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 – |
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 | |
| 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.
Benjamin Fletcher says
25/08/2012 at 12:22Free #marketing template & plan for small businesses http://t.co/vAYP77xH via @247tweet > useful for departmental startegy too! | #hr
Mehv says
05/02/2012 at 16:35Marketing template & plan for small businesses http://t.co/qk6IWLjK
Mike D Morrison says
05/02/2012 at 16:34Marketing template & plan for small businesses http://t.co/qk6IWLjK