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11 MONSTROUS Small Business Marketing Mistakes and How To Avoid Them
Increase your profit potential by identifying – and avoiding – these 11 marketing mistakes.
MONSTROUS Marketing Mistake Number 1: Sinking a Fortune Into an Unproven Product
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Why Most People Fail at Marketing Anything on the Internet
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Winning the Game: Your Strategic Marketing Plan
If you want your small business to compete with the "big boys" you should have a "strategic marketing plan." A strategic marketing plan basically spells out how you will use your available resources to meet your company's stated goals and objectives. (You do have goals right? If not that's a topic for another article.) Here's what you need:
1) State your Objectives:
Companies usually set objectives in terms of desired profit, total sales, or market share. Profit tends to be the most popular company focus. Market share refers to how much of the market you snag compared to your competitors. Other objectives can be your total sales, number of loyal customers, or customer satisfaction. Company objectives always provide a time frame and are verifiable which is why objectives are usually stated in percentages and dollar signs.
2) Situation Analysis:
Looks at the current business environment and can be elaborate or very simple. The components examined are competition, the size of the market, types of customers, channels of distribution, and economic conditions. By taking an overview of the whole picture and stating your strengths and weaknesses, you'll have a clearer understanding of how well your company will compete.
3) Target Market:
Who are your customers? Your company can't sell to everyone, so you need to decide what part of the market segment you're going to serve. A thorough understanding of who your customers are and how to find them are imperative to your company's success. Look at demographics such as how much money they make, where they live, how much education they have, etc.
4) Positioning:
The picture created in your customer's eyes about your company's products/services. When you think of positioning, think of "image."
Positioning is very important in today's competitive world. Corporate marketing teams will often use positioning strategies when trying to target different target markets.
5) Marketing Mix:
The final step is to develop plans for each aspect of the marketing mix and integrate them into your company's overall strategy. So, what's in the marketing mix you ask? They consist of the "Four P's":
Product Place Promotion Price
You must use all four elements of the mix in your strategy plan and devise a plan is needed for each. When you're developing plans for each element, ask yourself the following types of questions.
A) Product/ What new products can we introduce? What type of service do our customers expect? What should our return policy be?
B) Place/ What types of places should carry our products? How will we get our products to our customers? How will we handle complaints?
C) Promotion/ What am I trying to accomplish through my promotion objectives? Branding? More sales? something else? What types of media should we use to advertise radio, TV, print, ect.
D) Price/ How will my product/service be priced in comparison to my competitors? Can I make a profit at this price level?
By keeping all of the above in mind you'll design a strategic marketing plan that allows you to win the game and compete with your competitors.
Running a business, just like a game, relies on good strategy........It's your move....
About the Author
Merle http://www.ezineadauction.com "Where the Best Deals in Ezine Advertising are Made" Subscribe to Ezine Ad Auction Authority and be kept up to date on new auctions as they're added and much more subscribe@ezineadauction.com For advertising information send mailto:advertise@ezineadauction.com
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KnowThis: For Marketing, Market Research, Internet Marketing ... |
KnowThis.com offers a wealth of information, forums, and resources for professionals, academics and students in traditional and internet marketing, ... |
www.knowthis.com |
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Marketing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Marketers depend on marketing research, both formal and informal, ... The next big thing is a concept in marketing that refers to a product or idea that ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
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Marketing - Marketing Strategy - Marketing Plan - Marketing ... |
Learn about marketing careers, the stages of developing a marketing plan, how to begin marketing research, create a marketing strategy, and how to market ... |
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Marketing.org - Home of the Business Marketing Association |
Serves the professional, educational and career development needs of business-to-business marketers. |
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Welcome - American Marketing Association - www.marketingpower.com |
Dedicated to serving the educational and professional needs of marketing executives. |
www.marketingpower.com |
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Advertising, Marketing, Media and PR News - Brand Republic |
Find the latest Advertising, Marketing, Media and PR news from Brand Republic, the online resource for up to the minute advertising and marketing news and ... |
www.brandrepublic.com |
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Marketing Magazine - Marketing News - Brand Republic |
Marketing Magazine - Marketing News - Brand Republic. |
www.brandrepublic.com |
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Marketing (Canada) |
Offers a Canadian source of news and articles on marketing, advertising and media. |
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BidVertiser - Pay Per Click Advertising On Sites Of Your Choice. |
Pay per click advertising - online advertising directly on sites of your choice, internet marketing solution for online advertisers. |
www.bidvertiser.com |
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Online Behavioral Contextual Advertising and Marketing. |
Promote your business with today's most effective online advertising technology, contextual advertising at a cost effective metric of CPC, PPC, CPM or CPV. |
www.clicksor.com |
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Sales Jobs / Marketing Jobs / Advertising Jobs - MarketingJobs.com |
Employment site for marketing and sales professionals. |
www.marketingjobs.com |
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The Chartered Institute of Marketing |
The Chartered Institute of Marketing is the world's largest international marketing professional body and helps with career support and information ... |
www.cim.co.uk |
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Marketing: See what people are saying right now on Technorati |
See all blog posts tagged with marketing on Technorati. |
www.technorati.com |
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Marketing Profs - Marketing Concepts and Strategies: Expert ... |
Marketing knowhow from professionals. Newsletter, articles and how-to's. |
www.marketingprofs.com |
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Guerrilla Marketing Online - The Official Site |
Guerrilla Marketing Online is anonline magazine for small business, entrepreneurs, sales people and marketers of all kinds. |
www.gmarketing.com |
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Business Marketing - Small Business Marketing |
Business marketing - Read everything your need to know about small business marketing. |
www.entrepreneur.com |
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All About Marketing |
Adapted from Field Guide to Nonprofit Program Design, Marketing and Evaluation ... Inbound Marketing Includes Market Research to Find Out: ... |
www.managementhelp.org |
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Pages tagged with "marketing" on del.icio.us |
USA Network Announces a NASHVILLE STAR Marketing Partnership With ... - Yahoo! ... Direct Marketing Association: Telephone, Mail & Internet Marketing ... |
del.icio.us |
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ClickZ Internet Marketing Solutions for Marketers |
Includes columns with commentary and analysis on a wide variety of internet marketing subjects ranging from B2B marketing to search engine marketing. |
www.clickz.com |
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Direct Marketing Association: Telephone, Mail & Internet Marketing |
Trade association for users and suppliers in the direct, database and interactive marketing fields, offering seminars and resources, and lobbying for ... |
www.the-dma.org |
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