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Small business and ecommerce tools
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Preparation of a marketing plan
In our last article, we said that a marketing plan can be prepared in three stages and talked about stage 1:
- Analyze the market and the competition
- Choose your target market
- Determine your marketing strategy
If you haven't read or want to review something, please read our last article. We're going to talk about the second stage in this article...
2. Choosing your target market
Nobody has the same needs and therefore your product or service just can't satisfy everybody.
At this stage you choose the group of customers (“customer segment”) whose needs your product or service meets best, and to whom you have a better offer, compared with the competition.
You have to identify those customers who will benefit the most from your product or service, can be reached by your business and are ready to pay for it.
You also define how you want to distinguish yourself from the competition (“positioning through differentiation”).
Perhaps the main reason for a small business or ecommerce project to choose a target market is due to economic reasons. Let me explain it...
Since people have different needs and wants, results economically unviable to adapt your product or service, technology, machines, marketing strategies etc. etc. to satisfy every need and want from each individual.
Instead, you'll have to choose a group of potential customers with similar needs and wants (target market) that your business can serve efficiently. Of course this segment has to be big enough to make reasonable profits.
This fundamental is the same for a big or a small business but ecommerce tools like Brainstorm It! and Niche Choose It! from SBI! can ease this task bringing you data of demand and supply for different sets of keywords and helping you to make a rational and well thought decision based in the pros and cons.
You can find an explanation about how these small business ecommerce tools can help you to choose your target market.
Also, you'll have to identify your potential costumer to understand his/her needs and wants, make a description of their characteristics and therefore deliver what they want or need most.
Therefore, the sale process doesn't begin with your small business or ecommerce site. It begins having your costumer's needs and wants in mind. Here is a tool to help you identify your potential costumer and write to him/her:
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As you saw, small business and ecommerce tools are made one for each other and can simplify your start up process. In our next article we're going to talk about the last stage of this plan.
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