The success of a business depends largely on how effectively it markets itself. If you have your marketing plan figured out, the rest of your business journey could be easier and more productive.

The only problem here is that most businesses fail terribly when it comes to creating a viable marketing plan for themselves. They read a few articles online, talk to an inexperienced consultant and make a BIG, costly mistake.

The marketing mistake

Any business that wants to market itself makes this tiny mistake. Most business owners will pay for a small ad-words campaign (Search engine marketing), run a couple of ads on Facebook, list itself on a few business directories and that’s it. This is exactly where the problem lies. Businesses believe they have done ample marketing before they even take the first step.

This, however, is not enough

The real problem with businesses is that they consider a little paid promotion marketing. This idea couldn’t be farther from the truth. Your business needs to market itself continuously to be able to reap any good rewards.

What is the solution?

The solution is simple- you need to create a marketing plan for your business. You should be able to ensure that your business continues its marketing efforts throughout the year. The process of creation of such a plan will give you great insights into your own business/vertical and help you polish your products/offerings as well.

How to create a marketing plan?

First, decide what you want to achieve. Every campaign you run must have a clear goal. The more precisely your goal is mentioned, the easier it will be to reach it. For example, it will be better to suggest that you want to sell ‘200 units of your product’ or get ‘15% customer growth’ in the next quarter instead of simply suggesting that you want ‘to grow sales’.

Now, decide the target audience of your campaign. Some businesses have a wide customer base. You can create several different campaigns, each catering to the need of one customer segment. You can also create a big marketing campaign and then target different customer segments differently. It all depends on the product you are offering and the ways your customers engage with your brand.

Decide the budget of your campaign. Whether you have deep pockets or a shoestring budget, defining how much money you will spend on your campaign will keep driving you in the right direction. Don’t be afraid to experiment with both free and paid options. You can also think about using ad-credits provided by a multitude of social networks and search engines.

When you launch your campaign, monitor it carefully and get ready to change it/tweak it according to customer response. You need to bring agility in your action plan to make it more profitable for your business.

Business marketing should not be difficult. You only need to create beautiful, intuitive and effective campaigns that are designed for your audience’s needs. Once you start hitting this note right, profits will come easy.