Question

Topic: Other

Help On Developing A Marketing Plan

Posted by Anonymous on 7/15/2005 at 12:18 PM ET 100 Points
I am currently employeed at a small business with an annual revenue of $10 million. We have just redesigned our webpage to try and reach our customers more effectively and do a small amount of advertising in 4 or 5 industry specific magazines. We mail product brochures but only by request. Our sales department attends approx. 10 trade shows a year. No formal marketing deparment exists. I was hired to initiate a more organized marketing effort. This is my first job out of college and I am struggling to find a launch pad for this effort. I would appreciate any advice on the best action plan for a one or two person marketing team.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 7/15/2005 at 2:49 PM Accepted
    Well, without knowing the product you sell, the market you are in, etc., it will be challenging to provide advice.

    In general, when I go into a new situation, I initially do a SWOT analysis to try to understand where things stand.
    See https://www.quickmba.com/strategy/swot/ for info.

    I would also try to see if you can get any sort of feel for the results of your prior marketing activities. Try to determine what works and what doesn't. Chances are you won't have data - so the action from this may be to institute some sort of tracking of results as best you can and then start seeing what works and what doesn't.

    You say industry specific magazines, so I am assuming some form of B2B market? If so, the 10 trade shows sounds high, particularly if these are national trade shows (which are quite expensive).

    Do you use direct mail? Or press releases? Or by-line articles? These are often cost effective for B2B.
  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 7/22/2005 at 12:20 AM Accepted
    Adrienne, if your company's product is helping businesses comply with EPA regulations, then by all means you need to get your hands on the free/cheap data that state government can provide to you about your target customer.

    I know that EPA sets the baseline compliance standards, but the state and local-level agencies are almost always the ones who issue permits and enforce the rules. And guess what? All of that data about the permit holders is there for the taking. Ooh, and look for the businesses who've had to pay FINES in the past year. Hot, hot prospects!

    You can build some mailing lists with that data. Send postcards directing people to your website to get something free to download (a compliance tip sheet, maybe?), and when they visit, get their name and email address. (Gov't data rarely includes email addresses.) There! Now you've started building a house list of sales leads you can nurture with careful email campaigning.

    But then, that's a whole NEW topic... Hope this is enough to get you thinking in a successful direction.
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