How can you quickly develop your business and achieve the highest possible profit with the lowest possible expenses? The shortest answer is through marketing. Although entrepreneurs are well aware of this, many with strong products have lost the battle to lesser-quality products simply because the latter were marketed more professionally. Given this, why don't they focus on creating marketing plans? Simply because they don't know how to formulate a marketing plan that can withstand intense competition, high expenses, and low profits. I'll save you time and effort by summarizing key insights from top marketing books. This guide is tailored for small and medium-sized businesses that can't afford costly marketing but still want to expand and build a long-lasting brand. The plan consists of nine steps divided into three stages. Your task will be to fill out these nine sections on a single page until your marketing plan is complete.
Target market selection
The plan consists of three stages, each reflecting the customer’s awareness of you. The first stage is the "Before" phase, where you interact with potential customers, aiming to make them aware of your presence in the market. Your engagement with them will involve the first three steps: First: Defining the target market. For instance, if you're a photographer, specialize in one area of photography rather than choosing all types, such as wedding photography or photojournalism. Specialization increases the value of your service in the market. But how do you define your ideal target market? One way is to create avatars of your potential clients that capture their main characteristics, such as gender, marital status, occupation, age, health status, hobbies, etc. For example, you might envision your potential client as a male in his twenties, regularly swimming and working in a quiet office job. By doing so, you’ll be better equipped to carry out the second step, which is crafting a marketing message that resonates with them and converts them into your client.
Marketing Messages: your path to success
In the second step, your message shouldn’t simply invite people to buy the product; it should be crafted to inspire behavior by targeting basic emotions—fear, love, pride, greed, and guilt. If your marketing message doesn’t focus on one of these emotions, it won’t capture any customer interest, no matter how professionally it’s written. Remember to tailor your marketing message for a specific segment of potential customers, attracting them not because your product is cheaper, but because it suits their tastes and needs. After crafting the message, your third step will be choosing how to advertise it. I recommend using a mix of five different methods; don’t rely solely on website ads. Create your own website, then use social media pages to direct customers to it. Also, keep track of the methods that are most effective in attracting customers and intensify their use.
"The internet has opened up a world of competitors; previously, your competitor might have been across the street, but now they could be on the other side of the world."
Converting Leads into Loyal Customers
Did your marketing message succeed in attracting new customers? Great! It’s now time for the second phase of the marketing plan, the 'during' phase, which begins with step four: establishing a system for capturing leads. A potential customer who learns about the services and products you offer through your marketing campaign won’t buy immediately; instead, they’ll place you in their circle of interest. To turn them into a qualified lead, you need to offer them an ethical bribe after adding them to a follow-up database. This could include special offers, free gifts, or anything else that keeps you on their mind. For example, if you're a wedding photographer, you could offer a free CD with common mistakes in wedding photography and how to avoid them. This way, you’ll attract customers who are more likely to become actual clients—like brides who are approaching their wedding date. However, having actual customers is not enough for the sustainability of your business; you need to nurture them as step five. The best example of this was the greatest salesperson in history, Joe Girard, who sold over 13,000 cars between 1963 and 1978 using a simple marketing tactic. He sent monthly greeting cards to a massive list of potential customers, reaching up to 13,000 postcards each month, knowing they would eventually buy new cars or recommend a car dealer to their friends and family. By doing this, he always remained in their minds when they thought about buying a car. The sixth step in your marketing plan is to establish a strategy for converting sales into profits. The mistake entrepreneurs often make at this stage is trying to achieve the highest sales volume in the shortest time by lowering prices to entice consumers. This leads to a losing competition against larger companies, ultimately resulting in the small company’s bankruptcy. The primary attraction for customers is their trust in the quality of your product and service and that it’s worth the price they pay. You can build this trust in several ways, including focusing on customer service, providing multiple means of communication on your website, and responding quickly. Additionally, offering warranties on products and quality services—especially for first-time customers—by providing a free trial product or a money-back guarantee if they are not satisfied can help.
Beyond The Sales Proccess
Have you ever met an enthusiastic fan of Apple? Those who line up for long hours outside its stores as soon as a new product is announced, eagerly encouraging their friends and acquaintances to buy its products? You’ve certainly encountered one of them; they are numerous, and of course, you wish for your company to have a group of enthusiastic fans just like Apple's. I'm pleased to tell you that you can achieve this wish by applying the last three steps in the third phase of your marketing plan, the 'post' phase. In step seven, you will envision providing service at a world-class level. The only area where you can compete with the largest companies is in customer service in the broadest sense of the term. You need to satisfy your customers’ egos and make them feel valued, demonstrating that you are improving their lives and offering better service to earn their loyalty. The technological advancements of this era open doors to providing exceptional services to customers, such as using contactless payment methods, where customers can simply bring their payment card close to a device to complete the transaction without needing to enter any PIN numbers. This technology is cost-effective, but it gives customers a feeling of exclusivity and modernity. Step eight involves deriving lasting value from customers, meaning you will encourage current customers to purchase more of your services and increase your sales. Your current customer can be a greater source of profit than a new customer. But how? There are several methods to achieve this. First, you could raise your prices by a reasonable percentage. You might worry about this, but the truth is that if you keep your prices stable for a long time, inflation will actually reduce your profit. However, if you raise your prices by ten percent while maintaining satisfactory quality for the customer and having a correctly targeted market from the start, a regular customer won’t see it as a problem, if they even notice the increase at all. Second, offer additional services and products, just like restaurants that sell drinks and side dishes with meals. Third, upgrade your customers to higher-priced services, similar to how internet service providers sell you a faster plan. Fourth, encourage the customer to buy from you again by reminding them through a text message. Once you achieve customer satisfaction, you reach step nine in your marketing plan, where you plan to motivate your customers to recommend you to others. You can coordinate these recommendations by incorporating them into your marketing messages, allowing you to build a brand based on customer trust and loyalty, which ensures your continued success and prosperity.
"Remember: no one knows how good your product or service is until after the sale. Before the purchase, they only know the quality of your marketing. In simpler terms, the best marketer wins every time."