9 Easy Steps to a Winning Marketing Plan by Jay B' Lipe, author of The Marketing Toolkit for Growing

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9 Easy Steps to a Winning Marketing Planby Jay
B. Lipe, author of The Marketing Toolkit for
Growing Businesses
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4 Reasons EVERY company needs to market

• Most buyers wont take action the1st time.
• Buyers are lazy.
• Your competition is marketing.
• Most buyers dont need your producttoday.
• Our economy is now marketing-driven.
• Typical 1st Grader can name 200 brands
• U.S. children view over 400,000 commercials a
  year.

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6 Reasons EVERY company needs a Marketing Plan

• A Marketing Plan
• Lays the groundwork for action
• Can be hung in front of your nose
• Breaks tasks down into manageable chunks
• Gives you hope.
• Acts as an idea sifter.
• Gives you a place to return to in slower times.

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Step 1Set Goals

• Why?
• Gives you something to aim for
• Helps measure progress
• Gives employees a rallying point
• The achievement of one goal should be the
  starting point of another.
• Alexander Graham Bell

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Step 1Set Goals

• Quantitative AND Qualitative

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Step 2Identify your Problems

• Most Common Marketing Problems
• Were not generating enough leads.
• No one has heard of us.
• Our buyers dont know all we offer.
• We dont have a marketing plan.
• We lack the right marketing tools.
• Our brand isnt consistent.
• Our marketing efforts are helter-skelter.
• Our prices are too high (or too low).
• We only have one product (or service).
• Our market is declining.

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Step 3Study your competition

• What will I learn from them?
• What the market wants
• What their weaknesses (and your strengths) are
• What their strengths are
• Best ways to market
• New markets services
• Unfilled niches

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Step 3Study your competition

• Where to find competitive info
• Ex-employees
• Mystery shop
• Yellow Pages other directories
• Websites
• Advertising (display help wanted)
• Get on mailing lists
• Trade shows

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Step 4Target ALL Audiences

• Initially, target on two dimensions
• Company
• Size
• Geography
• Industry
• Person
• Title
• Affinities

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Step 4Target ALL Audiences

• But shouldnt you also target
• Referral Targets?
• Champions?
• Gatekeepers?
• Decision influencers?

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Step 5Identify your Key Messages

• Pain
• What pain does your audience have? (I feel)
• ________________________________________________
• ________________________________________________
• ________________________________________________

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Step 5Identify your Key Messages

• Benefits
• After working with XYZ, I can now
• _________________________________________
• _________________________________________
• _________________________________________

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Step 6Strategies

• Draw Strategies from your Problems
• Understand where buyers get information
• Publications
• Websites
• Online communities
• Conferences, seminars, trade shows
• Opinion leaders

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Step 7Blend Personal Non-Personal Marketing

• Personal Marketing
• Marketing activities that expose a company to
  buyers, AND require a physical presence.
• Non-Personal Marketing
• Marketing activities that expose a company to
  buyers, yet dont require a physical presence.

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Step 7Blend Personal Non-Personal Marketing

• Buyers process information differently
• some like paper
• others online
• others like in-person
• Good marketing blends these methods

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Step 7Blend Personal Non-Personal Marketing
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Step 8Tactics

• Each tactic must answer
• Who (is the leader?)
• When (will it be completed?)
• How much (will it cost?)
• Use a timeline
• For a free download, go to
• http//emergemarketing.com/publications/index.htm

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Step 9Commit to Implementation

• A great idea thats 99 implemented
• is still just an idea.

• Establish project leaders for each project.
• Hold everyone accountable for their deadlines.
• Hold biweekly project meetings to review
  progress.
• Schedule quarterly updates.
• Schedule annual planning sessions.

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Some Marketing Truths

• If your service sucks, fix that first.
• Every employee is a marketer.
• Marketing covers far more than you think

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Take the Marketing Quiz

• Which of these are Marketing Activities?
• Mailing a flyer.
• Advertising in a trade journal.
• Making a sales call on a prospect.
• Getting interviewed on a radio station.
• Developing prices for a new product.
• Opening up a new distributor.
• Researching your customers.

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Take the Marketing Quiz cont

• Now, which of THESE are marketing activities
• Answering your business phone.
• Describing your business to someone at a party.
• Interviewing job candidates.
• Sending an email.
• Submitting a proposal.
• Faxing information to a business partner.
• Answering a customer complaint.

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7 Points of Contact

• On average
• 7 contacts are needed
• between a seller and a buyer
• before a sale is made.

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7 Points of Contact

• A real-life case study
• Variety helps

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In closing

• Today, EVERY company must market.
• Its a matter of survival.
• Successful marketers usually have a marketing
  plan.
• A good marketing plan details
• Actions steps
• Strategic thinking behind the action.

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Who is this Jay Lipe guy?

• CEO, Emerge Marketing
• Fortune 500 Marketing Expertise for Growing
  Companieswww.emergemarketing.com
• Author of
• The Marketing Toolkit for Growing Businesses