The purpose of the marketing plan in a business is to bring customers or clients into the business and keep them coming back. To accomplish this goal, we have to have efficient business operation, excellent customer service, advertising and promotion. To increase revenue, we have to have these five attributes: excellent customer service, good value for money, high standard of service, quality products, convenience (location, parking), and Awareness, Trial, and Usage (ATU). ATU is a marketing philosophy that will become familiar in our day to day effort toward promoting and marketing our business.
Awareness To make an individual become our customer, we must make them aware of our existence. Awareness is enhanced by location placement, signage, lighting, advertising and promotion. We must make every individual in our surrounding area aware that we exist. Trial There are many fashion consultant firms in Vancouver, therefore we should try to pull these customers and let them try our service. To enable to do this, we should give those people trials.
Trials can be enhanced by special invitation, sending flyers to houses, coupons and promotional events. Usage Once we let those people try our service, our next step is to get them back more often and refer us to their friends, relatives and co-workers. When this happens, we are promoting the CASABO (come again and bring others). Defining our trade areas Trade area is the area surrounding a business that provides the major customer base. We should know the types of businesses that are immediately surrounding ours. We should be familiarized with their hours of operation.
Talk to the owners and discuss what type of advertising has worked best for them. We can also ask about the possibility of promoting our business in conjunction with their business in terms of cross promotion (shared advertising, shared cost). Beauty salons, boutiques and studios are some examples, as they tend to draw customers with similar demographic qualities. We should also check out our competitors nearby.
We should know the service they give to their clients, the price, the hours of operation, the type of advertising they use and which time of the day or year they are most busy. We should also check out the nearby housing like single family home, apartments and condominiums. We should find a way to reach these people. We can use local newspaper, direct mail or flyers. Marketing to college students Reaching college students We have to obtain college/universities class schedule so we know when the semester starts and ends. We can also obtain a student events calendar so we are aware of when special events are scheduled.
Take advantage of on-campus media: 1) College newspaper: The college newspaper is the most widely and prints vehicle of college students. Advertising space is usually inexpensive because most schools provide the majority of funding for the paper. 2) Campus media boards: The media boards are a visible marketing tool for reaching students because most distribution stands are located in high traffic areas such as the entrance to cafeterias, classrooms and student union facilities. 3) College radio: Most schools have their own broadcast station operated by students. Advertise 3 or 4 weeks before the semester ends when the students tend to be thinking about the graduation night. 4) Get involved in special events: Colleges/universities usually hold various events such as beauty contest and talent show.
In this way, we can set up a booth where we can give free makeover or free consultation. We can give them our company’s name card or distribute some coupons and flyers. We can also sponsor specific events. The Marketing plan has many advantages as explained. The only downfall that it might have is that it might not work.
That is why it is important that only professionals with great ideas work on the marketing plan for any particular business. Word Count: 641
