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Small Business Marketing:
How To Develop A Marketing Plan
Source: Managing a Small Business
The marketing plan is a problem-solving document. Skilled problem solvers recognize that a big
problem is usually the combination of several smaller problems. The best approach is to solve
each of the smaller problems first, thereby dividing the big problem into manageable pieces. Your
marketing plan should take the same approach. It should be a guide on which to base decisions
and should ensure that everyone in your organization is working together to achieve the same
goals. A good marketing plan can prevent your organization from reacting to problems in a
piecemeal manner and even help in anticipating problems. Before your marketing plan can be
developed, research must give you the basic guidelines: for whom you are designing your
product or service (market segmentation), and exactly what that product or service should mean
to those in the marketplace (market positioning). Below are some guidelines to help you develop
a marketing plan to support the strategy you have selected for your organization.
Market Segmentation
Your marketing plan should recognize the various segments of the market for your product or
service and indicate how to adjust your product to reach those distinct markets. Instead of
marketing a product in one way to everyone, you must recognize that some segments are not
only different, but better than others for your product. This approach can be helpful in penetrating
markets that would be too broad and undefined without segmentation. No matter what you are
making or selling, take the total market and divide it up like a pie chart. The divisions can be
based on various criteria such as those listed below.
Demographics
This is the study of the distribution, density and vital statistics of a population, and includes such
characteristics as
Sex.
Age.
Education.
Geographic location.
Home ownership versus rental.
Marital status.
Size of family unit.
Total income of family unit.
Ethnic or religious background.
Job classification blue collar versus salaried or professional.
Psychographics
This is the study of how the human characteristics of consumers may have a bearing on their
response to products, packaging, advertising and public relations efforts. Behavior may be
measured as it involves an interplay among these broad sets of variables:
Predisposition - What is there about a person's past culture, heredity or upbringing that may
influence his or her ability to consider purchasing one new product or service versus another?

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Influences - What are the roles of social forces such as education, peer pressure or group
acceptance in dictating a person's consumption patterns?
Product Attributes - What the product is or can be made to represent in the minds of consumers
has a significant bearing on whether certain segments will accept the concept. These attributes
may be suggested by the marketer or perceived by the customer. Some typical ways of
describing a product include:
Price/value perception - Is the item worth the price being asked?
Taste - Does it have the right amount of sweetness or lightness?
Texture - Does it have the accepted consistency or feel?
Quality - What can be said about the quality of the ingredients or lack of artificial
ingredients?
Benefits - How does the consumer feel after using the product?
Trust - Can the consumer rely on this particular brand? What about the reputation of the
manufacturer in standing behind the product?
Life-Style
Statements consumers make about themselves through conspicuous consumption can be put to
good use by research people who read the signals correctly. By studying behavioral variables,
such as a person's use of time, services and products, researchers can identify some common
factors that can predict future behavior.
Market Positioning
You must realize that your product or service cannot be all things to all people. Very few items on
the market today have universal appeal. Even when dealing in basic commodities like table salt
or aspirin, marketing people have gone to all sorts of extremes to create brand awareness and
product differentiation. If your product or service is properly positioned, prospective purchasers or
users should immediately recognize its unique benefits or advantages and be better able to
assess it in comparison to your competition's offering. Positioning is how you give your product or
service brand identification.
Positioning involves analyzing each market segment as defined by your research activities and
developing a distinct position for each segment. Ask yourself how you want to appear to that
segment, or what you must do for that segment to ensure that it buys your product or service.
This will dictate different media and advertising appeals for each segment. For example, you may
sell the same product in a range of packages or sizes, or make cosmetic changes in the product,
producing private labels or selecting separate distribution channels to reach the various
segments. Beer, for example, is sold on tap and in seven-ounce bottles, twelve-ounce cans and
bottles, six-packs, twelve-packs, cases, and quart bottles and kegs of several sizes. The beer is
the same but each package size may appeal to a separate market segment and have to be sold
with a totally different appeal and through different retail outlets.
Remember that your marketing position can, and should, change to meet the current conditions
of the market for your product. The ability of your company to adjust will be enhanced greatly by
an up-to-date knowledge of the marketplace gained through continual monitoring. By having good
data about your customers, the segments they fit into and the buying motives of those segments,
you can select the position that makes the most sense.
While there are many possible marketing positions, most would fit into one of the following
categories:

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Small Business Marketing: How To Develop A Marketing Plan  Source: Managing a Small Business The marketing plan is a problem-solving document. Skilled problem solvers recognize that a big problem is usually the combination of several smaller problems. The best approach is to solve each of the smaller problems first, thereby dividing the big problem into manageable pieces. Your marketing plan should take the same approach. It should be a guide on which to base decisions and should ensure that everyone in your organization is working together to achieve the same goals. A good marketing plan can prevent your organization from reacting to problems in a piecemeal manner and even help in anticipating problems. Before your marketing plan can be developed, research must give you the basic guidelines: for whom you are designing your product or service (market segmentation), and exactly what that product or service should mean to those in the marketplace (market positioning). Below are some guidelines to help you develop a marketing plan to support the strategy you have selected for your organization. Market Segmentation Your marketing plan should recognize the various segments of the market for your product or service and indicate how to adjust your product to reach those distinct markets. Instead of marketing a product in one way to everyone, you must recognize that some segments are not only different, but better than others for your product. This approach can be helpful in pe ...
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Really useful study material!

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