Marketing template & plan for small businesses

Small company marketing audit

Many training, consulting and professional services firms make an assumption that marketing will take care of itself. It won’t! We need to periodically look at what we do and plan our approach.

Every now and again it is worth looking at your business, what you do and where you do it.

This simple tool will provide you with a basic structure to review your marketing activity and what it is doing for you.

Where is your business now? – Current position of your business

Eg currently achieving £xxx in sales, fully resourced, recently gained x customers, recently lost major client, export to…… a short story outlining recent history and situation

Where do you want your business to be and by when? – Desired goals of your business

Eg Would like to increase average turnover from £x to £X in12 months, want to be doing more of x and less of y, would like to sell 25% more of x by end of year, want to implement blog and social media communications:

Enablers & barriers:

What do think will help/prevent you from getting there?

	Internal	External
Enablers	Eg Unique resources Knowledge of markets Business Location	Eg Relationships with customers Investors goodwill Expanding market potential
Barriers/ Inhibitors	EG Lack of capital Lack of management experience Limited knowledge	Eg Competitor activity Market decline High entry costs

SWOT Analysis – resources and capabilities

Strengths EG Experienced Sales Team; Known brand name; reputation for quality	Weaknesses EG After sales customer care; no up-to-date sales collateral (leaflets/brochures), inverse of strengths ie new sales team, weak brand name etc
Opportunities EG New laws/regulations; Fragmenting marketplace leading to possible Product diversification and/or Market Diversification; new market research	Threats EG New competitors; rival product launch; substitutes available

About your company and you
What is your unique selling point? (what do you have that your competitors don’t be specific)
What other factors differentiates you from your competitors?
Why do your customers buy from you and not others? (value drivers)
How is your pricing established? What structures/ research do you have in place
What are your current routes to market? How do people find you?
Where would you like to be positioned in the marketplace? (highest quality, most cost-effective, fastest etc)

About your customers?
Who makes up your current client base?
Who is your primary target market?
How do you segment your customers? (geographic, demographic, behavioural)
How do you communicate with your customers?
Competitors – who are your competitors in the marketplace	Collaborators – potential partners you can work with eg suppliers, trade bodies, intermediaries

Potential Routes to market

 

Route	Why appropriate/not appropriate
Direct Mail
Advertising
Exhibitions
Website
E-Marketing
Blogging
Twitter
Referrals
Events
PR
Newsletter
Trade Press
Radio
Sponsorship
Networking
One-to-one meetings

 

SMART Marketing Plan

(Prioritised strategic action plan)

In order of priority, what needs to be done	By whom	By when

Use this and review your position at least quarterly on an informal level and formally one a year. This is best done with someone from outside your business, an accountant, mentor or adviser.

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RapidBI is an organizational effectiveness consultancy based in the UK but working internationally.
© RapidBI & Mike Morrison 2011 - this article/ page is free to copy and use on the condition that an active link back and reference is made to this site and page. Thank you for your understanding and co-operation.

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