Have a Marketing Plan

One of the first things you have to do to get or grow your business is have a marketing plan. Without a marketing plan, you will never grow your business to it's fullest. You may also not get customers.

Many small business owners make the mistake thinking that they don't want to bug people or they don't want to sell. Don't make this mistake. Without sales and marketing you have no customers. Which means no business.

So what do you do?

The first thing you should do is got to goggle and type in marketing plan and see what is out there and learn all you can. Get used to marketing terms and the things marketers do the create business. You should be aware though, that there is so much miss information out there. So, read with caution and if it seems too good to be true, it most likely is.

Once you start to understand marketing then it's time to make your marketing plan.

One thing to keep in mind is, you will need to test and track all of your marketing. You have to do this so you know what works and what doesn't. If you do not track your advertising then you may as well throw your money out the window. Because you will not be able to so what is bringing you in customers.

Marketing changes all the time. What works today may not work tomorrow. Also, you may make an ad and have no idea why it works. This is the animal called marketing. It is part science and part art. The science part is tracking and the art of it is creating.

Be specific in all your advertising.

People want to see things they want. They usually stray away from outrageous claims, like we have it all or we can do it all. Claims like that tell people nothing about what solutions you have for them.

So in your service business tell people what you can do for them and be specific. If you know you can get a certain job done is 3 days on just about every job you do then tell them so, in your ads.

Sell the benefits, sell the sizzle not the steak.

People buy on emotion not on logic. They want you to solve their problems, right here and right now. Get in your target markets head and figure out what it is they want. So, tell them they will save money, save time or whatever it is the benefit of your service is. Not the feature.

Start your plan.

If you have money to advertise then start by placing classified ads in your local papers. Don't just place one ad for only a week. Place your ad in multiple papers and run them for at least one month. Make sure you track all of this. Do this by asking people when they call how they heard of you. This way you will know what ads work and what ads do not, and you will not just be wasting your money.

Have flyers made up with a coupon stating 20% off of services and then place that in all of your local grocery stores and coffee shops and other places you can think of where your target market meets or shops.

Take the same flyer and hand it out at local fairs or other events. Also walk around to some neighborhoods and hand them out to people. Just check with the local city to make sure you can do this.

This should get you started with a marketing plan. Remember read all you can and buy books on how to market, write ads and more. You need to learn what works with marketing.

Too many small business owners make the mistake of running some ads and get nothing from them and then they say advertising doesn't work. This may not be the case, it was most likely the ad they wrote didn't,t attract or appeal to their target market.

Welcome to market you service biz

Hello and welcome! Here I will share with you what I know about marketing. I have been in marketing for the past 20 years and have learned so much about the subject. Now it's time I give back to you the small business owner.

You may be just starting your business or you may want to take it to the next level. Either way read the posts here and learn all you can. In these logs I share with you 20 years of experience. I will share with you online tips along with marketing offline.