Marketing Plan Basics

I empowered all of you to build your business a little more each day usings Marketing/Advertising with S.M.A.R.T. goals in November 2010.  Today,  I want to be specific about a marketing plan that includes those smart goals. 

Ask yourself the following questions:

1 - Is my marketing dollars being spent with a specific ROI in mind?

2 - Am I advertising with specific goals or a target audience in mind?

3 - Do I know if my advertising is working? 

4 - Do I have a marketing plan? 

5 - Is my marketing plan actionable ? 

If you answered "No" to 3 or more of these questions - then this post is for you!  Take control of your advertising and marketing today and steer your business like a fully restored cherry 69 Chevy Chevelle (large, well built, and enough muscle to weather any condition the road may offer)!!!

Here is a basic marketing plan outline to follow - it is not necessary for any one to critique this - as it is for you - a roadmap to navigate your business to increase ROI and profitability and perhaps make your business successful enough that you no longer need that 9 to 5 job to support the pacas.   You will need either a spearate plan for each area of your business that you want to focus on or at least a different "segment" of each area of your business so that you can measure how each segment is doing and focus on different marketing for each.  Marketing segmentation may also be done demographically or geographically, but I think the following applies to the alpaca world:    

1 - Animal Sales (can further break down to fiber males, companion, breeding female, herdsires, jr herdsires etc etc)

2 - Stud Sales

3 - Product Sales

4 - Seminars at your farm

5 - Showing

This is a very basic outline to get you started - please contact me for consulting expertise.

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I.   Executive Summary

I usually wait to write this until all other sections are filled out - this is a high level synopsis of the plan/goals.

II.   The Goals

What do you want to accomplish?  What are you going to market? What are your goals?  Be specific as to numbers, percentages or strategic goals. 

III.   Situation Analysis

Company Analysis

• S.M.A.R.T. Goals
• Focus
• Strengths
• Weaknesses

Customer Analysis

• Number of current 
• Number of leads (qualified/unqualified)
• Type of customers (animal sales, product sales, stud fees, etc)
• Value drivers
• Decision process
• Concentration of customer base for particular products

Competitor Analysis

• Strengths
• Weaknesses

Collaborators

• Collaboration, partnerships etc.

IV.   Segmentation

Present a description of the market segmentation as follows:
Segment 1 (Perhaps Animal Sales) 

• Description
• Percent of sales
• What your customers want
• How they use/consume product
• Support requirements
• How to reach them
• Price sensitivity

Segment 2
  .
  .
  .
etc etc

V. Strategies

Product

The product decisions should consider the product's advantages and how they will be leveraged. Product decisions should include:

• Quality
• Scope of product line
• Warranty
• Packaging 
• Brand Name (lineage or commercial products) 

Price

Discuss pricing strategy, expected volume, and decisions for the following pricing variables:

• List price
• Discounts
• Bundling
• Payment terms and financing options

Distribution (Place)

Decision variables include:

• Where to advertise 
• Product distribution (products)
• Locations
• Logistics, including transportation, warehousing, and order fulfilment

Promotion

• Advertising, including how much and which media.
• Public relations
• Promotional programs
• Budget; determine break-even point for any additional spending
• Projected results of the promotional programs

VII.   Short & Long-Term Projections

What do you want to accomplish for each segment in:
1 - this year
2 - 2 years
3 - 5 years
4 - 10 years

VIII.   Conclusion

Summarize all of the above.

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It does seem like a lot of work and a lot of projecting, but remember I always say "Ideas and Passion without goals are simply dreams"©