.
The
key to creating and implementing a successful marketing plan is to
remain customer focused rather than profit driven. The marketing team's
job is to foster a relationship then to hand the customer to the sales
team to encourage a purchase.
Define Target Market:
In order to point your marketing efforts in the right direction spend
time researching to determine, as specifically as possible, who you are
offering your product or service to. Determine the demographics, the
buying behaviors and needs of your customers.
Ask For Feedback: Speak to your customers. How did they hear about you? Do they like your product? What could you improve?
Build Relationships:
Find creative ways to make your customer feel special and valued.
Developing long term relationships will help create repeat customers.
Attracting New Customers
Despite
tight marketing budgets, small businesses have many opportunities to
effectively and creatively reach their customers. Below are a few
ideas to get you started:
Send Press Releases: News
stories are a great way to gain free attention for your business. When
sending a press release make sure you have an interesting angle and
your story is newsworthy.
Create a Newsletter: Email makes
it easy to stay in contact with your customers. Build your email list,
ask for permission to contact each customer, then distribute a monthly
newsletter to stay on their radar.
Offer Samples: Where does your target demographic spend time? Go there and offer samples to
Keeping Your Customers
After
you spend time and energy to attract a customer to your business it is
vital to find ways to keep customers coming back. Small businesses have
an advantage over larger companies with their ability to stay in close
contact with customers and their ability to quickly change managerial
tactics.
By offering a superior and unexpected quality of
customer service, value and convenience your return customers may
become your biggest asset.
Creating a culture of great customer
service requires training employees to take care of and listen to
customers, to offer personal attention and focus on service.
For more information read: 