WHAT CONSTITUTES A MARKETING PLAN In association with FÁS

John McGrath, Services to Business Manager, FÁS

Small businesses often struggle to get the right message across. Marketing can enable a business to meet their customer's expectations explains John McGrath.

Marketing is a dynamic area of business that is constantly changing. Therefore it is essential for the business owner to keep up to date with any new developments and an imperative if they want to ensure continued growth and success for the business.

One of the greatest needs of managers of small businesses is to understand and develop marketing programs for their products and services. Small to medium sized businesses success is based on the ability to build a growing body of satisfied customers. Marketing programs are built around the “marketing concept” which directs managers to focus their efforts on identifying, satisfying and following up the customer’s needs.

THE MARKETING CONCEPT

Marketing is all about satisfying customer needs, therefore it is essential that a business determine the needs of their customers. The next step should be to develop a market strategy by analyzing their own competitive advantages. Select a specific market where the product or service will be targeted at determine how you will satisfy the customers needs.

MARKET RESEARCH

In order to manage the marketing functions successfully, good information about the market is necessary. Frequently, a small market research program, based on a questionnaire given to present customers and/or prospective customers, can disclose problems and areas of dissatisfaction that can be easily remedied, or new products or services that could be offered.

WHAT CONSTITUTES A MARKETING PLAN

Who is the customer.     Is there growth potential there.     Product identification.     What stage in the cycle is the product at, is it in the development stage or mature stage.     Can we add to the product design.     Distributions – are we using the best transport to get the product out into the market place.     Are my people familiar with the product.

Market research should also encompass identifying trends that may affect sales and profitability levels. Population shifts, legal developments, environmental considerations and the local economic situation should be monitored to enable early identification of problems and opportunities. Competitor activity should also be monitored to determine their strategies.

MARKETING STRATEGY

A marketing strategy identifies the target market by tailoring its product or service, prices, distribution and promotions towards that particular market. The strategy should try to address customer needs, which currently are not being met in the market place. Clearly a small business cannot be all things to all people. But it can look its market and its own capabilities and in doing so the business can focus on the targeted market.

TARGET MARKETING

Owners of small businesses have limited resources to spend on marketing activities. However by concentrating their marketing efforts on one or a few key market segments, the targeted market can be reached much more effectively. The two main ways to segment a market are:

• Geographical segmentation
  specialising in serving the needs of customers from a particular geographical area.
  
  
• Customer segmentation
  identifying and promoting to groups most likely to buy the product. In other words, selling to the existing users before trying to develop new users.

MARKETING PERFORMANCE

After marketing program decisions are made, owner/managers need to evaluate how well decisions have turned out. Standards of performance need to be set up so results can be evaluated against them. Data on industry norms and past performance provide the basis for comparing against present performance. Owner-managers should audit their company’s performance by asking themselves if the company is doing all it can to be customeroriented.

Essential to this evaluation is the question as to whether employees ensure the customer’s needs are fully satisfied, which will encourage the customer to come back again. Equally important is to establish if the customer can find the product or service at a more competitive price.

MANAGING THE MARKET MIX

Promotion In general, high quality sales, advertising and promotion is a must for small businesses because of their limited ability to advertise heavily. The yellow pages and direct mail is an effective, low-cost medium of advertising available to small business.     Price Determining price levels and/or pricing policies (including credit policy) is the major factor affecting revenue. Generally, higher prices mean lower volume and vice-versa; however, small businesses can often command higher prices because of the personalised service they can offer.     Distribution The manufacturer and wholesaler must decide how to distribute their products. Working through established distributors or manufacturers often more feasible for. Small retailers should consider cost and traffic flow as two major factors in location a site. Lower costs means you can spend more on advertising to build and develop the business.