A well-crafted marketing plan is your roadmap to building and growing a profitable and sustainable business. The following six steps will give you an overview of things to consider and questions to ask as you start creating a marketing plan for your business.
Step 1: Know Your Target Market
The first step in creating your marketing plan is to get a clear understanding of your target market. Define your target market based on key demographics such as age, gender, occupation, income level, interests, education, marital status and behaviors.
Take it a step further by finding a fictional, physical picture that is representative of your ideal customer and hang it on your wall. Think about the challenges they face and what motivates them to purchase.
Find where they socialize or engage with other people. Consider the networking groups they may attend, organizations and social media platforms. What newsletters or magazines do they consume? Are there any online forums they may be a part of such as Reddit or Quora?
Understanding their online and offline behavior will help you focus your resources on the right channels and avoid wasting time in the wrong places with people who are not a good fit for your business.
Step 2: Craft a Clear and Compelling Message
Once you know who your audience is and where to find them, it’s time to determine what you’ll say to grab their attention. Your message should include what you do, who you serve and the benefits of working with you.
Communicate the transformation they will experience in their lives and in their business after purchasing your product or service. Consider your ideal customer's pain points. How do you stand out from the crowd? Why should they trust you?
Step 3: Choose The Right Media
Marketing is no longer a one-size-fits-all approach. Think of the various media types as tools in your toolkit...social media, email campaigns, blogging, video, seminars, webinars, direct mail campaigns and search engine optimization (SEO). Find which of these tools are being consumed and used by your target market.
For instance, Instagram might work best if you’re targeting millennials with a visually driven product, while LinkedIn would be a better fit if you’re targeting business to business (B2B) clients.
Regardless of the chosen media, ensure you track metrics like response rates, click-through rates, engagement and conversion rates to measure success.
Step 4: Define Your Onboarding/Follow-Up Process
From initial contact to follow-up after the sale, your customer's experience should be seamless and aligned with the promises you make in your marketing efforts.
Outlining every step of the process will put both you and your client at ease. For example...
- The first step could be the initial phone call or in-person meeting.
- The second step could be you send them a proposal.
- The third step is to schedule your first meeting to discuss the project in more detail after they sign the proposal.
- The fourth step is you send them a thank you note, a welcome email, or even a handwritten note.
- The fifth step is where you deliver your service as outlined in your proposal.
- The eighth step is to ask for a testimonial and referral.
- The last step is to send a handwritten thank you note.
If you make the process of engaging with your business as easy as possible, you will have happy customers. And happy customers are more likely to become repeat customers who will tell others about you.
Step 5: Calculate Your Customer Lifetime Value
Calculating your customer lifetime value (CLV) is the best way to determine how much you can spend on marketing your business. CLV is the total revenue your business can expect to earn from each customer throughout your relationship.
Here is a very simplified explanation of how to calculate your CLV. If you spend $100 on an ad and you get one customer as a direct result of running that ad. It cost you $100 to acquire that customer.
If the customer you acquired through the ad purchases a $50 product every month for 12 months, they will spend $600 over that 12-month period. So your CLV is $600.
Then subtract $100 [ad cost] from $600 [CLV] and you have a profit of $500 minus your cost of the product they purchased.
That is a hefty profit margin and gives you an idea of how much you can spend to acquire a customer. (According to the "experts", you should be spending 5% - 20% of your revenue on marketing.)
It's important to measure everything in your business and hold your marketing accountable. CLV is one of the most important metrics to know. Using tools like Google Analytics or customer relationship management (CRM) platforms to track recurring purchases, subscriptions, and overall engagement will help you determine the metrics for other areas of your business.
Step 6: Get Testimonials and Referrals
Always ask for referrals. Happy customers can be your greatest marketing ambassadors. Word-of-mouth referrals are free (or cost significantly less than advertising) and often result in higher conversion rates because they’re based on trust. Consider offering incentives, such as discounts to customers who refer a friend or even a referral fee.
Get testimonials to build trust, but keep in mind most people have no idea how to write a testimonial or are hesitant to do it for various reasons. Here is the easiest way to get a testimonial.
When someone tells you how much they like your product or service, remember what they said. Then write it down as soon as possible. When you get back to the office, put what they said in an email and send it to them. Ask them if this is what they said and do they mind if you use it in a testimonial. 99% of the time, they will say it’s okay to use it or they may make a couple of changes to the email and send it back to you.
In conclusion, if you work through the six steps above, you will be well on your way to creating a great marketing plan that will give you the edge over your competition. So, invest some time in this and let me know if I can help.