Planning your marketing
Your day-to-day business marketing activities are likely to focus on communicating with existing and potential customers. Your marketing plan should set out when and how you will do this.
There are many ways to market your business; the secret to a great marketing plan is to identify those methods that will best meet your business needs. These will become your own marketing mix. These marketing activities could include:
- Email marketing, including a regular email newsletter;
- Building a following on social media sites;
- Advertising online (including pay-per-click) or on sites like Facebook;
- Optimising your website to boost traffic and maximise sales conversions;
- Taking advantage of PR opportunities to promote your business;
- Attending trade shows and exhibitions in your sector;
- Running sales promotions and special offers;
- Advertising in the local press and on the radio;
- Leafleting your local area.
It’s also a good idea to create a marketing schedule, to identify key times of year when marketing activity is likely to be most successful. This could include seasonal purchasing peaks, such as Christmas.
If you rely heavily on a fairly small number of important customers, consider developing individual account management plans for them.
