A Small Business’ Guide for Making Marketing Plans

Understanding your target market is the foundation of any solid marketing plan. It’s important to understand who your target demographic is, what they’re willing to pay for your product or service, and what motivates them to buy. Once you’ve gathered this data and thoroughly assessed your target market, you’re ready to make your marketing plan.

Not sure where to start? Saba, the San Diego online marketing experts, share a few strategies for how to create an effective marketing plan that reaches your potential customers.

• Determine your budget

  First things first. You need to determine how much money your business can afford to spend on marketing strategies and customer acquisition. It’s important to keep in mind that not all high-budget strategies are successful, and not all low-budget ones fail.

• Develop multiple marketing strategies

  Using a single strategy approach isn’t going to provide maximum reach. Don’t spread your budget too thin, but also be careful not to throw your entire advertising budget at one part of the overall plan. A combination of strategies, like print advertising, social media and San Diego PPC management, will help to reach different audiences and will allow you to test which strategies are best for your business and brand.

• Track your progress

  Be sure to set goals that you can measure against your progress. That way, you can modify your strategies in the future to focus more on what was effective. Rethink ineffective strategies, or scrap them altogether.

• Know when to make changes

  Good marketing plans leave room for change. If something isn’t working, it’s usually better to fix the problem early instead of stubbornly clinging to ideas that didn’t work. When you learn new information that leads to a better strategy, you might also want to immediately factor that new information into your plan.

There are often many untapped resources for learning more about particular markets. Public libraries can provide information about local demographics. The local Chamber of Commerce can provide information about local economic development and trends. Trade associations can also provide lots of industry-specific information about a particular target market. Constantly learning new information about your customers needs to be an ongoing part of any marketing plan.

For more information about how to best reach and market to your target audience, call Saba, Inc. today at 858-277-1717. We are an internet marketing company that provides a wide range of services including PPC management, web design and development, mobile app creation and SEO in San Diego. We offer complimentary website audits and are happy to answer any questions about marketing, so don’t hesitate to call us today!