Is Your Marketing Plan a Goal or a Wish?
You sit down at your desk determined to design the perfect Marketing plan for your business. You have considered all the essential aspects of the marketing game: who buys (Demographics), why they buy (Psychographics), and where they buy (Geographics). Having given a lot of thought to who the company’s most probable customers are, you have eliminated the need to please everyone. Focused Marketing–that’s the answer. After all, nobody wants a vanilla product. Now you turn to consider the exact message and the messenger that will bring this new found clarity to the customer base you have selected. You can feel the excitement. Something is finally going to happen.
Next you consider the cost factor. Should you spend your resources on print, radio, video, internet and referral, or should you be so bold as to find huge billboards on which to spread the message? Perhaps you don’t have the money to do more than one. It doesn’t really matter, because you have taken the time to analyze everything and have decided on the perfect arena in which to spend your capital. It is done and you are totally focused and determined to get the result. Let’s make it happen!
In my experience this is where most small businesses stumble. It was fun conceiving the plan, researching options and dreaming of unforgettable successes. Unfortunately, most small business marketing plans stall right here. They never survive long enough to grow legs and walk the earth. The reasons for this are twofold. If the initial push is successful, the owner gets too busy with a temporary sales hike to continue thinking about marketing and the plan ends. After all, there are sales and all of the issues that follow must be dealt with. On the other hand, if the plan fails to bring a measurable response, then panic and fear kick in. What if we spend all of our money and nothing happens? It is simply easier to go to “sleep” and forget the plan than it is to be in the moment and in pain.
Most small business marketing plans travel down the road of a wish rather than a burning desire and an unmovable goal. In the end, the owner wishes for an effective plan but settles for the status quo. Don’t let this happen to your business. Marketing is essential to every enterprise, but we ought to stop looking for the “WOW” experience. Even if there were a “WOW” experience, most of us probably aren’t equipped to handle it. I often ask my clients this question, “If your business doubled or tripled tomorrow, could you handle it?” The answer is a predictable and instant, “sure” followed closely by “no, we couldn’t.”
The answer lies in doing the work described above while adding to or extending your time perspective. Look at marketing as a yearlong planned task. Incorporate accountability and monitoring systems that don’t rely only on you. Measure risk against reward, and once a direction is chosen, follow through. Instant gratification is not what we seek with marketing. We seek the satisfaction of slow and predictable growth, new clients calling and the message being spread. Our marketing plan is a goal that never ends, an essential part of what our business is. Most of all, it is a statement to the world that we believe in our business, our employees and our dream.
Bob Scott specializes in coaching, solutions and systems for small business owners and is the author of the book, Small Business Pain. A devoted consultant and a dynamic speaker, Bob KNOWS how much you want to succeed, and he UNDERSTANDS how much you have at stake. He has experienced, first hand, how the weight of business reality and a lack of guidance can slowly crush the hope inside every single business owner. His WISDOM and INSIGHT can guide you over the many hurdles of small business so that you don’t have to take the time to stop, brush yourself off and build up the courage to face the next hurdle. Bob sees your potential, and he helps you generate solutions and systems for your business. Perhaps the biggest small business secret that Bob will share with you would be: You don’t have to build it alone! For more information about Bob Scott and his services, visit our website: http://www.smallbusinesspain.com or to schedule a complimentary consultation email Bob at bob@smallbusinesspain.com
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