Small Starts, Big Hearts: How to Create a Small Business Marketing Plan

Imagine taking 10 or 15% of your business's money and lighting it ablaze. That's what happens when you're directionless and without a marketing plan.

You see:

A business often allocates 10 - 15% of its budget to marketing. A small business marketing plan outlines where and how this money gets spent. The plan provides a goal and backs it with tactics and tools. 

Are you directionless with your business goals and marketing efforts? Let's fix that.

Read on to discover how you can create a small business marketing plan today.

1. Lay It All Out

Now's the time to get an eagle's eye view of the business operations:

• Current revenue and projections

• Talent and skill-based resources

• Market and competitor reporting

The exercise is a lot like rewriting the business plan.

What this exercise does is reveal threats and opportunities in your operations. It lets you double-down on what works while providing hints of what could get trimmed. 

2. Define the Objective

The goal of your small business marketing plan will likely be one of these:

• Increase sales

• Improve branding

• Build a reputation

• Improve relationships

• Gain market insights

A well-executed marketing plan touches on all these. But, let's stay focused on one or two of these while everything gets figured out. 

Why define the objective? Well... you can't track what you don't know. Likewise, the objective helps you figure out what resources are needed to reach the goals.

3. Refine the Goal

Online marketing and advertising are hyper-specific with targeting. Therefore, you need to be specific with what you're promoting and selling.

Here are some examples for inspiration:

• Sales: Launch a new product

• Branding: Introduce a new logo

• Reputation: Share charitable activities

• Relationships: Highlight a testimonial

• Insights: A/B test a landing page

Break down a large marketing campaign into smaller chunks. This further refines the marketing objective and goal, helping to align your resources. Now, instead of broad, directionless swipes, you're having the campaign resonate with someone.

Your efforts create authentic engagement vs lost to the 5k+ ads we see each day.

4. Build/Rework the Foundation

Start investing in foundational items once you know the campaign's goal:

• Improving your site's design so it's engaging

• Updating and modernizing print materials for print marketing efforts

• Optimizing pages with proven SEO techniques so it ranks well

• Retooling your presentation and pitch for exhibitions and conferences

• Creating an active social media presence where people can connect

This is also where you're getting a better understanding of your audience:

• Location and demographics

• Interests, pains, and wants

• Where they congregate

Take this time to update your audience and market insights. Brainstorm how your new marketing efforts reach these individuals. Or, define a new target audience that's better aligned to your direction!

In all: This is the stage where you're filling marketing gaps.

5. Set a Budget, Launch, and Optimize

Define what you're willing to spend on marketing and then give the go-ahead.

You'll learn more when running a campaign than attempting perfection beforehand. That's because you get feedback and data which you can use to update the campaign!

What can you update? Consider improving:

• Ad copy and creative

• Landing page design

• Headline and page copy

• Ad placement

• Marketing reach

Leverage what you know to continually build a successful campaign. Repeat this and you'll have a few, high-performing campaigns that get you to the business goals.

Get Help With Your Small Business Marketing Plan

Does creating a small business marketing plan feel overwhelming? Do you have one but it's ineffective and outdated? Let's talk.

We offer many web development and marketing services for your small business.

SOMD Connect & Associates has the talent to reach and exceed your business goals.

So, get in touch and let's work together in creating and executing a marketing plan that works for you!