Though you may not have the means for a marketing team, as a small business, you can still benefit from a marketing plan to get you started on the right track to meeting your goals. This may also be a great time to have a marketing agency run your marketing efforts rather than utilizing your in-house team or doing it yourself.

Nevertheless, here are a few steps to get you started on a basic marketing plan.

1. Think about the Customer

Since marketing is all about reaching your customers, that is where you need to start. If you haven’t already, this would be the time to track the place from where your traffic comes. You may find that your customers are coming by word of mouth or by internet search. Knowing where your customers are and how your business received the patrons it has will help direct your marketing plan. 

2. Determine goals, channels, needs, and budget

Before beginning any marketing strategies, you’ve got to figure out what you’re trying to accomplish.  What are your goals? When determining your goals, be sure to make them trackable—goals you can watch progress over time. During this process, your business should also put key performance indicators (KPIs) in place which are the metrics that will track your progress. 

Once goals are set, you’ll need to determine how you will reach said goals. What are the channels through which you will accomplish them? The channels you will use to reach your customers will depend on the information you know about your customers. Discovering the channels that work best for your customers will help solve your marketing problem whether it is reach, engagement, or conversions.

Of course, none of this can be accomplished until you determine the needs and capacity of your business. Does your business’s budget have space to implement these things?

3. Set a schedule and stick to it!

Now that you’ve figured out exactly what you want to do, it’s time to set a schedule for when you’ll do each step and stick to it! Marketing calendars are useful to stay on track.

You may think you aren’t quite ready to put a whole marketing plan together, but a plan will help you be more efficient with your time. If you need more help getting started, or still want to outsource your marketing, reach out to us for more.