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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