Entrepreneurs pride themselves on being able to identify and capitalize on opportunities. Success requires strong business acumen, the ability to overcome adversity, and the vision to see three steps ahead of your competition.
However, there is often one critical area small business owners, and entrepreneurs in general, always seem to ignore or take for granted – marketing. Many entrepreneurs launch their business with a shoot first, aim second mentality when it comes to marketing, rather than putting in the hard work it takes to create a clear and concise marketing plan.
So, why does marketing or more specifically, a marketing plan play such a pivotal role in the success of a startup business? Many reasons, but I wanted to take a moment to address to two of these reasons.
Helps You Decide How to Spend Your Marketing Dollars
There are literally hundreds of ways to marketing and promote a business. From traditional mediums such as television, radio and print ads, to the shiny new ones such as banner ads and social media, carefully deciding which marketing strategies and tactics to focus on is critical.
Preparing a marketing plan will help you determine the right mix of marketing and promotions, and enable you to create a realistic budget for reaching your target audience. Your bankers and/or investors will challenge your assumptions, so be sure you have as much objective data as possible to back up your choices. I know with 100% certainty that your marketing plan will change (even by tomorrow), but at least with your plan on paper you and your team will always have an agreed upon roadmap to work from as you move forward.
Clarifies Your Cost of Securing a New Customer
Having created a first draft of your marketing plan and budget, you can now take a close look at what it will cost you to secure a new customer. This is critical information and insight. Countless startup businesses have quickly gone under because their cost to acquire a new customer was exponentially greater than their business could support.
Simply stated, if it costs you too much to secure a new customer or client in relationship to what you can charge that customer for your product or service, then you are doomed for failure. A strong marketing plan will help you approximate your cost for securing each new customer, and then help use that data to decide upon a pricing model that makes sense. If the market dictates a price for your product that is lower than what you anticipated or need to earn a reasonable profit, then you may be in the wrong business.
These are just two of many great reasons for preparing a marketing plan for your business. So before you jump into the deep end, consider spending the time to research, analyze, and plan out a marketing strategy, tactics and budget that will help you succeed long-term.
If you are looking for an outstanding tool to help you develop a clear and comprehensive Marketing Plan, be sure to check out Jian’s Marketing Plan Builder.
