On Demand Advertising Solutions Blog: 5 Key Reasons Why Your Business Needs A Marketing Plan, Podcast #40
As obvious as it may seem--in my experience in radio advertising, I was always surprised how many small business owners never had an actual marketing plan.
It seemed like they were always shooting from the hip, when it came to their advertising.
It's all a part of our three-part strategy to drive SEO and web traffic and make your business exceed the profile and exposure of your competitors with an extended marketing platform--the perfect compliment to a Google Adwords campaign!
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Now, enjoy the video podcast!
Marketing Your Business; 3 Reasons Why Your Business Needs A Marketing Plan, Podcast #40
Host: John D. Verlin
Transcript:
Music]
00:03
A pleasant good afternoon once again this
00:06
is John Verlin with On Demand
Advertising Solutions another Digital
00:09
Marketing Update this is our 40th
00:11
podcast. I started this business February
00:15
of 2017, here it is mid November of 2017
00:19
and boy I've been averaging I guess one
00:22
of these a week try to at least. I hope
00:24
you're getting something from them. Love
00:27
to hear from you if you have any
00:28
questions or comments or anything-- John
Verlin12@att.net is the
00:36
email address of course you can go to
00:38
00:42
the website. Today I want to talk about
00:44
something that you know when I was in
00:47
radio for thirty plus years it always
00:52
amazed me how many businesses I talked
00:56
to that didn't have a real plan for what
00:59
they were gonna do for their marketing
01:00
or their advertising. And so today I want
01:04
to talk to you about five reasons your
01:06
business needs a marketing plan. Now I
01:10
would think just like a financial plan
01:13
particularly if you go to get a loan
01:15
from a bank you know you've got to have
01:16
a business plan and financials and
01:19
projections and all sorts of things. You
01:21
would think a business would have a
01:24
marketing plan as part of those
01:26
documents that you would need to run a
01:28
business or to start a business or
01:31
review for the next year. But again I'm
01:35
really surprised how many particularly
01:38
small businesses don't even have one.
01:39
They kind of shoot from the hip. That
01:42
kind of shocks me a little bit I guess.
01:44
But there's several reasons why you need
01:46
to have a document. First of
01:48
all, it's a strategic document. This is
01:50
like I say it's like a financial plan
01:52
only it's for your marketing you got to
01:54
kind of have an idea of your customer.
01:58
Your positives, your weak spot your
02:03
competitor, your competition. What they're
02:05
doing, what they're doing differently or
02:07
not and so really one of the biggest
02:09
benefits of having this is that you can
02:11
focus
02:12
your resources and plan for your
02:14
business growth. That is very big. I mean
02:18
you've got to have something like a
02:20
yardstick and this of course helps you
02:23
understand different factors that may
02:24
affect your success. So instead of
02:27
worrying about okay what about next year?
02:28
You can actually kind of have a sense of
02:30
of control over your business and
02:32
livelihood. I know what that feels
02:34
like. I've planned my own and it does
02:37
give you a sense of empowerment because
02:39
you've got something in writing that
02:42
you can refer to and check off as you go.
02:44
Now you're gonna be tweaking it but it
02:47
gives you some place to measure as a
02:50
starting point and to continue to
02:51
measure from it will help you. By
02:55
doing this by writing this and in
02:56
research, your marketing plan can give
02:59
you the chance to basically identify
03:01
your target market. And understand how
03:03
your product or your service can meet
03:05
the needs of your prospects in that
03:08
target market. It can identify your
03:11
competitors and what your target
03:13
customers think about your competitors
03:15
strengths and weaknesses pros and cons.
03:18
This doesn't have to be elaborate.
03:20
This could be a survey. A verbal survey of
03:25
Chamber of Commerce associates or you
03:29
take a group survey of people at your
03:31
church that might buy your product and
03:34
get their feedback. It's really important
03:36
to do this because I have seen this
03:38
happen in a an online survey where every
03:43
answer the majority of people that took
03:45
the survey gave was just the opposite of
03:48
the business I worked with management
03:50
what they thought it would be. Complete
03:53
opposite and you're like whoa we didn't
03:57
do our homework you know. So it
03:59
identified your competitors and what the
04:02
customers prospects may think about them
04:04
the good and bad it can help you
04:07
position your brand, your products and
04:09
your services. So that your target market
04:11
sees your business as better than or
04:13
different from the competition.
04:15
It can help you set specific measurable
04:19
goals, time frames
04:21
for your marketing activities. Kind of
04:23
like a project manager so to speak. Help
04:26
you map out a strategy to reach your
04:28
target audience including the messages
04:31
the channels and the tools you're going
04:32
to use. You know there's a lot of
04:35
web-based tools today you can use and
04:37
this will help you in planning what to
04:40
use how much it might cost. That sort of
04:43
thing--and again it gives you the second
04:46
point I want to make. Besides being a
04:47
very important document to have. You
04:50
don't just throw this thing away and put
04:52
it in a bottom drawer. You keep it as a
04:54
guideline, a measuring yardstick. It gives
04:58
you control of your business as we just
05:00
mentioned. It allows you to allocate your
05:02
resources and your budget too. If you
05:05
have some employees to motivate them
05:07
that you can spell out the vision of
05:09
where this is all going. That is
05:12
empowering. They can see where their ads
05:15
or your ads are going to be placed and
05:17
they can even be a part of all that to
05:20
help develop them. Yeah we're gonna put
05:22
these on Facebook, some magazines locally.
