There’s a reason why the adage “those who fail to plan, plan to fail” has stood the test of time. While it is applicable in most areas of life, there is no place it rings more true than small business marketing. Creating a marketing plan is a crucial component of running a successful business. While designing your marketing strategy, ask these questions to ensure you create a plan that will yield the results you want.

6 Questions to Ask When Crafting Your Small Business Marketing Plan

1. Where Are You Currently?

A marketing plan is like a road map; it can’t get you anywhere unless you know where you’re at now. This question addresses your position in the market. Whether you’re the new kid on the block or a seasoned professional, knowing how your business currently stands compared to the competition allows you to determine if your marketing plan should focus on growth or maintenance.

2. What Is My Product?

While this query may seem obvious, it can’t be overlooked. Create a marketing calendar to plan for the changes to products and services on the horizon. Then, align your marketing efforts with any variations in products and services so that you get the most profit from every dollar put towards advertising.

3. Who Is My Target Customer?

Too many business owners are quick to claim everyone as their target customer. Instead, define your ideal consumer and aggressively pursue them. Marketing heavily towards a niche group will benefit your company more than marketing towards the general public.

4. What Are My Goals?

Reaching the finish line is impossible if you can’t identify it. Make your goals clear and reasonable, and focus on the areas that matter. For example, having 500 followers who engage and purchase from you on social media is better than having 10,000 followers who don’t interact or buy from your business.

5. What Is My Current Marketing Plan?

Taking inventory of what you’re doing now will provide valuable insight into where you need to focus in the future. Marketing that hasn’t been effective needs to be studied so that you can determine what wasn’t working or if the idea has the potential to work and needs to be tweaked.

On the flip side, marketing methods that have been working shouldn’t be ignored either. Observe what’s working for you, and see how you can scale it up. For example, consider increasing the budget on your ads if social media advertising is proving lucrative. Or if it’s business-to-business interactions gaining you new customers, determine how you can improve your connections and provide more value to the companies sending you business.

6. What Resources Do I Have?

Your marketing budget includes more than money. Watch out for the trap of viewing specific types of marketing as free, such as social media. While you may promote your business free of charge, the time it takes a staff member to create posts and interact with potential customers is time you pay for in the long run. It is worth considering bringing in someone from outside the company to manage your social media profiles.

Your marketing plan, or lack of one, has a massive impact on your business. Make sure you’re prepared for future success. Reach out to WebVillage Marketing and find out how our team can ensure your marketing plan will get you the results you want.

6 Questions to Ask When Crafting Your Small Business Marketing Plan