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Marketing Plan

Marketing plan

Market research is a major section of your business plan. You were clearly defined your target consumers and competitors, how you market the business, on the strategies you will use to build a presence online and off-line.

This module looks at how to carry outs market research to assess our industry, competitors, and, most importantly, your target demographic.

The module also covers how to market your kids and all services, how to consider pricing, and how to use a website and social media to interact with and influence customers.

A cohesive marketing plan allows you to reach your audience and spread the word of your business.

The top Marketing, he sees the marketing plan allows you to reach your audience and spread word of your business.

The topics covered are

  • Why marketing is important
  • Market research
  • Customer demographic
  • Pragmatic and secondary
  • Competitor analysis
  • Product and service features
  • After-sale services
  • Pricing
  • Methods of advertising
  • Website and social media

How you market your business can make or break its success.

Effective marketing helps you tell your audience you exist and advertise your services or products the right way.

It enables you to build a brand and a presence, as well as establish a reputation.

It helps you show people why they should come to you over the competition.

A cohesive marketing plan shows perspective financiers that you understand your choice and industry and target market.

Your marketing plan provides you with a continuous reminder of your core audience and how to reach them.

It helps you determine the best ways to interact with your customer base.

Your marketing plan helps you create a strong Brand personality and set of values to define your business persona

The first step in producing A market plan is to research your target consumers and industry.

Market research helps you to:

  • Identify your core market. Research allows you to determine the demographic of your primary and secondary customers.
  • Understand the wants and needs of your audience. Customer profiles help you figure out what your customers expect from your businesses goods and services, how customers interact and behave, their preferences, and more.
  • Understand trends in advertising and development. Trend analysis allows you to get your business seen by the right people-the right way-and prepare for shifts in the industry.
  • Analyze your competitions. Competitors analysis helps you know what the competition is doing. Use this data to gauge what your competing against and how you can build a strong business.
  • Be wary of thinking you already know your target market. Even if your entering a familiar industry, research can reveal unexpected results.

Market research: Customer demographic

Start by creating a customer demographic.

The way you market your products and/or services varies greatly depending on what demographic your audience fits into and whether or not you plan to target more than one group.

For instance, the values and needs of those on higher incomes will differ to those on lower-income salaries.

Be aware of the difference between customers and clients, as they have very different needs. Will you have a business to business or business to consumer model?

You need to identify your primary and secondary consumers are and create a profile for each group.

Determine whether you expect to have a dedicated consumer base who purchased regularly from you or whether customers will use your business only once and twice.

A customer profile should include:

Age

Gender

Marital status

Nationality

Location

Income

Social class

Occupation and/or education.

Other criteria specific to your industry or business, including and personal values or requirements and niche or tailored services.

Be aware that no businesses can target everyone.

A well-defined audience profile lays the groundwork for a strong marketing strategy.

With customer demographics prepared early on, you can focus your research on specific groups of people to ensure you get the most relevant data.

Market research in turn helps you refine your customer profiles, so when it comes to setting up a marketing your business, you can reach the right people the right way.

Be aware that no businesses can target everyone.

A well defined audience profile lays the groundwork for a strong marketing strategy.

With customer demographics prepared early on, you can focus your research on specific groups of people to ensure you get the most relevant data.

Market research in turn helps you refine your customer profiles, so when it comes to setting up a marketing your business, you can reach the right people the right way.

Market research: Primary and secondary

Once you have created your customer profiles, you are ready to engage in market research.

There are two types: primary and secondary.

Primary research

Primary research involves collecting feedback from people in your target audience to measure the potential of certain aspects of your business, mainly the products or services you sell and your website.

It is useful for acquiring direct information about the wants and needs of your specific audience and how they may respond to your business once it’s up and running

Feedback straight from your target audience is actionable and relevant.

To carry out primary research, try the following methods:

Observation

Research free observation involves watching your potential customers shop at other businesses. You assess how they purchase products or services and how they interact with businesses like your own.

For example, if you plan to open a clothes store, visit an existing Outlet and watch customers from your target market. Note how they navigate the shop, what they buy, how much they spend, what time they arrive, how long they stay, how they interact with staff, etc

Surveys

Face to face and postal surveys are useful if your products or services are too personal for private or group discussions, while online surveys are useful if your business is online. Building a survey online is low cost and easy to share on social media

You should also try test marketing.

