Marketing Plan
No
matter how good your product
and your service, the venture cannot
succeed
without effective marketing. And this
begins with careful, systematic
research. It is very dangerous to assume that you already know about your intended market. You need to do market research to make sure you’re
on track. Use the business planning
process as your opportunity to uncover data and to question your marketing efforts. Your time
will
be well spent.
Market research
- How?
There are two kinds of
market research: primary and secondary.
Secondary research means using published
information such as industry
profiles, trade journals, newspapers, magazines,
census data, and demographic profiles. This type of information is
available in public libraries, industry associations, chambers of commerce, from vendors who sell to your industry, and from government
agencies.
Start with your local
library. Most librarians are pleased
to guide you through their business data
collection. You will be amazed at
what is there. There are more online sources than you could possibly use. Your chamber of commerce has good information on the local area. Trade
associations and trade publications
often have excellent industry‐specific data.
Primary research means
gathering your own data. For example,
you could do your own traffic count at a proposed location, use the yellow pages to identify competitors, and
do surveys
or focus‐group interviews to learn about
consumer preferences. Professional market research can be very costly, but there are many books that show small business
owners how to do effective research themselves.
In
your marketing plan, be as specific as possible; give
statistics, numbers, and sources.
The marketing plan will be the basis,
later on, of the all‐important sales projection.
Economics
Facts about your industry:
• What is the total size of your market?
• What
percent share of the market will you have?
(This is important only if you think you will be a major factor in the market.)
• Current demand in target market.
• Trends
in target market—growth trends,
trends in consumer preferences, and trends in product development.
• Growth potential and opportunity
for a business of your size.
• What
barriers to entry do you face in entering this market with your new company? Some typical barriers are:
o High
capital costs
o High
production
costs
o High
marketing costs
o Consumer acceptance and brand recognition
o Training
and skills
o Unique
technology and patents
o Unions
o Shipping costs
o Tariff
barriers and quotas
• And of course, how will you overcome the barriers?
• How could the following affect your
company?
o Change
in technology
o Change
in government regulations
o Change
in the
economy
o Change
in your industry
Post a Comment