More Important Than A Business Plan

Ah, I love all the great resources posted about business plans. I've referred them and used them myself. Even though I'm a marketing professional, I'm not about to reinvent the wheel unnecessarily, nor recommend my clients do it.

But what is a business plan for? In my opinion, it IS to get financing. Now, you absolutely must write down your goals and have a plan in writing. You must research and understand your business today, your potential customers, your opportunities, your challenges, etcetera, and the business planning PROCESS can do all that for you. But there are more useful documents for YOU to use for your business once the business planning process is complete.

I personally adopt a very visual approach and create maps of my entire business, and I do the same for every project I undertake. From goal setting to strategic plan to execution to evaluation... it's all diagrammed in a one page picture that is a snapshot of what I'm doing, why and how I'm going to determine the success. For most small business owners, who probably are not seeking capital, anything that they will ACTUALLY look at again once the planning done is what they need for themselves. Why? Because a plan is your map, it is your GPS. Without it, you might know where you are and you might know where you want to get, but you will not know how to get there without getting lost.

So, when it comes to planning... OH YES you need a plan. And I hope you have more than instincts and your doodles to rely on to help your business grow. But between napkin notes and business plans, I hope you also adopt something more highly functional for your day to day planning. Something that gets you motivated everytime you read it, everytime you feel overwhelmed, everytime you feel lost and confused about why you started your business in the first place. Your map shows you a clear picture of sanity amongst the challenges of the rest of your life.

I'm excited to meet a client tomorrow and show my map diagram approach. From diagrams I leap into concise, three page documents. Three pages for my entire marketing plan overview. Then three pages for each tactical element of my planning efforts. I love my pictures and three page plans.

If you'd like to learn more about my approach, feel free to complete my online survey (the purpose of it is to help me guide my own business direction... my company is new and I'm still sorting out some aspects to serve my women small business community the best way I can... the survey is guiding some key decisions). By completing the survey, you earn a free half hour, absolutely NO obligation consultation to learn more about my services and to discover my unique and fun approach to what would otherwise be the 'dreaded' planning. Hey, I'm creative too... in my own "I can't sew or knit to save my life" kind of way.

Click Here to take survey

Effectively Marketing your Franchise

Attracting customers is a little easier when owning a franchise as a business thanks to marketing materials and brand awareness that head office often has already established. This competitive advantage also saves owners time and money on marketing, but it doesn’t mean that marketing ends with head office initiatives. The wise franchisee will go beyond head office marketing materials and campaigns to expand their local customer base and increase their chances of success.

What head office offers
A franchise head office will usually develop a number of high quality marketing materials for brand identity, including the corporate logo, store design, company website, ad layouts, and point-of-sale materials. To develop marketing materials and campaigns, franchise owners are typically required to contribute two per cent of their gross projected revenue to head office as part of an “advertising fund”. In return, marketing materials may be offered at a fraction of the cost to each store. By contrast, independent businesses have creative freedom to create their own marketing materials, but they absorb the entire development cost and don’t always end up with high quality or effective tools.

A franchise head office may also have created brand awareness within the target market. Brand awareness is like “warming the door” so that when customers are approached with a promotion, they already know how the franchise can benefit them. An independent store might skip developing their brand and jump straight into offer-based advertising, such as a product discount. Skipping over brand awareness can result in missed opportunities to help new customers identify with the store and learn how the store can meet their needs.

Numbers count: Supplement head office marketing

Marketing a franchise effectively means doing more than just contributing to head office’s advertising fund: the two per cent required payment may only go towards a seasonal campaign, but a franchise typically requires customers over the entire year. Industry standards recommend that an established franchise with a good track record increase it’s marketing budget to at least five per cent of the gross projected revenue, and a new business with limited awareness should budget 20 per cent to fund additional marketing efforts.

Individual marketing efforts can dovetail with head office initiatives. One example is a franchise owner taking a brand campaign that head office is advertising on billboards and applying the same image and message in a direct mail flyer or community newsletter advertisement. The idea is to increase the amount of times potential customers consistently see and hear the message to move them to action.

Franchise owners will benefit from knowing what head office’s plan is for marketing and then supplement those initiatives with their own. Creating an annual plan empowers franchise owners by ensuring that critical selling seasons aren’t missed.

Localize franchise marketing

While owning a franchise usually means having a corporate brand and materials readily available, basic marketing principles still apply, including the importance of knowing and reaching the local market which is critical for success.

Franchise owners need to ask the same questions that an independent business asks: who are my customers? Where do they live and what do they like to do? What other business are they likely to frequent and what media are they regularly exposed to? How are they likely to find my business – through the Yellow pages, a friend, driving by the store, seeing community newsletter advertisements, or searching the Internet? Profiling local customers helps determine how to effectively market to them.

Trying new marketing initiatives tailored to local customers also helps to ensure success. For example, a franchise dog grooming owner could visit a dog park and hand out dog treats with franchise information to dog owners. That same franchise owner could partner with a complimentary service or company, such as a pet store, to provide a preferred rate to the store’s customers, resulting in a win-win situation for both businesses. Another idea may be for the franchise owner to sponsor a fundraiser for the local Humane Society.

The Internet is another forum for localizing marketing efforts. The “world wide web” can be reigned in through search engines which many customers use to research products and services. Google Ad Words can put a business front and centre in a local market. Additionally, Google can place advertisements on well-known websites that only appear to viewers in the local market. Placing advertisements on related websites, such as a local car dealership promotion on a car enthusiast website, is another way to target customers.

Consistency pays off

Attracting new customers is important, but keeping existing customers happy is vital. Existing customers influence new customers through word-of-mouth referrals, so consistency in the customer experience is crucial. For example, if a spa offers herbal tea and fresh fruit, they need to always do this, regardless of how busy they are. Customers feel let down when there is a deviation in their experience and can communicate this to potential customers or decide to abandon the business themselves.

Consistency in marketing is also important, including times of trying out new and different initiatives. New initiatives need time to grow and be used frequently. A potential customer may be exposed to a marketing message five times but be too busy and forget the message or tune it out. However, it may be the sixth time that that potential customer receives the message and decides to become a new customer.

Calculating marketing’s worth

Finally, tracking marketing efforts determines which marketing initiatives attract new customers. Marketing is an investment that takes time and can have a delayed, but lasting, effect. This means that marketing initiatives and their costs won’t necessarily correlate with monthly or direct sales. The math doesn’t add up – the amount of a sale doesn’t equal the value of a new customer. Calculate the long term worth of a customer, and the investment in marketing can be exponential.

Sharole is President of Glow Marketing, Western Canada’s leading marketing consultancy specializing in marketing to Moms. Glow Marketing is currently working with franchises such as Beaners Fun Cuts for Kids, Marble Slab Creamery and Milkface Nursingwear.

www.GlowMarketing.ca