Test marketing involves selling your product or service in a small section of the market and assessing your audiences response.

It’s an effective way of seeing how willing people are to spend money on your business and how they react to it. You could test market your products or services at local events or conventions.

Test marketing is also a great way to build awareness about your business and brown.

Secondary Research

Secondary research involves using publish information to learn about industry and consumer trends. Secondary research also helps to recognize market trends in advertising and development.

Sources include:

  • Industry journals and profiles
  • Reports from research and trade organizations Government publications and studies

To find secondary sources, search online, visit your public library, or get in touch with your local industry and trade associations, chamber of commerce, or business development agency.

Start online at your local library. The Internet is a limitless resource and most librarians are happy to guide you through the business data collections. Trade associations and publications often have excellent industry specific data, so make sure to use them.

A mix of primary and secondary research is necessary.

Primary research helps you gain current information that is directly related to your business and audience, whereas a lot of the information we find during the secondary research may not be directly related to you, especially if your business is niche.

The downside to primary research is that many methods are costly, whereas secondary research is affordable because most of the information you will need is freely available to the public.

Also keep in mind that some research may not to reveal much about catering to the other businesses. So if you plan to sell business to business, it’s important to do further research.

Secondary research alongside time can also help you determine the market for class by looking at trends. How do you expect the market to grow? Will it grow faster the downside to primary research is that many methods are costly, whereas secondary research is affordable because most of the information you will need is freely available to the public.

Also keep in mind that some primary research may not reveal much about catering to the other businesses. So, if you plan to sell business to business, it’s important to do further research.

Secondary research alongside primary can also help you determine the market for class by looking at trends. How do you expect the market to grow? Will it grow faster than your business? How will the wants and needs of the consumer base change?

Market research: Competitor Analysis

Your marketing plan should include a competitor analysis section that lists all your major competitors including the names and addresses and your analysis of each.

This involves reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of your competition. You look at how they advertise their products or services and interact with their customers.

It is crucial to be aware of your competitors. If you don’t pay attention to how they function in the industry and don’t determine what you can do equally well or better, your business will struggle to keep up.

A competitor analysis should cover four key areas:

  • Competitors products and services
  • Competitors strengths and weaknesses
  • Past and current strategies used by competitors
  • Competitors websites and social media presence

Be sure to cover the following in your competitor analysis:

Competitors products and services

Determine as much as you can about the types of products and or services and competitors sell. What are they? How are they sold? How are they marketed? How much do they cost? What makes them unique? What are their drawbacks? If the business has a premises, what is it like? Are there reviews and comments from customers that you can read?

Is it their business online, over the phone, or in the premises and interact with them in the mindset of a customer or client.

Competitors strengths and weaknesses.

Analyze where your competitors excel and where they have room for improvement. The areas of improvement present an opportunity for your business. For instance, your competitors may sell quality products of an affordable price but lack good customer service.

Also include in your competitor analysis:

Past current strategies used by competitors.

Identify areas where your competitor has grown over time and determine how they have changed their approach in marketing their products and services. For example, does your competitor, a coffee shop, now attract more customers for letting them choose the type of milk they have in the coffee?

Go to events that your competitors are attending and observe the methods they use to promote their business. Also, read their annual report if they are a public company.

Competitors website and social media Presence

Read your competitors website to see what tone and style they use and how they structure content. Also, look at their social media pages and observe how the business interacts with customers. Which social media platform do they use most and which performs best?

Always keep in mind that competition is healthy coat on it pushes you to grow and better your own business.

Remember to also consider any future competitors and in direct competition.

Analyze future competitors, such as those just starting out, to gain insight into how a successful business works early on and how to gain and maintain momentum.

It’s important to consider in direct competitors so you don’t locate yourself too close to them and so you plan to provide something unique.

For example, a supermarket is an indirect competitor of a sandwich shop call pizza take away because they can provide the same service, potentially much cheaper.

Even once your business is up and running, keep an eye on what your competitors are doing. Observe how they adapt to any shifts in the industry. Learn from them.

Product and service features

Provide as much detail as possible about your products and services and their Strengths.

Explain your product or service from the perspective of your consumers. Explain why they would want to pay for them, particularly over your clothes competitors.

Describe what makes them marketable and unique. For example, all your product to use a friendly. Is your service flexible and accommodating of people with certain requirements? Do you place a high priority on sourcing only the best materials and goods?

