Same simple marketing plan
Starting a home business? I have started a few and found that establishing a customer base was much harder and time consuming than I thought. It took me months to build a customer base sufficient to make the business self-sustaining. I decided to put together a marketing plan the last time before investing a lot of money in the actual business. This process not only helps you best focus resources where it will do the most good, it also alerts you to some possible pitfalls before starting and may even send you in a different direction.
The first step is to define what you are offering in the way of products/services. This may sound overly simple, but in doing so, you should form the name of your business and identify the specific product or service that you will provide that brings value to your customers and therefore, is worth their money. If you look at your product after capturing it and find it hard to see where it takes you, maybe you need to do some more thinking.
Next, identify your objective. This is not the same as your product/service. You objective is to build a client base. If for example, your product is very specialized with few willing to purchase and no repeat business, establishing a sustainable client base will be difficult.
Next, identify your customer base pool. Again, this may sound obvious or limiting, but unless you have unlimited marketing resources (and even if you do) you will want to target your efforts to where your most likely customers will be reached. Don't put ads for youth services in a retirement magazine since neither the young or their parents will view it.
Develop an outreach plan for your customer base. This is basically a "ok, here is who I want to reach, now how do I get them to see my ad?" step. Look at print, cyber and hard copy advertisements that will go to your pool of possible customers. Obviously, if the pool is broad, so should be the outreach methods. This step will also depend on your budget for advertising. As yourself where these people are, how they shop, where they go to for shopping, etc.
After this last step, you should be ready to focus your ads where these people shop (bulletin boards, ebay/craigslist, newpaper, or free community paper, handbills, door flyers, business cards and personal contacts) Never underestimate the value of word-of-mouth and personal contacts. People see lots of cards, flyers and ads, but a personal contact at a public place or door to door can have more lasting benefits in the right place. Also ask for leads from people who travel in circles of your customers and if you have very happy repeat customers, ask if you can use them as references.
Write your plan is some format that identifies all the areas above and keep it on your computer where your can update and add or subtract from it. Go back to it often and make sure your are following it, especially if your business is not taking off like you had hoped.
Provided below is a sample marketing plan for a college kid who wants to be a soccer coach/tutor:
Soccer Trainer Marketing Plan
Objective: To develop a paying clientele interested in individual soccer training/coaching
Customer Base: Parents of/or soccer players looking to improve their skills (with $ to spend!)
Outreach: Contacting potential customers
a. Develop and use a network of parents and past coaches to develop leads (Make a list of these people and their contact info)
b. Put out media ads to create new customers and leads (newsletter, club bulletin boards, school papers, flyers at the gym)
c. Contact local league reps to determine what assistance they can give and any rules on trainers (use to develop contacts)
Media: -Craigslist and local electronic media posts (include resume), flyers, business cards, articles for ads
-Provide contact info to people in (a) above
-Meet with coaches you know to discuss and get leads (provide contact info as appropriate)
-If you can, post a flier or leave info a local soccer supply stores
-Look for free bulletin boards at community center, grocery stores, libraries, etc. and post flier/info
Strategies:
- Start initial hourly rates either lower or with some incentive but higher rates later (introductory offer)
-Give discounts for referrals
-Attend soccer events and volunteer to work while networking with coaches and parents (have resume/card in car or pocket)
The first step is to define what you are offering in the way of products/services. This may sound overly simple, but in doing so, you should form the name of your business and identify the specific product or service that you will provide that brings value to your customers and therefore, is worth their money. If you look at your product after capturing it and find it hard to see where it takes you, maybe you need to do some more thinking.
Next, identify your objective. This is not the same as your product/service. You objective is to build a client base. If for example, your product is very specialized with few willing to purchase and no repeat business, establishing a sustainable client base will be difficult.
Next, identify your customer base pool. Again, this may sound obvious or limiting, but unless you have unlimited marketing resources (and even if you do) you will want to target your efforts to where your most likely customers will be reached. Don't put ads for youth services in a retirement magazine since neither the young or their parents will view it.
Develop an outreach plan for your customer base. This is basically a "ok, here is who I want to reach, now how do I get them to see my ad?" step. Look at print, cyber and hard copy advertisements that will go to your pool of possible customers. Obviously, if the pool is broad, so should be the outreach methods. This step will also depend on your budget for advertising. As yourself where these people are, how they shop, where they go to for shopping, etc.
After this last step, you should be ready to focus your ads where these people shop (bulletin boards, ebay/craigslist, newpaper, or free community paper, handbills, door flyers, business cards and personal contacts) Never underestimate the value of word-of-mouth and personal contacts. People see lots of cards, flyers and ads, but a personal contact at a public place or door to door can have more lasting benefits in the right place. Also ask for leads from people who travel in circles of your customers and if you have very happy repeat customers, ask if you can use them as references.
Write your plan is some format that identifies all the areas above and keep it on your computer where your can update and add or subtract from it. Go back to it often and make sure your are following it, especially if your business is not taking off like you had hoped.
Provided below is a sample marketing plan for a college kid who wants to be a soccer coach/tutor:
Soccer Trainer Marketing Plan
Objective: To develop a paying clientele interested in individual soccer training/coaching
Customer Base: Parents of/or soccer players looking to improve their skills (with $ to spend!)
Outreach: Contacting potential customers
a. Develop and use a network of parents and past coaches to develop leads (Make a list of these people and their contact info)
b. Put out media ads to create new customers and leads (newsletter, club bulletin boards, school papers, flyers at the gym)
c. Contact local league reps to determine what assistance they can give and any rules on trainers (use to develop contacts)
Media: -Craigslist and local electronic media posts (include resume), flyers, business cards, articles for ads
-Provide contact info to people in (a) above
-Meet with coaches you know to discuss and get leads (provide contact info as appropriate)
-If you can, post a flier or leave info a local soccer supply stores
-Look for free bulletin boards at community center, grocery stores, libraries, etc. and post flier/info
Strategies:
- Start initial hourly rates either lower or with some incentive but higher rates later (introductory offer)
-Give discounts for referrals
-Attend soccer events and volunteer to work while networking with coaches and parents (have resume/card in car or pocket)
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