1. Creating A Small Business Marketing Plan
South Carolina SBDC
November 6, 2013, Embassy Suites Columbia, SC
Dr. Frank Tian Xie, USC Aiken

2. Agenda Marketing Basics Small Business Marketing
What Investors Look For
Basic components of the plan
Marketing research to help plan
The Plan: a Template
Q&A

3. Marketing Wheel of Fortune
MARKETING BASICS
Product Development
Pricing
Packaging
Distribution
Advertising, Promotion and PR
Sales
Customer Service
Customer, Product and Competitive Research
Marketing Wheel of Fortune

4. What is Small Business Marketing?
Activities directing the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer or user.
Small business marketing consists of those business activities that relate directly to:
Identifying a target market
Determining target market potential
Preparing, communicating, and delivering a bundle of satisfaction to the target market

5. What Investors Look For
How big is this market?
Is there sustainable competitive advantage?
What’s the growth plan?
How does the team think?
How detail oriented is the team?
What does the technology roadmap look like, short term or long term play

6. 9 Must Answer Questions How large is your addressable market?
How fast is the market growing?
What’s your “secret sauce?”
What are the barriers to entry/competitive advantage?
What’s your path to profitability?
What do your 5 year financials look like?
Who’s make up your management team?
Who’s your competition and how do you beat them?
Why can’t Microsoft/McDonald’s do this? (or name any big, established company…)

7. Marketing Philosophies Make a Difference
Production-Oriented
Emphasizes development of the product and production efficiencies over other activities.
Sales-Oriented
Favors product sales over production efficiencies and customer preferences.
Consumer-Oriented
Focus is on the consumer’s needs—this philosophy is the most consistent with long-term success of the firm.

8. What is a Marketing Plan ?
A marketing plan is the blueprint or the map you intend to follow in order to achieve your goals. If you are planning for existing programs, the plan will incorporate the strengths of your current effort with needed changes and improvements. If the plan is for a brand new product or service, it will pull all the elements together for an effective start on marketing.

9. Basic components of the plan
Marketing Plan Element #1: 
What Problem You’re Solving For Customers What they are selling to satisfy customer needs, the features and benefits
Old adage: they don’t buy a drill; they buy the ability to make a hole.

10. Basic components of the plan
Marketing Plan Element #2: 
Describe Your Products and Services
Describe what products and services you offer, or plan to offer. 
No need for scientific or technical details
Describe your offerings and how they solve the customer problems you identified in Element #1.

11. Basic components of the plan
Marketing Plan Element #3: 
Overview of The Market Opportunity
Overall size of the market (units or dollars)
Break the market size estimates into relevant geographic sub-totals.

12. Basic components of the plan
Marketing Plan Element #4:
Competitor and Substitute Analysis
Include a matrix of your competitors
sell the same product or services
Substitutes
May solve some, or all, of the problems
“We have no competitors,” or “we have no direct competitors” - a cardinal sin

13. Basic components of the plan
Marketing Plan Element #5:
What is the Segments (Niches) You Will Target
Based on your overall market in Element #3.  Time to dig deeper and identify the relevant segments of the market.
“We’ll just get one percent of the overall market and that will be a big sales number.” As a small business, you usually do not have the resources to sell and market to the market as whole.
One should pick your segments and focus, especially at the beginning.  

14. Basic components of the plan
Marketing Plan Element #6:
Your Marketing and Sales Objectives
How will you know if you succeed with your marketing plan?
Need goals to measure your results against
Overall revenue targets
by product
By service
By geography

15. Basic components of the plan
Marketing Plan Element #7:
Pricing
What the market (competitors) is charging
What it is costing you to provide your product or service
Not too low, lose money on every sale. “Make it up in volume?”
Not too high that no one buys from you
Find the happy medium, test to find it

16. Basic components of the plan
Marketing Plan Element #8:
Sales Plan and Channels of Distribution
Selling and distributing your products and services
Direct sales force? 
Through partners?
Sell online?

17. Basic components of the plan
Marketing Plan Element #9: 
Advertising and Promotion
How will you advertise your products and services?
What media to use?
Print, television, radio, internet, billboard, etc?
How much to spend on each?

18. Basic components of the plan
Marketing Plan Element #10: 
Marketing Strategy and Marketing Research
Your overall strategy
Strategic goals
Listen to your customers and competitors
Marketing research

19. Marketing Research Activities
Market Analysis
An evaluation process that encompasses market segmentation, marketing research, and sales forecasting
Developing the Marketing Mix
The combination of product, pricing, promotion, and distribution activities.

20. Small Business Marketing Plan: A Template
Executive Summary
Introduction and Business Premise
Market Analysis and Customer Needs
Product Overview
Value Proposition/Business Model
Business Operations Plan
Sales and Sales Management
Market Entry/Sales Channels
Competitive Assessment
Partnership Strategy
Management Team and Advisors
Pricing Issues/Financial Projections
Key Business Metrics
Capital Structure/Financing Plan/Risk Analysis
Exist Strategy
Summary

21. Questions?