Are Marketing Plans Really Necessary?

 

If you want to be successful at marketing your small business then the answer is of course YES. There are numerous reasons why we tell ourselves we do not need a marketing plan but in fact they are just excuses that are stopping you from being more successful.

Apart from all the usual reasons why marketing planning is necessary at the end of the day it just makes it easier to build and strengthen relationships with your customers.

Here are some of the reasons why some small businesses do not develop a marketing plan.

I do not have the time to complete a plan
Often the time factor is due to not knowing where to start, however today there are numerous books, templates, articles and software available to help and guide you. Just remember you do not have to develop a marketing plan in 30 minutes as it is not a race and you always fine tune the marketing plan over time.

I don’t need a plan as I know what my customers want
Think of yourself as a customer and you will quickly realise that this statement cannot be absolutely true all the time, especially these days. The simple reason is that customers are constantly changing their attitudes and behaviour as circumstances change around them. Most markets are dynamic so you need to have a plan in place to retain your customers and attract the most profitable ones so you can keep ahead of your competitors.

I don’t have a lot to spend on marketing so I do not need a marketing plan
Whether you have $500 or $5,000 to spend you need to maximize the results from your marketing activity. Also if you are providing a service then your time is money and you want to make sure that you are not wasting a minute of it. A plan is necessary to ensure you are spending your time and money on the right marketing tools and tactics that will attract and retain the customers you want.

The year has already started so I will think about it next year
Whilst it is ideal to have developed your marketing plan before the start of your financial year, do not let this stop you from developing one for the remainder of the year.

Whilst developing a marketing plan is necessary, success will not be achieved unless action is taken to implement the plan and track the results.

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You Can’t Please Everyone with your Marketing

You have worked hard developing your logo or your small business marketing materials and you ask a few people what they think. Some say it looks great others do not like it and some will just say I think the red colour should be a little brighter. 

You come away disappointed as you thought it was a sure winner.

Reading the reactions to Hugh Jackman’s hosting of the Oscars reminded me of the need to focus on what you are attempting with to achieve with your marketing and whose reactions you should care about.

Some critics did not like his performance such as the Los Angeles Times  and let it be known. However, whilst these reviewers are influencers, the reactions and reviews the producers of the show were interested in were the TV viewers.

The preliminary results showed a 6% rise in American viewers, the polls conducted such as the one by Entertainment Weekly revealed that over 70% wanted Hugh to return and even in the Los Angeles Times of the 21 responses to the blog post, 16 disagreed with the writer.

So what are the lessens for small business marketing:

• Don’t try and please everyone as you will never succeed
• If someone criticises your marketing, work out if the criticism is constructive or even relevant
• Listen to your key customers and community and involve them. Anita Campbell did this successfully when updating her websites; Small Business Trends and Selling to Small Businesses.
• Look at the results achieved this is a good indicator whether the marketing activity worked
• If the criticisms are valid take them on board to do an even better job next time

Most successful businesses and people have had their share of unfavourable reviews but the ones that count the most are your key customers with whom you are building a relationship.

What are your thoughts?

How Not to Attract Customers

Have you ever received a phone call, email,  marketing materials etc  from a company that wanted to do business with you but had gone about it in the wrong way?

I received an email this morning from a PR company offering sponsorship opportunities for a national day promoting environmental products and educating the public about the subject.

I was surprised that this company had not done their homework before emailing me as we do not have products or services that would be suitable for their target market which is consumers. Our customers are small business owners.

As a potential client or business partner of this company they simply did not do anything that would attract our business and let themselves down especially as this email appeared to be one way of showing their expertise.

There are many articles on how to attract customers, so here are a few tips on how not to attract customers:

• Be irrelevant and not at least try to understand a little about the potential customer before you contact them
• Talk about yourself and not listen or ask relevant questions
• Not have a relevant key point of difference to competitors
• Make outrageous claims of being the only, best, cheapest and not have proof
• Not follow up on a potential customer’s initial response or request
• Not provide information or details on the simple benefits of your product or service to meet a customer’s needs
• Make it difficult to start the relationship with your business
• Make assumptions on what the potential customer should do
• Make assumptions on what the customer actually wants
• Don’t make offers which are irrelevant to a potential customer
• Not start from the premise that a relationship takes time to develop

 Attracting our key potential customers can be tough and everyone makes mistakes from time to time. It is how we learn and move forward that counts.

 What tips do you have?

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Employees – An Important Part of your Marketing Success

 

We sometimes forget that one of the most valuable sources of information on our market, competitors and customers is our employees and to an extent those other small businesses we use to outsource work.

If our employees are not trained to effectively meet the needs of our customers, a customer may not return to repurchase, despite all the marketing and sales efforts.

It is important to find out if our employees have the necessary skills, training, processes and tools to be able to satisfy our customers’ needs and wants and support our sales and marketing strategies.

Here is a short checklist that can be used to see if there are gaps in their knowledge and skills that may need to be addressed:

• Do they have knowledge of the market you are competing in?
• Do they have an understanding of your brand’s or business’s and product’s or service’s features and benefits?
• Do they have an understanding of your brand’s or business’s and product’s or service’s key point of difference?
• Do they have an understanding of your key customers’ needs?
• Do they have knowledge of your sales objectives?
• Are they up to date with your marketing activities?
• Do they understand the need for high customer service?
• Are they skilled in customer service?
• Is there an opportunity for them to make customer referrals?

Of course certain skills will of course apply to particular positions so take this into account when conducting your review

How do you ensure your employees have the knowledge, skills and tools needed to help your business achieve marketing success and strong customer relationships?

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Are your Customer Service Policies Friendly?

                                                                 One of the cornerstones for small business marketing is customer service. This area is being given more attention these days and most of us know it is a simple way to attract and retain our customers.

I was reading an article yesterday on the Sydney Morning Herald Small Business Blog by Kristen Le Mesurier about returns policies and I noted the friendly customer service approach by Freedom that allowed customers to return anything in saleable condition within 7 days to receive their money back.

As Kristen noted some customers will want to return products. To me, Freedom simplified this process and made it easier for customers to shop at their stores without the worry of making the wrong purchase choice.

The article reminded me that by looking at our customer service policies and making it a little friendlier and easier for customers can make all the difference to the relationship.

An example of this is Pet Care 200 Warehouse. My cat had just turned 1 so Charlie needed to change to a different type of cat food. I tried one and normally he eats like a dog and woofs the food down pretty quickly. However he just was not taking to the new cat food.

I went to Pet Care explained the situation and after listening they suggested another type and to see how he went for 3 days. If he still was not eating like he used to I just had to bring back the rest of the bag of cat food and my receipt and they would give me my money back. There are not too many stores that will offer to take back a bag of food that has been opened and some of it consumed. Great customer service and so simple.

Do you have any tips or examples for making customer service policies friendly for your customers?

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