Successful business owners will tell you that having a well thought out marketing strategy is crucial to their overall success.  Developing the plan doesn’t have to be a daunting task if you follow these components.

1. Proper Positioning

Positioning is the most important element when developing your marketing plan.  Positioning is the process by which you create an image or identity in the minds of your customers each time they experience your product or service.   Generally speaking positioning involves several steps; but in a nutshell it boils down to ensuring you are offering what your customers want with the most profitable market opportunity while differentiating your product/service from the competition in such a way that customers will choose your product or service.   To sum up, positioning is putting the right product at the right price in front of your target market.  When you have done this, you have mastered positioning.

2. Survey Your Customers

Don’t know what your customers want?  The best way to get the information that can propel your product or service forward is to ask your customers.  You need to understand clearly your target market if you have any chance at appealing to them to buy your products or services.  Surveys, samples, and test markets are great ways to get the feedback you need.  The feedback you get from your current customers or potential customers is priceless and will help you evaluate the integrity of your product, whether or not it’s in line with you branding, if the pricing strategy is correct and whether or not the quality of the product meets your customer’s expectations.

3. Tap Into The Power of Your Mastermind

Mastermind programs are one of the most powerful programs a person can participate in.  Why?  Because you get to leverage other people’s expertise and information and that is always better than trying to go it alone.  Your mastermind participants have probably had similar situations when developing their own marketing plans and even if they haven’t, they are a wonderful resource for ideas, perspectives, and experiences.  Having this resource to brainstorm with and to solve your biggest business challenges is the greatest benefit of a mastermind.  The synergy created between the members of the mastermind is the fuel that creates powerful results.  If you are not part of a mastermind I encourage you to investigate it and see if it doesn’t help you achieve the goals you set for your business.

4. Create Your Plan

A marketing plan is an essential element in your business and its overall success.  So many women business owners fail to create a marketing plan that it is no wonder that there scattered marketing attempts fail to yield them the results they are looking for.  Your plan doesn’t have to be complicated or complex to be effective.  I teach my clients an effective and simple marketing strategy that gets them the results they are looking for.  Remember simple is better and will be more effective.

5. Measure and Track Your Results

You know the saying if you don’t know where you are going how will you know when you get there?  The same is true of your marketing results.  If you don’t have the plan in place how will you know if you have achieved the results you are looking for.  You must track your results to see if you’re yielding the desired outcomes.  How will you measure the results of your plan?  Some ways this can be accomplished is by:  tracking open rates from your newsletter or other email marketing campaigns, how many unique visitors visit your website, increased signups for your newsletter, increased calls for new business, your return on investment vs what you spent.  Only you can determine what activities you want to engage in.  Just remember to know precisely the results you are looking for when developing your plan.

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