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Marketing Plan

Your marketing plan should be a clear, concise, and well thought out document that guides you through your marketing program. It should focus on the objective of your marketing and how you intend to accomplish that objective. Whether your company provides products or services, your marketing plan is essential to your success.

• The Purpose
• Your Target Customer
• The Benefits of Your Product or Service
• Your Positioning
• Your Marketing Tactics
• Your Marketing Budget

Keep your marketing plan simple. Many small business owners get so involved in details that they lose sight of their goals. By keeping your plan simple, you will create a clear roadmap that focuses on what you need to accomplish Write your marketing plan down (as opposed to thinking about it and keeping it in your head). It is important to have a document that will remind you what you are trying to accomplish. Be direct and be clear. If you're not sure, ask a friend, relative, colleague or employee to read your plan. They should immediately grasp your goals. Don't build in too much flexibility. You may be tempted to plan for various market contingencies. If your market changes that quickly, then you should incorporate that into your plan. But create a strategy you can keep to - that's the purpose of having a plan in the first place. Review your marketing plan often - quarterly or even monthly. That doesn't mean you have to revise it every month. But take some time to evaluate it and make sure you're on track. Finally....never stop marketing!

Your Marketing Tactics

Describe the specific marketing tactics you intend to use to reach your target customers - advertising, public relations, or sales promotions, for example. These are the weapons of your marketing strategy. Choose them wisely. Make sure that they agree and support your positioning and your benefits.

Here is a list of tools that you might be using. Of course, there are many other marketing weapons you can choose.

• Advertising (print, radio, television)
• Brochures
• Circulars
• Classified ads
• Community service
• Contests
• Coupons
• Direct mail
• Events
• Flyers
• Free samples
• Frequent buyer programs
• Give-away's (T-shirts, pens, other ad specialties)
• In-store signage/displays
• Networking
• Newsletters
• Outdoor signage/billboards
• Personal contact
• Personal letters
• Product packaging
• Point-of-purchase displays
• Premiums
• Public relations
• Publicity
• Relationship selling
• Sales
• Seminars
• Sponsorships
• Stunts
• Telemarketing
• Trade shows
• Yellow Pages

If your company would like to receive the immediate and long-term benefits of working with a full-service, integrated marketing communications company, call us at 866.761.0937

Gift Cards

Limited investment. With our simple and up-front prices, you will implement a gift/loyalty card program and control your costs.

No special equipment or programs, it operates with standard Windows-based PCs, standard bar code scanners or magnetic stripe readers, and receipt printers. You don’t have to reprogram your credit card machine or buy special equipment.

No transaction fees. Banks or other third-party processors may charge 25 to 30 cents per transaction, plus a monthly subscription fee. There are no transaction fees, no contracts. Banks and other third-party card processors may require a long-term contract to use their proprietary service. Even if you’re in a position to discontinue their service, it may not be possible if you have a large number of outstanding cards. With this service, you’ve already paid for the software license and you own the data…

Re loadable values. This system allows you easily add value to an existing gift card, allowing you to keep cards continually in use. Support for both gift and loyalty cards. Handle both gift cards and loyalty cards within a single application. You can even combine the two and even offer merchandise return cards on a single card and program.

Flexible reporting, select from pre-defined reports and create custom reports at any time. Identify customers and their buying/visitation habits for future marketing campaigns.