SALES / MARKETING / COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY
SALES
Go through each product/service who is or what is your top/ideal customer (the customers who bring in the most income but also who is the most fun to work with, what customers would you like 10 more of? IE for wholesale are the best wholesale clients restaurants or coffee shops, are the best individual sales clients women/men do they work/own businesses? Where do they live? Are the best clients who come in men/women, age, demographics? If you could group them how would you group them
Write down economic trends for your products/services in the areas they will be sold
Write down projections in market for your product/services – expansion, decline, stability etc.
Research and include a market share analysis. Essentially show how your business will affect the market and how much of that market you can reasonably capture.
Address the issues of competition by describing what makes you competitive. Indicate the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors and how they affect your business.
Discuss your pricing scheme and how it was determined. Describe how you plan to deliver your products or services. (Think through Product/Pricing/Process)
Market Research – what is the industry like, who are your competitors, what are they doing (well or not so well) who are collaborators? Would it be valuable to conduct a survey to potential customers about what they like and want to see. You can also reach out to Business Link who provides support with Market Research.
What is your Unique Value Proposition? Essentially why will people buy from you and not someone else?
Target Customer Demographics - Some of these are gender, age, income level, race, education level, religion, marital status, and geographic location. Consumers with the same demographics tend to value the same products and services, which is why narrowing down the segments is one of the most important factors in determining target markets.
Choose one ideal customer for your 1 main product or services and create a Customer Persona (s) for that ideal customer.
Sales Process -
BRANDING
Branding + Messaging (can be helpful to include your culture, vision + mission) how do you want to be perceived and recognized, how will you make people feel not just when they are in your store or using your services but when they interact with your team or marketing? Branding is a combination of tangible and intangible elements, such as: Visual design elements (i.e., logo, color, font, images, tagline, packaging, etc.) and Distinctive product features (i.e. quality, design sensibility, personality, etc.)
MARKETING
Ideal Marketing routes with outcomes/goals/key performance indicators (KPI’s) so you can measure your return on investment(ROI). List EVERY possible marketing route and rank them in order of value of importance that you believe will be most effective in reaching your ideal customers
i) Social Media – LinkedIn, IG, FB, Twitter, Alignable etc
ii) Online – Webiste, SEO, Google, other, kijiji, blogs, Eventbrite, chamber site
iii) Conventional (radio, tv, billboards, transit
iv) Print (business cards, post cards, posters, magazines, newspapers….)
v) Face to Face -Networking, event sponsorship + attendance, groups + organizations)
Marketing Budget – Time and Dollars. How much time and money will you spend on each marketing route of your marketing strategy. To start, in 6 months, in 2 years….
Things to consider: Does your marketing strategy articulate and answer the following questions:
· What is the problem my business solving? (you want to be able to tell your customers the problems you solve for them)
· What is the solution my business offers and how will i articulate that for my customers?
· Who do we solve this problem for? (ideal customers)
· What makes me different from my competitors?
· Where will I reach the customers? (marketing routes)
· Who is on my marketing team? (Me, employees/team, industry experts, outsourced contractors) What are the skills that I need from my marketing team? How much time does my marketing team need to spend?
· What funds do I have and where will they come from – what % of income could I put toward marketing each month?