05:26
We're gonna do some direct mail. They can
05:29
be a part of this. That's really
05:31
important if you do have employees or a
05:34
partner or spouse they need to be in
05:37
part a part of this a marketing plan.
05:39
Written down, this document helps them
05:43
feel like they're a part of everything
05:45
and they should be just like any other
05:48
plan you write down. You know you're
05:50
gonna succeed or you're all gonna fail
05:52
together. It allows you to manage
05:55
performance of each member of your staff,
05:57
and the efforts. How are we on this you
06:01
know. These things can be dramatic but
06:04
again if you don't have it just like a
06:06
financial plan if you don't have it
06:07
written down and planned out you don't
06:10
know what you're doing. Or you have
06:12
nothing to measure against. So, second point
06:15
is a marketing plan gives you control of
06:17
your business. The third point is it's
06:20
important to have a marketing plan but
06:22
also keeping it up to date. Again,
06:24
it's going to zigzag based on the market
06:27
environments.
06:29
If there's a stock market crash. If
06:30
there's a war breakout or a political
06:33
turmoil or something happens that could
06:36
affect your business. You have to adjust.
06:38
That's okay. You know what? Business is down
06:40
20% this month. We're gonna have to cut
06:43
some things here. That
06:45
document gives you and that plan gives
06:47
you a map a roadmap of where to go and
06:53
alternate because you already know where
06:55
you came from. If you don't know your
06:57
history I forgot who said this but I
06:59
guess I think it was in Glengarry Glen
07:01
Ross. If you don't know your history, you
07:05
know how are you gonna go forward and
07:07
make changes. So it's important to keep
07:11
that up to date as the business grows
07:13
and changes. And it gives you a reminder
07:16
to update it annually just like a
07:19
financial plan or insurance policy.
07:22
Perhaps you do an annual review. Okay we
07:25
did this. We did that. This worked. This
07:27
didn't. Let's review and everybody can be
07:30
a part of it.
07:32
So that's the third point is you
07:34
got to keep it up-to-date. Change it
07:36
adjust it. Fourth point I want to make is
07:39
marketing plans are not just for some
07:42
big corporation they're for small
07:44
businesses. Because without customers
07:47
your business won't survive. To
07:49
attract and retain customers you need to
07:51
understand the value of marketing.
07:53
People are unlikely just to wander into
07:56
your business and buy something if they
07:58
don't know who you are
07:59
what you're selling and why they should
08:01
choose you over your competitors. And
08:04
again,, I mentioned this earlier but a lot
08:06
of small businesses I worked with and
08:08
radio advertising did not see the value
08:11
of marketing. They didn't understand the
08:13
importance of it. and I was shocked. And
08:15
the reason I was shocked was, I'd say--
08:17
well okay so what are you gonna be doing?
08:19
Well, we're gonna try Direct Mail and got
08:22
to do my Yellow Pages and they put
08:24
twenty thousand aside for Yellow Pages
08:26
for a year.
08:27
Well, what about your other stuff? that's
08:29
a directory listing. What happens if
08:31
nobody sees it or what
08:33
about next month? How are you going to
08:35
call attention to the fact that you have
08:37
a yellow page ad?
08:39
Hmm, well I hadn't really. I just assumed
08:42
they would look. That's a big assumption.
08:45
Why do you have to be in there to begin
08:47
with? Well my my competitions there I got
08:50
to be there. So they felt they had to do
08:52
it and that today you don't see that. You
08:54
see it it's all online. So the shift into
08:57
this online. Again I've talked about this
08:59
in another podcast but this shift in all
09:01
this online marketing stuff. Yeah your
09:04
competitors are there. Everybody's there
09:05
and they're all over the world. You know,
09:08
they're there in San Diego or Chicago in
09:10
New York or whatever not just in Hoboken
09:13
New Jersey. That's a whole
09:17
nother discussion about competition
09:20
ruling online--pushing you aside because
09:23
of budgets, content, whatever. So it's much
09:28
more than just fancy advertising and
09:32
spending a lot of money. It's it's a lot
09:35
more than just advertising and sales and
09:37
it needs to be taken seriously. So if
09:39
you're considering all this for your
09:40
business take it seriously.
09:42
Otherwise, six months from now, a year
09:45
from now, you may not be here. Because you
09:47
didn't plan. I'm not
09:49
trying to talk down or anything but
09:51
these need to be taken seriously. And it
09:54
also helps you find out what makes your
09:57
business unique. It's building your
10:01
brand and it's crucial to building your
10:03
business. Some of the questions you again
10:06
have to consider to build a foundation
10:07
of both your business and your brand.
10:10
So what are the needs of my customers, my
10:12
target customers? How do the competitors
10:15
meet the needs of those target customers?
10:18
How can your business or you help your
10:21
target customers understand why your
10:23
product or service is better than from
10:25
the competition? And once you've
10:28
considered these questions in putting
10:30
together a business plan with the
10:32
marketing plan. These are
10:36
marketing fundamentals basically.
10:39
Once you've addressed these points,
10:41
you've made the first steps in building
10:43
a successful business and brand.
10:44
Again, it needs to be taken seriously and
10:47
written down and adjusted. John Verlin,
10:53
You can contact me at johnverlin12@att.net
10:57
Have a great week.
11:00
We'll talk to you next week!
All podcasts are recorded by Verlin Studios / Gardner, Kansas
Copyright, John D. Verlin 2017
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