Right behind a Business Plan, a sound, coherent and cohesive Marketing Plan is one the most critical components for becoming a successful business.

A Marketing Plan (as well as a Business Plan) doesn’t have to a lengthy novel – especially for a small business owner.

Why is this so?
1) What is the probability that a small business owner has the time to generate a traditional Marketing Plan?
2) What is the probability that a small business owner has the skills to generate a traditional Marketing Plan?
3) What is the probability that a small business owner has the motivation and enthusiasm to generate a traditional Marketing Plan?
4) Once done what is the probability that the Marketing Plan will go on the shelf and gather dust forevermore?

This is why I am an advocate of the concepts of Guerrilla Marketing. Now I am by no means an “Expert Marketeer”. But I believe I am smart enough to recognize that all businesses are not created equal and traditional marketing theory and concepts are focused on larger companies, with larger budgets for marketing.

The small business owner does not have the resources (Time, Money and Skills) that large enterprises have and therefore must husband their resources accordingly. This is where Guerrilla Marketing excels.

The Guerrilla Marketing series was devised and written by Jay Conrad Levinson and in my opinion is not only brilliant but will fit almost any small business.

Guerrilla Marketing strips away all the big company / big budget “stuff” from traditional marketing and leaves the small business owner with a well thought out and conceptually sound Marketing Plan process that in Levinson’s words “will deliver low cost and high impact” marketing to the small business owner.

This methodology is infinitely scalable and easily replicated (more of my favorite tenets for small businesses).

A Guerrilla Marketing Plan will be seven to ten pages long – this may seem like a lot but when you consider this includes the Marketing Plan Budget and the Marketing Plan Implementation Schedule it is really quite short.

Levinson suggests that you start by doing a one page strategy summary by answering seven questions before your write your plan.

Those seven questions are
1) Explain the purpose of the strategy.
2) Explain how you will achieve this purpose. It describes your Features, Advantages and Benefits (FAB).
3) Describe your Target Market.
4) Outline the Marketing Weapons you will use.
5) Describe your niche.
6) Reveal the identity of your business.
7) Define your budget, which should a percentage of sales.

Once you have done this one page summary you are ready to do your Marketing Plan in detail.

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One of the techniques that is used in the Lean Manufacturing World is “The Five Why’s”. The Five Why’s is a method of getting to true root cause of an issue or problem.

It is the practice of asking why repeatedly whenever a problem or issue arises. Below is an example (adapted from the Lean Lexicon – Lean Enterprise Institute, www.lean.org ) of what this means.

For instance, Taiichi Ohno gives this example about a machine that stopped working (Ohno 1988, p. 17):
1. Why did the machine stop?
There was an overload and the fuse blew.

2. Why was there an overload?
The bearing was not sufficiently lubricated.

3. Why was it not lubricated?
The lubrication pump was not pumping sufficiently.

4. Why was it not pumping sufficiently?
The shaft of the pump was worn and rattling.

5. Why was the shaft worn out?
There was no strainer attached and metal scraps got in.

They go on to discuss why there was no strainer and it turned out that the Preventative Maintenance Program schedule wasn’t being followed and this was the root cause of the problem, not that the machine broke down. The machine breakdown was a symptom and not the disease.

While here they were discussing a manufacturing problem, this technique can be used in any kind of problem solving, analysis or brainstorming – from analyzing financial results to problem solving sales or marketing issues.

Try it out and you’ll find that you will get to the root cause much faster and eliminate the real issue and not simply place a band-aid on a symptom.

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We have just added a Goal Setting Form to the Resource Library, Tool section. This will assist you in both setting and achieving your short and mid term goals and objectives.
 

The second module of the Marketing Plan Series is now up in the Resource Library, give it a look and send me your comments.

Also the latest edition of my Business Alert newsletter  (Vol 8. No. 3) has been posted.

Okay, so far in the series we have been in the “softer” side of planning, what planning can do for you, how to fit your business into your lifestyle (and not the other way around), staking out exactly where you are now (benchmarking) and doing your Vision & Mission Statements.

Now its time for the rubber to meet the road. Doing your “Roadmap”, again going back to the journey analogy I have been using. The roadmap is the tangible and practical set of methods for getting where you want to go.

The roadmap has three parts
 Goals & Objectives
 Strategies
 Plans

Goals & Objectives – we have defined our Vision. So what accomplishments do we have to achieve to arrive at our Vision? These are the concrete, definable, measurable and specific both in terms of target and time frames. Obviously these must be written down and published – if only to yourself. My goals and objectives are on a 2’ X 3’ poster over my desk, I review them every day – this is my motivation even when I am not in the mood.

