No matter how good your product or service, your venture will not succeed without effective marketing. This begins with careful, systematic research. It is dangerous to assume that you already know everything about your intended market. You need to do market research to make sure you are on track. If you use the business planning process as your opportunity to uncover data, and to question your marketing efforts, your time will be well-spent.

A marketing plan could include the following sections:

• Sales strategies
• Strategic alliances
• Online marketing strategies
• Offline marketing strategies

SALES STRATEGIES
Detail how you intend selling your products or services. Selling consists of two main functions: tactics and strategy.

Sales strategy is the planning of sales activities: methods of reaching clients, competitive differences and resources available.

Tactics involve the day-to-day selling: prospecting, sales process, and follow-up.

Sales strategies and tactics can create a competitive advantage, especially if you use several different strategies and tactics in a focused and coordinated manner. For example, you could separate your sales strategy into five major areas:

1. Online Sales Strategy
2. Direct Sales Force Strategy
3. Indirect Sales Channel Strategy
4. Sales Prospecting Strategy
5. Sales Campaign Strategy

Online Sales Strategy

Your online sales strategy includes all the devices you’ll use to direct your online visitors to your pay page and, hopefully, turn them into customers.

• Sales copy
• Sales funnel
• Special offers
• Value-added offers
• Up-selling offers
• Cross-selling offers
• Product and service-specific landing pages etc.

The sales and visitor figures you will need to analyze the effectiveness of your online sales strategy can be automated in your website analytics, including your return on investment (ROI), advertising costs and conversion rates.

Direct Sales Force Strategy

This strategy allows a company to focus its resources, such as account managers and follow-up sales teams, and bonus them based on achievable and measurable goals.

• If you are going to have a sales force, do you plan to use internal, independent or outsourced representatives?
• How many salespeople will you recruit for your sales force?
• What type of recruitment strategies will you use?
• How will you train your sales force?
• What about compensation for your sales force?

You need to determine the average number of sales contacts (i.e. phone calls, emails etc.) you will need to make per sale, the average dollar size per sale, and the average dollar size per vendor.

Indirect Sales Channel Strategy

This strategy provides leverage to increase your sales success. For example, using affiliates, resellers, franchise partners and licensed partners.

Sales Prospecting Strategy

A Sales Prospecting Strategy will be supported by a direct sales force, indirect sales channels and supported by direct mail, banner and pay-per-click advertising, and search engine placement, to build your sales prospects list to a quality level. One strategy is to offer free e-books, digital products or newsletters to acquire e-mail addresses and contact details.

Sales Campaign Strategy

A Sales Campaign Strategy is designed to lay out a clear direction in which to maximize all resources at your disposal with clear campaign ideas, messages and target markets/customer groups.

STRATEGIC ALLIANCES
Do you intend to use partnerships, affiliate schemes, or any strategic alliances to help sell your major products and services? If so, who and why?

ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGIES
Here you should state exactly which online marketing strategies, tactics and campaigns you intend using. Below are just some of the strategies you will need to use:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Sponsored links e.g. Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising
• Opt-in email advertising
• Community building: blogging and social networking
• Inward link-building

OFFLINE MARKETING STRATEGIES
Here, add any traditional marketing campaigns you intend running. For example:

• Television advertising
• Radio advertising
• Magazine and newspaper advertising
• Point-of-sale promotions in retail units etc.
• Posters, handouts, samples and leaflets
• Tradeshows and exhibitions

I’d like to hear what you’ve got to say about business planning. Please leave a comment…