3 Core Activities for a Small Business Marketing Plan | 48 Days ...

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A Small Business Marketing Plan Helps to Leverage All Your Assets & Opportunities

In case you didn?t know? this is Home-Based Business Week. If you want to take ground, one of the greatest places to start is with a small business marketing plan. Running a successful business takes more than a notion. While working at home has several perks, but there are multiple pitfalls to avoid. I wanted to share a few things that help me to stay focused and productive.

In addition, this is International Strategic Planning Month. I?m especially pumped about strategic planning month because I know it?s the foundation for long-term success. In my years of selling websites and pay-per-click advertising for other companies, one of the most common shortfalls of local business owners was not creating and working from a plan.

If you?re like me, you like planning and strategizing. You have an analytical mind and don?t mind working through all the details.

However, if you?re strong in execution? you may find yourself getting frustrated when it comes to creating a plan. The challenge of not having a plan can be crippling.?I find that nothing helps me focus and increase daily productivity like taking time to plan out goals, objectives, and a strategy to make things happen. Without a strategic approach, I tend to get bogged down in the tyranny of the urgent. Phone calls, checking and responding to email, and interruptions of all kinds throw me off track if I haven?t laid out a clear plan of action.

Here?s a very simple?template for developing an effective marketing plan. I like to call them marketing blueprints.

Since the essence of business comes down to getting and keeping customers, creating an up-to-date marketing blueprint ought to be your top priority.

1. Lead Generation
2. Setting Appointment
3. Closing Sales

No matter what industry you?re in, those three activities must go on in some shape, fashion, or form. Each and every business must have a steady flow of new leads where prospective buyers are gaining awareness and indicating interest in your products or services. Once they indicate?interest, you?ve got to get in front of them to make a presentation. Your sales presentation can take place via phone, face-to-face, through direct mail, or online. Webinar sales?presentations have taken off in the last 24-36 months.

Obviously, the objective of a sales presentation is to close a sale. One of the ways you can close more sales is to increase the number of prospects you see on a regular basis. The strength of a small business marketing plan comes from tracking your numbers. This can be tough for first year or newbie business owner because there?s no frame of reference. However, once you develop a baseline, you can identify how many leads it takes for you to set one appointment. You?ll also know how many ?qualified??appointments you have to go on to close one sale.

If you?ll identify what your core sales numbers are, your small business marketing plan will become an invaluable tool. When I say core sales numbers, I?m referring to these:

• How many leads come into your business on a weekly or monthly basis?
• What the concersion rate of leads to customers, clients, or patients?
• How much does your first-time customer, client, or patient spend with you on average?

Having answers to those questions alone can jump-start your business. When I get that information from a client, I know exactly where they need to focus their time and budget to get maximum gain in minimum time.

Attempting to create a small business marketing plan without that information is the hardest part of the process. However, it must be done in order to minimize losses and compete in this new economy. People running a home-based or small business sometimes?shortcut this process because they?re juggling so many responsibilities.

While Steve Jobs became an icon, he started working from home. You owe it to yourself to value your vision by taking the (uncommon) steps necessary to prepare for success.

Let me hear from you. Do you have a small business marketing plan? Is it up to date? If not, why?

Ask me your question and I?ll answer. What?s your single biggest question about developing an effective small business marketing plan?

Source: http://www.48daysmarketingcoach.com/3923/is-your-small-business-marketing-plan-up-to-date/

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