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Marketing Objectives

Your marketing objectives should lead to sales. You want to have clear, measurable goals with expected time frames to accomplish them in so your anticipated outcomes will guide your marketing efforts to grow your business. Some examples of measurable objectives would be:

Increase product awareness among existing customers by 30 percent within one year

Expand market base by 10 percent within 6 months (reach new customers)

Increase overall sales by 15 percent over the next 12 months

Marketing Strategies

Your marketing strategies will support your objectives and give you a clear idea of what resources are needed to implement your plans. Strategizing will help you prepare your budget, position yourself in the marketplace, price your products or service, and plan your advertising methods.

4Ps OF MARKETING

This is where the 4Ps of marketing come in: Product, Price, Promotion, Place

1. Product

Describe your product or service in detail — list the features and benefits your customers get from using them.

Describe in detail what resources are needed to produce your product–what do you need to have or do (manufacturing process) to create your product?

2. Price

List the price range of your products. It isn’t necessary to include an item-by-item breakdown of each product in your line, just the range. For example, if you operate a day spa, your price range might be “massages $25-$125,” “facials $20-$35,” “manicures $15-$45,” etc.

Describe your pricing strategy: are prices negotiable? (Price tags on big-ticket items like houses or cars are often flexible.) Do you offer discounts to military personnel, senior citizens, or long-term customers? Do you offer discounts for bulk purchases or payments made in cash? Also list your terms of payment, for example, “net 30 days,” and include whether you offer a payment plan or financing options, and if you accept credit cards.

3. Promotion

This section of your Marketing Plan gives an overview of the promotional strategies you’ll use to support your objectives. The actual “how and where and how often” will be detailed in the Action Plans section, which we’ll cover shortly.

In the Promotion section, you describe what techniques you’ll use to achieve each of your stated objectives. For example, if your objective is to create awareness about tooth care products for pets for new pet owners, your promotional plans might include leaving samples at local veterinarians’ offices, sponsoring a “healthy pet” seminar at a local pet shop, and advertising in pet-oriented publications. You might also rent vendor space at a local pet expo event and promote or sell your wares from there.

If you own a deli and your objective is to broaden your target market to include first-time homeowners in a new development in your neighborhood, your promotional plans might include giving discount coupons and “welcome wagon” gift packages of sample-sized nonperishable goods to the realtors selling the properties to give to the new homeowners. You might also use a direct-mail campaign targeting the zip code of the new development, and host an annual Open House celebration to welcome the neighborhood newcomers, which could be as simple as free cookies and hot chocolate or cider on your counter.

4. Place (Sales and distribution channels)

Describe your sales methods — will these be point-of-purchase sales (impulse items placed at the checkout counter) or mass marketed at vendor and trade shows? Will you employ sales staff at a retail store or will your distributors be independent contractors?

What are your distribution methods — do you stock inventory and sell it from your store? Do you have an eBay store or a website that customers order from? Are products drop-shipped to your customers or do you personally handle shipping? Is your product seasonal, and if so, how do you handle peak production, inventory, and shipping, as well as the slowdown in sales periods? Do you sell directly to customers or do you use re-sellers and distributors or a combination of all these methods?

ACTION PLAN

In the Action Plan section of your Marketing Plan, you’re basically developing a very detailed promotions “to do” list. It’s a task list that describes what will be done, when it will begin or be completed, who will accomplish the tasks, and so on.

The Action Plan picks up where the Promotion section left off. Whereas your promotion plan might outline that your company will participate in industry trade shows, the Action Plan lists the trade shows and their dates, your objectives for attending each one, who from your company will attend, the results you expect, the marketing methods you’ll use, etc.

Your Action Plan can be laid out in a chart, table, column form with timelines, or in any other way that works for you. Promotions can be group chronologically or by event types. For example, you could list all the activities planned in each month, or you could group similar activities, such as public relations activities, together regardless of when they’ll occur during the year.

If your Action Plan becomes too lengthy, you might decide that it’s better to place some of the more detailed bits of information–such as a media placement plan outlining where and when and which ads will run in what publication–in the supporting documents section.

MARKETING BUDGET

Your marketing budget will detail the costs involved in implementing your promotion and advertising methods set forth above. You’ll need to estimate how much it will cost for each ad to run in magazines, newsletters, online, etc.; what your market research costs will be; how much it will cost to attend trade shows as a vendor; what the printing charges will be for brochures, fliers, business cards, etc.; and how much it will cost for marketing communications, such as bridge lines for teleseminars and so forth.

A good rule of thumb for small businesses is to allocate approximately two percent of your gross annual sales to your marketing efforts. If you’re just starting out or planning to introduce a new product or service, your marketing budget might be as much as 10 percent of your gross expected sales.

Now it’s time to put all the pieces together and write your formal Marketing Plan. Let’s go to How To Write Your Marketing Plan.