Marketing plan

Marketing has been established as a key ingredient in the strategy of a small business, even if the owner-manager has no great ambitions beyond long term survival. Yet many small business owners would probably say that they do not “do much marketing” or that they “leave that to the larger companies”.

In fact, small firms cannot avoid marketing, even if they would prefer to do so. Customers will receive marketing communications from a small business whether they are intended or not. Patterns emerge from the way a small firm presents and prices its products or services, and how these are sold and delivered to a customer. These patterns amount to the marketing strategy of a small firm, even it only in the perception of the customer. The owner-manager who has no time to consider marketing strategy will be adopting one by default.

Managers of small firms may shy away from positive applications of marketing because:

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– They lack specialized knowledge and skills; often owner-managers are more familiar with the product or technical aspects of their business, and have no training or experience in marketing.

– They lack interest because of their personal motivations. Some owner-managers do not want to grow their business. Others find impersonal marketing communication distasteful. Most are so busy with day to day operational problems, they have no time to consider longer term marketing plans.

– They believe it to be too expensive. A shortage of funds and high costs in other areas, particularly in the start up phase of a new business, can mean that marketing expenditure is considered as something of a luxury, which only larger companies, achieving economies of scale, can justify.

– They believe it to be ineffective. Some small firms are highly specialized, serving very narrow market segments. In these circumstances the appropriate marketing approach may be obvious and standard promotions may be wasteful and ineffective.

Regardless of the level of marketing effort, a small enterprise will benefit from a marketing plan. Without one they will be leaving their strategy to emerge in ways which may not be advantageous.

There is evidence that the marketing style of many small firms is different to larger organizations as marketing is often:

– restricted in scope and activity;

– simplistic and haphazard;

– product and price oriented:

– centralized on the experience of the owner-manager. The main components of a marketing plan are:

– The marketing environment: A background analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the small firm, in relation to the opportunities and threats in the market place, including competitive and external influences and a definition of the customer and their needs.

– The marketing objective: A precise summary of the results that a small enterprise expects from its marketing activities – what products or services are to be sold in which markets, in what quantities and when.

– The marketing methods: A plan of how the elements in the marketing mix are to be used – what product, at which prices, in what place, supported by which promotions.

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УЧЕБНЫЙ ЭЛЕМЕНТ 2 (УЭ-2)

MANAGEMENT

Management, not bankers nor stockholders, is the fundamental element in industry. It is good management that draws credit, that draws workers, that draws customers... Management is the permanent function of business.

Mary Parker Follett.

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