The Goals and Objectives are designed to focus your scarce resources, the most scarce being your time, on those activities that achieve your targeted and specific results. For many businesses the most critical categories will be Marketing and Financial, although your’s may be different. There is no template for G&O’s – every business is unique, but the same (business is business) so make sure to cover all the important aspects of your business. Always ask the question What is this for? Or even more simply Why? These two questions will help keep you from pursuing goals that do not come from your needs or values.

Your Goals and Objectives should be SMART

S is for Simple. Your goals should be clear and easy to describe. You want to weigh 175 pounds, or save $10,000 this year. Your goal is to run a marathon or to purchase a computer by the end of the year. If it takes more than 25 words to describe your goal, simplify it!

S also stands for Significant. Don’t waste time chasing trivial goals! If you are merely thinking about a goal, forget it! Goals must have significance for you. Choose things that are important, that get you excited, things that will make a difference in your life.  . A goal without a specific result is just a pipe-dream. You can’t achieve a pound of "happiness", or a foot of "self-esteem", but you CAN get a new job. You CAN run a mile in under 7 minutes or do 100 sit-ups. You CAN spend Saturdays as a family, or increase your sales by 10% this month. Someone has wisely said, "What gets measured, gets done!"

M is for Measurable  A goal without a specific result is just a pipe-dream. You can’t achieve a pound of "happiness", or a foot of "self-esteem", but you CAN get a new job. You CAN run a mile in under 7 minutes or do 100 sit-ups. You CAN spend Saturdays as a family, or increase your sales by 10% this month. Someone has wisely said, "What gets measured, gets done!"

A is for Achievable. "Goals should be just out of reach, but not out of site." You want to stretch yourself, not strain after impossible dreams. If you haven’t run in years, don’t set a goal to run a marathon! Your brain won’t "buy it"! Set a goal to run around the block, and then set a new goal to run for 20 minutes. Then, go farther. Nothing succeeds like success! Set goals you can and will ACHIEVE, then aim higher!

R is for Rational. To reach your goal, you will need a plan, a path, and a vehicle for getting there. Your goals should make sense when you explain them to family and friends. You can become a millionaire by methodically saving 10% of your income; you probably won’t get rich playing the lottery. Play the odds, have a plan, and work your plan!

T is for Tangible! Choose goals that you can see, hear, smell or touch. Go for things your senses will enjoy and that you can clearly visualize. The brain has a hard time going for "financial security", but it can visualize a bank statement with large numbers on it! Even things like "peace of mind" are more powerful if you re-word them in terms of a meditation room in your house, or an hour a day, just for you.

Keep your G&O’s concise and measurable – those items which can be measured will improve. Measure them often – at least quarterly, more likely monthly. I measure my marketing goals weekly, though that may be too much for you.

Strategies – are a bit more expansive than goals and objectives, but have the ability to create the direction and operating guidelines for building and or managing your business.

A good way visualizing strategies would be to think of them as the best practices for your business or industry. What company in your industry has had the most success in obtaining and keeping market share? Investigate them; find out what they do and how they do it. You’ll learn some valuable lessons.

Your Core Strategies (usually four to six for any single company), when properly constructed will address both external influences and internal influences. They will define your business and keep it focused.

Plans – are the specific action items and their related action steps that you must make in a specific timeline to achieve your desire objective.

We all, as business owners, have a to-do list, this list usually has too many to-dos on it, some urgent (pay the utility bill), some important (execute this month’s marketing plan) some both urgent and important (follow up with hot-hot-hot prospects) and so on.

A well thought out plan will keep you focused on the important but not necessarily urgent actions.

These are the one that will maintain your current market base, capture new market share and grow your business. A good plan will help you prioritize and keep a balance between the urgent, important and important but not urgent actions you will face every day.

Plans need to be broken down into specific and “do-able” projects and steps that can be achieved in a reasonable timeframe – do not try to eat the elephant in one bite.

Each project has both a time and cost element, both need to reasonably estimated and compared to the return you’ll receive.

Achieving your plans, goals and objective will be addressed in a future article

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Small Manufacturer’s Tool Kit - Steve Novak

This is the first book a manufacturing small business decision maker should get, read and understand. Novak has written a well documented guide to selecting the techniques and systems to help the small manufacturer succeed.

This book reviews and discusses all the current thought on manufacturing excellence. From the basics like inventory management, Scheduling and MRP to Lean, Theory of Constraints, Six Sigma and ERP and everything in between.

By doing such a thorough job of laying out the advantages and disadvantages of each technique and system and how they interrelate (and more importantly never displaying any bias towards any of them), Novak enables the owner make informed decisions.