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Chapter 22
Ten Steps to a Great
Marketing Plan
In This Chapter
ᮣ Tailoring a plan for your small business
ᮣ Using the plan to reach your goals
Contrary to popular misconception, marketing plans aren’t just for the big
guys. When small business owners hear the term, they tend to envision
a leather-bound tome weighing down a polished bookshelf in some corporate
VP’s high-rise corner office.
In reality, you can write a marketing plan for your small business on a couple
of sheets of paper that will turn your marketing effort into a planned invest-
ment rather than a hopeful risk. The following ten steps tell you how.
Step 1: State Your Business Purpose
Start with a one-sentence summary of your business purpose (see Chapter 7).
For example, the purpose statement for Small Business Marketing For Dummies
could be this:
To empower small businesses and entrepreneurs by providing big-time market-
ing advice scaled to fit the clocks, calendars, budgets, and pressing realities of
the small business world.
Step 2: Define Your Market Situation
Describe the changes, problems, and opportunities that your business will
face over the coming marketing plan period. In analyzing your situation, con-
sider the following factors:
