Writing an Effective Marketing Plan - Part IV

Published under Marketing

(Part IV of IV part series of Writing Your Business and Marketing Plans)

“Marketing is not an event, but a process . . . It has a beginning, a middle, but never an end, for it is a process. You improve it, perfect it, change it, even pause it. But you never stop it completely.” — Jay Conrad Levinson

We can’t emphasize enough the importance of good marketing. Like Levinson says, sound marketing is continuous, never-ending if you want your business to thrive. And the best way for a business to thrive is to have a good marketing plan.

Last week we began outlining the key elements of a good marketing plan. We discussed the following:

  • Marketing Goals and Objectives
  • Pricing of Products/Services

Today we’ll wrap up the discussion by covering two more elements of a good plan.

Key Marketing Strategies
It’s important to determine which marketing strategies you’re going to use from the onset. Obviously you can assess their success and revise your strategies after they’ve been implemented, but you need a starting point. And remember, the marketing plan is only making projections for one year; you have plenty of time to change course and revise your strategies.

Questions to ask as you develop a marketing strategy: Which promotional methods work best for your target market? Which methods will you use? What type of tangible results will you use to measure your success? How long will you wait to see those results before revising your strategy?

To help you brainstorm marketing tactics that might work for you, we’ll list a few here:

  • Direct mailings (brochures, postcards, flyers, etc.)
  • Television advertisements
  • Radio advertisements
  • Print advertisements (in magazines, newspapers, local publications, the phone book, etc.)
  • Website promotions
  • Ezine
  • Newsletters
  • Press releases
  • Promotional games and activities (ability to win or receive promotional materials)
  • Exposure at conferences, seminars, workshops, and community outreach programs
  • Host an open house or business party
  • Networking opportunities (Chambers of commerce, luncheons, business ‘getting-to-knows’)

And that literally names just a few. As with most of the other elements in your business plan, it’s good to do a little research before you write this section. Purchase a book on marketing, find out what strategies your competitors are using, and ask members of your target market how they’ve found their current tax preparer.

One way in getting new clients is to be unique in what you do and to broadcast that to as many people as possible. There may be ways in your community, or city that have not been thought of, or tried before. Look at those opportunities to spread the word about your business and how you can benefit their business by coming to you.

Implementation of Your Marketing Plan
This portion of your plan articulates how you will implement your strategies. This should include a schedule and list of key tasks you’ll need to complete in order to start and complete your plan. You should also consider the resources you’ll need and who you might use when outsourcing some of these tasks. It’s a plan for success, and once you’ve written it you’ll have an easy blueprint to follow; you won’t get a few months into startup and have to waste time and energy thinking through things you’ve already researched and decided.

Two words that you need to know about implementing your Marketing Plan- Test and Prepare. Especially when you are on a tight budget you need to be mindful of how much you spend, and that goes double for something that you haven’t tried before. Test out a segment of the market, if there’s an introductionary rate or if you can get a discount of some kind. Once you have tested out your marketing message on a smaller segment, and depending on your response you can ramp up what you tried or close it down altogether.

The second word is Prepare. In Marketing a message will prove itself one way or another. You need to be prepared with other materials, if it goes south on you and you need to be prepared if the message sticks and the phone starts ringing of it’s hinges. Try to plan for the best and anticipate the worst and you will be able to continue to move the growth of your practice forward.

Writing Tips
It’s important to realize that none of these elements should be written independent of the other. The marketing plan is closely related to the entire business plan, and you’ll learn more about how to market as you write the rest of your plan. Each section can be revised and rewritten as you learn more from writing other sections. Don’t think that simply because you’ve completed one element that it’s written in stone. Writing your business plan is a learning process and you’ll learn more about your business, your approach and your marketing philosophy as you write it. Give yourself the time to do it right.

UAC Can Help You Develop a Marketing Plan
Universal Accounting Center understands that marketing may not one of your strengths and has designed a DVD intended to help those of us who are marketing-challenged. For just $9.95 you can learn effective marketing strategies for your tax practice. You’re less than $10.00 away from learning which marketing strategies to include in your marketing plan. Order today!

Bookmark and Share: