Does anyone know I exist?

Have you started a home based business? Are you waiting for the first phone order? Or the first client? If you have not compiled a marketing plan, you will wait by the phone for your first client for years! I can not emphasize enough, the critical factor played by marketing in the success of a business. It is the marketing of your company that targets your clients, grabs their attention and offers a service or product with the utmost high regards, and demonstrates a product or service’s quality over the competitors. Without the sole concept of marketing, a business will lack all elements needed for success. Marketing is the path to achieving high goals, as it will announce the opening of your business and the importance of your products. As small business owners are advised to create a business plan, in an effort to maintain a focus for the company, it is also advised that a marketing plan be implemented to increase sales and reach the target market that is needed for success. An effective marketing plan will result in higher sales, therefore there are a few elements that are vital in creating a successful marketing plan.

Step One: Situation Analysis - The first section of the marketing plan, like a business plan, defines your company, its products or services and demonstrates the benefits of your products/services oppose to your competitors. The situation analysis is also considered the SWAT analysis, in which you review the strength’s, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of your company in a graphical display.

Step Two: Describe your target audience - Create a one paragraph profile of your prospective customer. This step will allow for a breakdown of your target market, as you will show the terms of demographics (age, sex, family status, earnings, and geographical location). If your business is a B2B (Business to Business) company, you will define the terms of the companies that will need and use your products/services.

Step Three: Define your marketing goals - Ask yourself, what is the overall goal of your marketing plan. What do you hope to achieve in efforts of establishing a marketing plan? For example, many companies establish marketing plans in efforts to increase sales by a certain percentage or increase sales of a specific product/service line.

Step Four: Establish the marketing communication strategies - The first three steps create in creating a marketing plan are to create a vision for your company’s expectations and goals, and in step four, you will allow yourself to establish various tactics in efforts of achieving the goals and expectations listed prior. These tactics include advertising, public relations, and even direct marketing. To complete this section, outline the tactics that you will enforce to achieve your goals. Then to identify your marketing mix, find out which media sources are preferred among your target market.

Step Five: Set a marketing budget - Do not use all of your revenue for marketing! Create a budget that your marketing aspect will have to abide by. This budget can be annual, monthly or bimonthly, depending on company preference.

Once you have established a marketing plan into your home based business, you have created a tool that will allow you to focus on a vital aspect of running a successful business, whether it is at an outside location or out of the comfort of your home. Marketing is essential and when it is done efficiently, the results yeild high expectations.

This is a guest post by one of our feature writer, Giselle Rivera - Eliteresumes.org