3 Crucial Points New Entrepreneurs Leave Out Of Their Marketing Plans
The first business I started, I spend months creating my product. Then after it launched, I was so burned out I didn’t even want to think about the marketing plan and promotion. Needless to say, that first product was a bit of a flop. But I learned a lot from that experience, in particular how important it is to have your marketing plan and efforts in place even before you start creating your product.
From creating and reviewing marketing plans, I’ve found that business owners starting out tend to leave out three crucial aspects in their strategies.
But not to worry! I’ve outlined these three things below and how you can get started today.
Customer’s Voice
One of the biggest characteristics of a successful entrepreneur is that they are making products or services for other people. It’s easy to come up with a great idea that you love and assume that everyone else will love it too. But the harsh reality is that a lot of businesses fail because they’re making products for themselves and not their customers.
Do your market research! Go out and talk to the people that you want to sell to. Ask them their biggest pain points in relation to your product. Ask them if they would buy your product. Even better - ask for a presale. There’s no better indicator that you have a great product if people are willing to pay and wait. That’s why Kickstarter is such a great place to test out ideas before investing in the infrastructure needed to produce.
Budget
I see entrepreneurs starting out set on marketing with no budget, the plan is to use social media solely and build their audience and business that way. Now, there is nothing wrong with building a following through social media. But through free channels alone is not very realistic.
First, there are social media tools that will help you plan and schedule your content that have minimal costs to use. Don’t overlook a $20 / month tool just because it isn’t free. If it’s going to save you hours of work, isn’t it worth the price of lunch? How much is your time worth?
Second, paid advertising - Facebook ads, PPC, display ads, can have a huge impact. I’m not saying start throwing hundreds or thousands of dollars at paid channels, but experimenting with five or twenty dollars could come up with a strategy that is profitable. You could be missing out on a tool that could leverage your business exponentially, so don’t overlook paid advertising just because it isn’t free. Start small!
Realistic Goals
When you’re just starting out, it's so hard to set real, concrete goals. Most people just want to be able to break even and will be happy if they land anywhere above that. A well thought out business and marketing plan should have an idea of what is realistic and what needs to go into those plans.
This is where market research comes in again. Do some digging and find out your industry conversion rates. You’d be surprised how much information you can find with a quick Google search.
My tip - break down your goals into metrics you can directly affect. If you want to make 100 sales, then how many people will you need on your list? You’ll need to know average conversion rates in your industry to get an idea. Then how are you going to find those people to join your list? What has worked the best in your industry?
