Creating A Marketing Plan:
Situation Analysis
1 - What do you want your plan to do?
Impressing Your Sellers - The main reason you are creating a website and marketing materials is to show sellers how much more value you provide over other businesses out there. You’re not simply putting up an ad or website. you’re giving them a reason to pick you.
2 - Who is your target audience?
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*Demographics - Where do they live? How much do they make? How old are they? Their gender? Their ethnicity? Their education?
* Geography - Where do they live? Why do they live there? What type of lifestyle do they have in their geographical area?
* Lifestyle - What do they do for a living? What motivates them? What types of interests and hobbies do they have? What type of car do they drive? Where do they go on holidays or vacations?
* Life Cycle - Where are they in their life cycle? Are they single, just married, expecting their first child, divorcees, empty nesters, retirees?
* Motives - What motivates them to buy? Are they emotional or rational buyers? What do they care about - the economy, investing, security, stability, the American dream?
3 - What is the competition like?
To effectively market a business, you must know what competition you have - and what unique features and benefits your company brings to the table. Knowing this information helps you distinguish and differentiate your company from all the others.
Think of it this way. Buyers are overwhelmed with choices. When they search through companies and references, they are looking for something that stands out and grabs their attention. Something that says to them "call this business!"
If your marketing can do this, you’re going to start attracting a lot more buyers. And that means there’s a good chance you’ll close the deal faster- and get paid for your services sooner!
4 - How can you market the company and your website?
The final step is getting the word out. Here are some ideas for marketing your new marketing pieces:
* On your blog
* In your ads and mailings
* On fliers
* In your newsletters
* On riders for your signs.
* In your online classified ads (Craigslist, Trulia, Zillow, Oodle, etc)
* In your social media profiles like MySpace and Facebook
* Twitter (or tweet, if you like) the URL
* Add to social bookmarking sites like Del.icio.us
* In your email signature
* In blog comments you leave (don’t spam blogs, but most software asks for your URL)
* In presentations (to show other buyers and sellers what you can do for them)