Does my business need a marketing plan?

April 30, 2014

As an entrepreneur, you probably have a great business idea, and you might even already have a great product developed. However, without customers interested in purchasing your product or service, your business will have a lot of work to do.

In order to be profitable, you will to have a plan to attract and retain customers. Fortunately, by developing a marketing plan, business owners can increase their chances of positioning their product for success in the market by determining who their target customers are, and the best ways to reach them.

Generating awareness about your business will be a crucial part of its success. To accomplish this you will need to have a solid marketing strategy in place. After incorporating your business and checking for company name availability, you can work on assembling a strategy to establish what you want your brand to be like, and how to go about marketing your product.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers tips for small business owners who are just starting to develop a marketing strategy. According to the SBA, the first step in the process of developing your marketing strategy is knowing that customer needs are paramount. Secondly, it’s important to note that it is better to have sales that are profitable than to just have sales.

With these principles in place, you can begin conducting market research to determine who your target customers are. Through this research you will be able to figure out the needs of these customers, and how to meet them. Marketing takes a lot of work. By identifying the customer base and needs, small businesses will be well on their way to success.