As promised we will continue our journey inside the Marketing Strategy by covering advertising, product positioning, and the Implementation phase. It is my hope you understand how important the Marketing section of your business plan is; that is why we have taken two weeks to cover this section. All that your business is is directly reflected in your Marketing, Target Marketing, and Marketing Strategies. There is no such thing as too much time spent on Market Research, just don’t try to include all of the information on your business plan. 

Marketing Strategy

Advertising

An effective advertising campaign results from your Marketing efforts. The better you are able to define your target audience, the greater market penetration you will have in your advertising. When describing your advertising strategies include the budget, medium, frequency and expected response. Also, include the process for evaluating the success of your campaign and how unsatisfactory performance will be addressed.

Product Positioning

Packaging and presentation are vital in establishing your products’ presence during the beginning stages of your existence. The intent of proper product placement is to customize your product to be easily identified by your target markets as the solution to their need.

In this section include mock-ups of your products packaging, uniforms,  logo, trademark , tag line, and any other collateral. Explain why your target audience will be attracted to your product and any research statistics that reinforce your theory.

Implementation

Pricing

Pricing is where you describe how much your company will be compensated for your products and/or services. Detail how your competitors price their products and how your pricing will be different. Be specific, if you have a pricing structure that allows discounting or price breaks for multiples, be sure to include how those plateaus are reached.

Distribution

Distribution can be a silent killer for a small business. It does not matter how beautiful your merchandise is or how inexpensive, if it takes an excessive amount of time for delivery. In this section detail your logistics strategies, including shipping, delivery and replenisment. Where available, include comparisons of industry distributions, competitors and other related companies. The goal is to give a clear understanding of the challenges of timely distribution and how you will overcome what everyone else has not.

 Service

 What happens when something goes wrong or a customer has a questions? One of the surest ways to increase customer and brand loyalty is the service received after the purchase of your product or service. Be sure to give the theory behind your service philosophy.  Describe your policies regarding returns, damages and issue resolution, emphasizing your company’s dedication to customer service.

Support

Were applicable list the types of support your company offers before and after the sale. Whether onsite visits, telephonic support or training classes. If your product is of a technical nature, be more specific in the tyoe of support and give an example.

As you can see by the three weeks dedicated to Marketing, there is no more important section. Every effort in you business plan will evolve from Marketing. Take your time and get it right and you will enjoy the fruits of your labor.

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Now that we have introduced Market Analysis, we can move into the meat of your Marketing Plan; Strategy and Implementation. The strategic portion develops broad strategies such as brand positioning, market entry, sales strategy, advertising and product positioning. The implementation portion of the plan deals with pricing, distribution, segment-specific target marketing, service and support. Although we brushed across many of these topics last week, this week we will take a more indepth look.

Marketing Strategy

Brand Positioning

Who are you and why should we care? Not a very friendly question, but accurate when a new product enters the consumer markets. Brand positioning addresses differences in brand attributes, user benefits and target segments. Proper positioning will set your company apart from the competition and create a loyal following among your customers.   

Market Entry

It has been said that timing is everything and that definitely holds true when planning the unveiling of your business. Opening an ice cream parlor in the midst of a record blizzard, may not be the best point of entry. Just as businesses have cycles so do products. In your market research, you should have determined when the peak seasson is for your product and when demand slows. Ideally, you would time your market entry to begin at the end of the slowest part of the cycle and advertise heavily prior to demand increasing.

Sales Strategy

Now that you have established a need for your product, identified your target market and shown why you are who the consumer will purchase from, it is time to explain how you will consumate the deal. Sales strategy details the philosphies and techniques your business will employ to move shoppers from browser to customers.

Your strategy should detail both sales philosophy and requirements for successful execution. It is alright to give examples of revolutionary techniques, but be careful not to make it read like a training manual. Keep the focus on the core theories behind your technique and how they are applied, for example, "Our sale strategy is based on the belief everyone deserves a good nights sleep. Customers are encouraged to try at least three mattresses while the salesperson explains the differences in the models".

By detailing your sales strategy, you let your investors know you understand your target audience and what it will take to get them to purchase. Also, it provides management with a tool to evaluate sales strategies during the business cycles.

For the sake of brevity, I will go into advertising, product positioning and implementation in Week 4.

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This week (yes, I know I’m a week late), we will begin the Market Analysis section of your business plan. This is the single most important section because it details what need your business will fulfill and how you arrived at the determination your services are needed. Included in this section are Market analysis, Industry analysis, and Target Markets.

Market Analysis

Even if your prospective financier is familiar with your industry, you should give a brief overview. Include data supporting your suppositions and make sure all sources are both referenced and verifiable.

When giving your analysis, be careful not to overwhelm the reader with too much information. Each entry should be concise and to the point. Your proofreading should be done from the perspective of someone who knows nothing about your industry, but be compelling enough to keep the reader interested.

Be sure to show market segmentation, which is the portion of the market you and your nearest competitors occupy. Do not be afraid to use pie charts, graphs and other market representations, to fully illustrate your depth of understanding of your market and its players.

Industry Analysis

In this section include any information pertaining to your industry such as pending legislation, and changes that are advantageous to your business. For example:

"In 2005, the coffee sales were 2.8 billion; largely fueled by the growth and popularity of specialty stores such as Starbucks, Caribou and The Bean. As of Q4 of 2006, those sales have grown by an average of 26% year over and show no sign of slowing".

Target Market

Here is where the bulk of your research will be (not should be) done. The success of your business will depend on how well you identify your target markets. Target markets are those segments of the buying public that have exhibited the need you are attempting to fulfill.

Your target marketing should begin with a need analysis. The need analysis works best when it answers the following questions:

1. Who are your customers?
2. When do they need your product?
3. What are they using now?
4. Who are they purchasing from?
5. Who are you competing with for their discretionary spending?
6. Why should they purchase your product?

These questions should be answered for each segment of your target markets. Be as descriptive as possible, try not to leave any detail unexplored. Proper investigation into your target markets will give you a better understanding of how to advertise to potential customers and how to track the efficacty of your marketing campaign. 

Next week will will cover Marketing Strategies.  

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