At Synergy Marketing, we use the word “marketing” a whole lot, for obvious reasons. To grow a business, there must be a plan to advertise and promote it. But, too often, business owners forget the “plan” part. Some figure that they just open a business and begin to tell people about it once that happens. The truth is that a business must be marketed before it even opens. However, once it opens, marketing must be stepped up.

Naturally, your marketing plans are bound to change over time. Once you get accustomed to the type of customers that your business attracts, you’ll need to revise your marketing plans to cater to them. After all, marketing truly does start with meeting the needs of your customers. At least, this is what is believed by SmallBusinessBC.ca. The British Columbia-based site offers some advice on how to devise a strong marketing plan.

“Your marketing plan details how you intend to meet your customers’ needs and communicate the benefits of your products or services to them,” says the website, “When deciding about market positioning, pricing, promotions, and sales, your customers should be top of mind.” With that, there some key components to your marketing plan that must be addressed.

Your Target Market. According to SmallBusinessBC.ca, “your target market is a group of customers that has a similar need for a product or service, money to purchase the product or service, and willingness and ability to buy it.” Your customers, it should go without saying, are the most important people to your business. Truly providing them with what they need will entail a few important things.

You’ll need to get to know your customers, understand what they need and discover why they buy. Of course, you can’t please everyone, reminds the site. But catering to a particular demographic that can most benefit from supporting your business is an important step to take. Define your customer base. Learn their age range, gender, family size, income, occupation, education, ethnicity and so on.

Your Market Positioning. According to SmallBusinessBC.ca, “Positioning is the image of your product or service that you create in the mind of your target market. Your goal is to create an image that’s unique, differentiated, and definable in the mind of your customers.” The site points out that your marketing material must all support the image of your brand.

You should also be well aware of who your competitors are. That way, you’ll know how to position your company in such a way that it gives you a competitive edge. Be sure to emphasize factors that your customers care about the most, says the website. Standing out from your competition is imperative if you want to get ahead, no matter what industry you are in.

In tomorrow’s blog, we’ll reveal a few more key components to creating a strong marketing plan. And, as always, the Synergy Marketing staff is awaiting your call so that it may help you to better market your brand. For many years, our incredible promotional products have been helping business owners across Canada improve their marketing efforts. For more information, or to place an order, call 1-877-748-9884.