Types of a Small Business Marketing Plan

A small business marketing plan will always have its pros and cons. In the business industry, nothing is perfect. The market keeps evolving and customers generally shift from one product to another until they find the product that they are most contented with. These are different ways to prepare a marketing plan.

The customer related model

Your marketing plan will revolve around the customer. The customer controls your plans. Many businesses employ this model because they believe that,”The customer is always right.” This is correct but you should also consider the cost of providing the best for your customer. The price of the product in this method is very unstable because you change the price according to the needs of your customer. This is not an ideal situation for new businesses because they can turn bankrupt after a few months.

The budget related model

You do not focus on the customers’ needs but on your available budget instead. So, if you have a low budget, then your products will be below par with other products. You decrease your price to attract more customers and in doing so, you are lowering its quality because you have to work within your income.

The benchmarking model

You get products from other successful companies and create similar products with some modifications. It may sell for sometime but when customers learn that you are a copycat, they will buy the original product instead.

The company’s preference model

You set a certain criteria without considering anything. You create your perfect product and sell it with the hope that once consumers use it and learn about its dynamic features, they will continue buying it. This is a brave and enterprising model. A small business marketing plan, making use of this model should have a solid, fall back; meaning the business owner must be willing to shell out cash without waiting for instant Return of investments (ROI.) Many enterprising businesspersons succeeded with this model. However, you should have enough capital to back you up. You should also have great determination to persist on your marketing plans.

If you do not have financial backing, the best small business marketing plan is one that combines all of the 4 models. This is because all factors are significantly involved in making a business successful or not. Few may succeed in each of the models, but it is not wise to gamble and place all your eggs in one basket.