Note the difference between the features and the benefits of a product and or service.

For example, the features of a house are that it provides shelter, is durable, and is made with certain materials and to certain design. Its benefits include pride of ownership, financial security, providing for the family, and inclusion in a neighborhood.

Build features into your product so that you can sell the benefits.

After sale services

Marketing plan should describe any sale services that you’ll provide and promote to better market your business

Examples of after sale services include:

  • Delivery including tracking and updates Warranties and guarantees Product samples Newsletters, including sales alerts.
  • Loyalty programs and discounts for occasions Support Follow up service Refund policies
  • After sales services are useful for strengthening the relationship between you and your audience.
  • After sale care health customers feel like they are receiving value and that you care about a custom. As a result, it’s unlikely that you’ll build loyalty.

Pricing

Provide a breakdown of how much your goods or services will cost.

Explain your methods for setting process. For most small businesses, having the lowest price is not always a good policy, as it lowers profit margin. Customers may not be as sensitive to price as you think, especially if you provide good services before and after sale.

Large competitors reduce the price is to try and drive you out of the marketplace, so don’t fret about trying to undercut when you first start. Usually you will do better to have average prices and compete on quality and services.

Think about whether your pricing strategy fits in with the results from your competitive analysis and compare your prices with those of your competition. If there are differences, justify why.

The pricing section is a good place to include any results from your primary research, during which she may have asked focus groups how much they would be willing to pay for your goods and services I may have trialled prices through test marketing.

Methods of advertising

We also need to consider how you will advertise your business.

Advertising can be tough for a start-up business, as many methods of custody. But there are plenty of cheap or free ways to advertise, depending on the type of business you plan to run.

For instance, if you want to start the food business, setting up a stand at local events as an effective, cost method of advertising.

Methods of advertising include:

  • Paid advertising, both online and offline Hosting promotional launches, events, exhibitions etc Offering samples, especially at local events Brochures, leaflets, business cards posters and flyers Test marketing Networking Local business listings Newspaper ads
  • Website and social media
  • As one of the most powerful marketing tools available, your business should use the Internet to interact and share with your customer base.

You should have a website and the most appropriate type of social media page for you.

Your website and social media profile makes your business appear professional and trustworthy, as well as friendly and approachable. Website provides information about what you offer in one central location, while your social media page is a platform where customers can communicate with you and see your friendly side.

Interacting with customers via social media helps you build your brand, full relationships, and show that you value your customers.

Social media is effective for promoting your product through status updates and paid adverts, but you should also publish content on social media that is not related to your products and or services.

The Purpose of posting content unrelated to selling your products and services is to humanize your brand.

Customers don’t want to feel pushed or overwhelmed by advertising. They want to feel inspired and get a feel for your business values, opinions, and personality.

You should build and personality with a well-designed website that highlights the values you have and by making good use of social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, linkedin, Snapchat, and more.

For example, the body shop have an ethical, cruelty free stance to skin care and beauty, which are strong selling points and traits of the business. The business shares content that promotes the benefits of products being natural, eco-friendly, and cruelty-free.

Keep in mind that many people are cautious about where they spend their money because there is a wide range of availability. Customers can purchase what they want or need from just about anywhere nowadays, both online and off-line.

A range of availability means that you have to make your business stand out beyond your goods and services. In other words, you need to sell your benefits, values, personality.

Your values help you resonate with your target market and those who share and respect your values. When you have values that you’re genuinely believe in and stay true to, you can establish a loyal customer base and a positive reputation.

When the choice is between two businesses with similar products and services, if yours has better values and ethics, customers who value social responsibility or more likely to buy from you.

Summary

In this section of the course you have learnt that

  • A marketing plan is important for helping you define your audience and demonstrate to perspective financiers that you understand your chosen industry.
  • You need to carry out market research to identify your core market and their wants and needs, gain an understanding of trends in advertising and development, and analyze your competitors
  • You should create a customer demographic and use it during your market research, especially primary. Primary research includes observation, focus groups, surveys, and test marketing
  • Secondary research involves Reading publications and studies online, in your public library, or by contacting your local industry and trade associations, chamber of commerce, or business development agency.
  • Your competitor analysis should cover four key areas: competitors products and services, strengths and weaknesses, past and current strategies, and website and social media presence.
  • Your marketing plan should also cover details about your business’s products and service features, after sale services, pricing, methods of advertising, and website and social media.