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Article written for Access to Knowledge and featured in the Hertfordshire Business Independent, August edition.

Do you have a road map for your business?

An old saying has it that if you don’t know where you are going, it doesn’t matter which road you take, so before you set out to sell to potential customers you need to know in which direction you want to take your business.

Understanding your target customers, the competition and the markets you want sell into will enable you to focus your sales messages to meet both their ‘wants’ and their ‘needs’. People buy for different reasons and it is a matter of finding out what they want so you can meet their needs.It is important to meet your own needs too, so you have to know what you want to achieve within your business.

Most businesses have an idea about what they want to achieve and the customers they want to attract and to do this they need to implement a range of marketing initiatives that match their objectives and target the customer. Having a plan will help you to send consistent key messages and enable you to focus on your target markets; this helps to build the business. It also helps to focus any marketing initiatives that are implemented and to avoid mixed messages, inconsistent identity and targeting the wrong areas, all of which dilute the marketing actions and waste money.

For the five years that I worked in an international marketing department, I was presented with many opportunities and the Marketing Director would always ask these questions “what will that achieve and how does it fit in with the plan.” The answers would determine whether the opportunity was taken and whether the budget was allocated.

In business we are often presented with opportunities for advertising, sponsorship and joint promotions. It is important to evaluate these opportunities in relation to your plan and what you want to achieve.

Below I have given three examples of what I believe you can do and what not to do:

Do	Clearly define your benefits and your unique selling proposition (i.e. why you are different). Use the ones appropriate to your target audience in your sales and marketing communications. Check all your communications to ensure that they are clear, correct and professional.
Don't	Send poorly constructed and written communications to prospects that don’t express the benefits of the product or service or don’t tell customers why they should use or need them.
Do	Think about your image and the impression you give to potential customers, influencers and suppliers with your logo, business cards, web sites and brochures etc. Your image brief can be developed from your planning session and by knowing your markets and how you want your customers to think and feel about your product or service. Remember you will not get a second chance to make a great first impression.
Don't	Create/print your own business cards, or use “free” print services, if you want to be seen as a professional company and remembered by the contacts you meet. (Branding and image covers both rational and emotional aspects, so whilst it communicates a name and telephone number it also raises thoughts as to whether this is a serious business that will continue to trade).
Do	Remember that there can be opportunities to cross-sell or up-sell your services/products to existing customers. They may also have customers or suppliers that they can refer you to and you just need to ask the question.
Don't	Just focus your plan on new business from new clients. It is more cost effective and less time consuming to generate more business from existing customers, so plan for both.

If you need help with your planning and want to be more effective in your marketing communications call me on 01462 769680. I can provide consultancy advice to help you create a plan or write one for you.

Creating your own marketing plan

When you are creating your marketing plan think about the key points below and write down the answers. They may not come to you immediately and you may need to develop some of your answers until you come up with the final plan. If you are struggling and want some assistance take the opportunity of a marketing consultancy day with JGC.

Do you have a mission for your business?
A good place to start is by developing your mission statement as this will give you a signpost of where your business aims to be in the future and it give focus to customers, employees, suppliers and financiers.

What makes you different from the competition?
Think about what makes you different and this will help you define your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). You should use this in all your communications.

Do you know what your customers want and need?
After deciding on your target market do some research and ask your customers and potential customers what they want from your product/service. If you know your USP you could ask potential customers ‘if I could offer you xxx’ would you buy my service/product?

What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Take a look at your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This can include the service/product evaluation, its price and profitability, plus reviewing the market, how it currently is and its potential. Knowing what these are will enable you to communicate your strengths and turn these into benefits. You can build on your strengths, capitalise on the opportunities and ensure that you address your weaknesses and counter your threats.

Have you set your goals?
Once you have gathered all the information above, determine your objectives and what you want to achieve. These can be number of sales and when you want to achieve these, turnover, company positioning etc. Remember to consider what resources you have to achieve these objectives.

What areas do you want to concentrate on to achieve your objectives?
Think about your geographic target area, potential market sectors, products pricing and use any market research that is available to help you make these decisions.

How much do you want to spend?
Think about your budget and the funds you may need to achieve you objectives. It is worthwhile having an indication so you can focus your attention on those marketing actions that will enable you to achieve the best results.

What marketing initiatives are you going to undertake?
Once you have covered the strategic planning this will enable you to focus on your marketing communications that will target your prospective clients and build relationships with your existing clients.

The results may be a combination of the marketing tactics. See the diagram below for some of the opportunities.