The Marketing Plan
Anticipated Demand
The demand for the service we offer is determined by the level of new businesses starting up each year. At present this figure is estimated at some 450,000. The year before there was a 10 per cent fall in these figures. Low interest rates and the gradual rise of the economy have resulted in increased consumer spending thus putting confidence back into industry which in turn has the effect of more businesses starting up. It is estimated 200X will see a 15 per cent increase in the number of new businesses.
Marketing Methods
We will purchase a number of mailing lists and target 'Business Opportunity Seekers', for the time when they have found a business opportunity to suit them. If we target the right market then a good client list can be worth a lot more than it would cost to acquire.
We understand that advertising only reinforces, it does not generally sell. Therefore the information pack we send out will contain all the features and benefits of our business and marketing plans in order to convince the client to take the final step and order a plan. All inquiries will be followed up with a courtesy call a few days later to ensure the information pack has arrived and to ask whether we may be of any further assistance. National magazine advertisements will be placed on a monthly basis whilst the local press will be used on days of increased circulation.
Attracting Clients
We only have a small advertising budget at present so we will have to target our promotional methods effectively in order to produce the maximum response with the budget we have. To begin with, a press release will be sent to all local and national newspapers and specialist business magazines such as Home Business, Enterprise , Business Franchise etc. with details of the service we offer and where we can be contacted.
This will be followed up with direct mailings to potential clients who are in a position to use our services now. Business bankers, accountants, tax advisers etc will also be approached, as these organisations deal directly on a daily basis with clients who are about to set up in business. Many of these organisations may be competing for our clients' business but we feel many of these will be too busy to undertake this type of work, whereas we are a specialist company dedicated to providing professionally packaged business plans. It is hoped that after a period of time most of our clients will be reached by word of mouth recommendations.
Public Relations
The service we provide will mainly help new small businesses which the press are keen to promote as the up and coming businesses of tomorrow. We will use the press to highlight our service as one which will help small businesses achieve long term success.
