WHY EVERY START-UP BUSINESS NEEDS A MARKETING PLAN

With over 20 years of Marketing and Sales experience in Digital Marketing Claremont South Africa and working with Multi-national companies, marketing plans are a given within these organizations to map out the marketing initiatives the company will execute to meet their business objectives.   Generally large companies have marketing departments with full time marketing resources. 

So what about start-up or small businesses who do not have marketing resources?   How do they grow their products or services without a marketing plan for direction?  It’s not as simple as waving a magic wand and you attract new customers and increase sales.  A goal is futile without a plan! They need one of the best digital marketing agencies cape town has.

As a small business, you will need a straightforward Digital Marketing Claremont plan that is easy to follow and provides clear directly to what marketing initiatives your will use for the year.   To keep the format and elements flowing, the following elements can be used as a guideline;

#1  Market situation
This section should contain an accurate description of the current state of the market i.e.

• What are your products or service?
• What\’s the size of the market (estimate)?
• What geographical area do you operate in?
• Who are you targeting in terms of demographics
• Who are your competitors? What are they doing better than you?

#2  Opportunities and Challenges
This section would outline the threats and opportunities in the current market i.e.

• What trends in the market could negatively impact your business?
• What competitor trends is a need for concern?
• Are there any competitor trends that could work to your advantage?
• Is your products or services still relevant in the market in which you operate?
• Are the demographics in the market in your favour?

#3  Marketing Objectives (Set simply, concise, ambitious and achievable objectives)

In this section you want to map out what the future would look like.  What objectives you want to achieve over a specific period.  Ensure that your objective is quantifiable e.g.  I want to achieve 10% growth in sales (refer to previous years history to set the goal).  Very important to remember is to limit the amount of objectives you set over a given period. This keeps it challenging but achievable so you don’t end up depressed by failing too many enthusiastic goals.   Below are some examples of objectives you can set for your business

• Introduce new products or service
• Extend a product range or service offering
• Bundle one product with another (cross sell) i.e. firelighters and wood
• Improve your service delivery/lead time’s i.e. delivery in 24hrs rather than 48hrs
• Increase your client base
• Consider web design Claremont
• Hire Digi-guru, as one of the best digital marketing agencies Cape Town has

#4  Marketing Goals
In this section we get down to the nitty gritty of how and when you are going to do it.  The most important step is to look at your objective then add the steps you will take to achieve it e.g.

• Objective: We want recruit 20 new clients by the end of the year
• How will you make this happen = Action Plan? This is where you will list all the goals and actions you will take to attain this goal e.g. set a target for how many potential clients you will call daily.  Advertise your services online (social media) etc.

#5  Budgets and Controls
Growing your business requires a marketing budget. In this section you will allocate a budget to each marketing activity planned. Below is an example of a simple marketing budget.

Needless to say, your activities will evolve over time which means you will need to adjust the timing, the budget or the task.   Make your changes in an organized manner, adjusting all the dependent tasks so that the plan shifts as a whole. Whatever your decision, make sure to update your marketing plan. Be sure to include web design Claremont. Document why you didn\’t reach your goal. Keep the original, and date and number all changes. Your plan must be dynamic, but it shouldn\’t lose its sense of history.   All this information will be extremely useful when you create next year\’s marketing plan.

#6 Executive Summary
Put a brief summary at the front of your marketing plan binder. On a single page, sum up (with key financial numbers) in no more than a single page the contents of your marketing plan. Use bullet points, short sentences and bold type for major points, and stay focused on the big issues. What does someone have to know about your plan to have any sense of it.

This summary gives plan readers a concise description of what your company plans to do in the coming year.

 

At Digi-guru we understand the importance of a marketing plan for your business and want to help!  If you are serious about growing your business, don’t hesitate, contact us – we are the Digital Marketing Claremont experts!

 

Visit us; www.digi-guru.co.za.   Email: info@digi-guru.co.za.  Contact: 082 880 4816

We are one of the best digital marketing agencies Cape Town has to offer