Back-to-Basics Marketing Plan

The Sprocket Report

This article has been updated on 8/15/2023 with the article entitled “How Can You Market Your Business if You Can't Answer These Basic Questions?”

Twitter and Facebook ads, content marketing, search engine optimization – with so many evolving options to consider, it’s easy to get caught up in the details and lose focus on the bigger picture. Are you sabotaging your business because you aren’t properly prepared to make marketing decisions?

Skipping steps can lead to tripping and falling, so take the time to think through a marketing plan. These questions may seem elementary, but it never ceases to amaze us how many budding entrepreneurs can’t accurately answer them.  

Know your product or service

• Are you selling what people want to buy?
  Re-assess constantly to improve what you offer and stay relevant with your customers.
• What problem are you solving?
  Prospective clients should see themselves conquering their problem by using your product or service.
• Why should someone buy from you?
  Stay clear of the “features” trap and highlight the “benefits.”

Know your target market

• Who is your main target?
  Be ultra-specific, as in:  he’s a forty-five year old in middle management with a wife who stayed home with their young children and now wants to return to her profession.
• Where can you find your target?
  Having that detailed bio will help you figure out how to get in front of prospective customers.
• When is your target looking for you?
  Train commuters pass the time on their phones, but those who drive might listen to the radio. People changing careers go online at night, after work and family commitments are met.

Know your marketing goal

• What is a successful goal completion?
  Visualize what happens as you move your customer through the sales funnel.
• What is your “call to action?”
  Tell prospectives exactly what you want them to do, whether it’s “call now,” “sign up here” or “buy.”
• How will you measure success?
  Knowing the number of leads it takes to make a sale and at what point you lost a prospective will help fine-tune your process.

Know your marketing options

• What’s available locally?
  Research and make a list of local newspapers, magazines, online news sources, radio and podcast shows, community calendars and neighborhood newsletters.
• What’s available in your industry?
  Research and list all relevant websites, blogs, user groups and newsletters.
• Where does your competition appear?
  While you’ll want to have a presence in the places that work for them, develop your own unique message.  And think about focusing your efforts on the places where they don’t have a presence.

Once you think through these questions and write down the answers, you will have a go-to document for reference when working with your publicist, ad sellers, news reporters and of course, your website developer. Together, you and your marketing team can focus on promoting a clear, concise and consistent message to attract and convert customers.

Already completed your marketing basics document? Then contact us today! You know we’re happy to help with your website marketing.

Kate GingoldKate Gingold

I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.

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I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.

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2 comments on article "Back-to-Basics Marketing Plan"

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ann marie guenther

Nailed it Kate! I just had this conversation last week with another entrepreneur.

5/14/2015 12:40 AM

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Kate Gingold

Thanks, Ann Marie! We entrepreneurs are just so eager to move forward that we sometimes forget to lay a good foundation. Walk before you run, they say!

5/14/2015 11:30 AM

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