By Craig Silberman
A small business marketing plan works in two directions – inward and outward. The inward portion is understanding your market (e.g. geographic, demographic, product/service, etc.) and what it wants, and developing products and services to meet its wants and needs. The outward direction of marketing is positioning your company and its products and services in the consumer’s mind, distinguishing yourself from the competition, and creating demand through advertising, publicity, and other vehicles.
Inward Marketing
Your marketing strategy begins by learning about the market for your products or services. Where are they located? Are they wealthy or not? In what age group are most of them? Are the purchasing decisions made more often by men or women? Do they own homes or rent? How comfortable are they using the computer to shop or purchase? What’s more important to their purchase decision – price, quality, or service?
In short, you need to gather all the intelligence you can. Research your market to learn all about it. The inward portion of your marketing plan will be used to develop products and services that meet market demand. Basically, “find out what people want, so you can give it to them.”
Outward Marketing Continue Reading
