Now that you have established exactly where and how big your potential market is, the next task is to put all your findings together in the form of objectives; these in turn will become your marketing plan. This marketing plan will form the basis of how you intend to promote your business and ensure that you are successful in generating sales revenue.The nature of your business and the market you are in will influence what these objectives are. For example, a window cleaner may consider door to door canvassing and a small local advertising campaign to be a sufficient marketing plan. A larger electronics company will want to analyse current buying trends, establish the activity of their competitors and be constantly developing new products to stay ahead of the market as part of their marketing plan.

Making A Swot Analysis

Before you can begin to compile your marketing plan you need to make a critical self-assessment of where your business is and where you consider it to be going. This assessment is often known as the SWOT analysis. It must be brutally honest because if it is not, then the only person you will be fooling is yourself. The SWOT analysis relates to the following:

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats.

Strengths

The strengths of your business include everything that you are competent at, and everything associated with the running of your business from manufacturing and selling through to accountancy and purchasing. How many strengths you can describe as being competent in, will depend on whether you are a one man band or if you have a number of employees able to strengthen your business.

Weaknesses

This is the most difficult section of the analysis to assess critically -but it is important to try. There will always be areas in which you lack the necessary expertise or experience whatever the size of your organisation. You may even need to approach an outside source and hire the necessary resources to get the job done.

Opportunities

It is very unlikely that you will ever be able to dominate your market. Even businesses seen as brand leaders are vulnerable to a competitor who discovers a gap in the market place.

Threats

Your competitors will present you with your biggest threat but they are far from representing the only one. For example, new legislation could be threatening, as could a change in client buying trends. Be aware of anything which may affect the success of your business. Let your reader know that you have identified these threats and how you intend to deal with them.

Balancing Your Marketing Mix

Marketing is a kind of chemistry. Putting together the right mix of marketing methods can make or break a business depending on whether you get the mix right or wrong. Having the right product, at the right price, in the right place, promoted by the best methods – is the basis for your marketing mix. Only by continuously changing and adapting your marketing mix to meet market trends will you be able to survive and progress.

Marketing can be divided into four sections, each linked integrally with one another. They will influence how you develop your marketing plan. These sections are often referred to as the four Ps of marketing and are as follows:

• product
• price
• place
• promotion.

Product

This means what the product offers to the client in terms of features and benefits, quality, styling, guarantees and after sales service.

Price

Value for money will be more important to the client than price alone but your selling price will depend on the client base, whether in the retail or trade sectors, and will depend on any special offers and your terms of sale, eg credit given and deposits.

Place

Where you and your distributors are located in relation to your clients, and what effect this has on your methods of distribution.