The document provides information about creating an effective marketing plan, including performing a marketing analysis, determining a target market, selecting appropriate marketing activities and creating a budget. It discusses analyzing the total market and target segments, identifying competitors, and outlining sales strategies and forecasts. Sample marketing analyses and budgets are included to illustrate the concepts. The key steps are determining the target niche, assessing resources, selecting top 3-4 marketing strategies to fit the budget and time frame, and projecting expected results from each activity.

1. Create a Marketing Plan That Produces Results Learn the steps & necessary information required to create a highly effective marketing strategy and budget. Thomas Burns, Consultant 916-912-3880 www.theSBSF.com [email_address]

2. Marketing is the Center of Your Business Universe Everything you do to promote your business is marketing. However, without a strategy or plan, your marketing will not bring you the desired results. Therefore, creating a marketing plan is a critical ingredient in building a successful business. Thomas Burns, Consultant 916-912-3880 www.theSBSF.com [email_address]

3. What goes into a Marketing plan Marketing Analysis: This gives you an overview of the total market for customers. You can create on marketing analysis on the total number of potential customers in a city, state, country or the world. Target Market Segment Analysis : This tells you exactly who is your ideal customer or client, how many exist and where are they located. Better known as your Niche Market Marketing Plan: This is the specific marketing activities you are going to use to promote your product/service to the target market. This also includes a budget and expected return on investment. Competitive Edge: This tells you exactly who are your top 5 direct competitors, and what, if any competitive advantage you have over the competition. Sales Strategy & Forecast: This spells out exactly how we intend to convert prospects into customers/clients. The forecast tells us how much revenue we expect to generate every month and what it will cost to generate those sales. Thomas Burns, Consultant 916-912-3880 www.theSBSF.com [email_address]

4. Example of a Marketing Analysis Thomas Burns, Consultant 916-912-3880 www.theSBSF.com [email_address] 2.0 Market Analysis Summary We divided our market analysis into two large groups. Those groups are Organizations and Individuals . Then we focused our data only on the State of California. This allowed us the ability to accurately estimate the size of our market and its potential for business over a given period of time. Beginning with our primary market, (organizations), we will demonstrate the size of the market and explain why we chose Cities and Counties as our specific niche. Any organization, be it a For-Profit company or government agency that has 500 or more employees, located in California and is losing employees to retirement and not able to replace them. Organizations that fall within this category include the following. California state agencies. There are over 250 state agencies in California. Cities with a population of 50,000 or more. There are 150 cities that have a population of at least 50,000 All California counties. There are 58 counties in California. For-profit companies that have 500 or more employees. As of 2003 census records, there were 5,741 companies that employed at least 500 people. All of these organizations are feeling the pain of people leaving the organization without replacements on the horizon. Any individual age 49+ living in California who is employed and will soon retire. There are 1,078,044 local city and county workers in California. There are 499,399 state government workers in California. There are 10,000,000 private wage and salary workers in California. Our market research indicates a vast majority of these individuals recognize the need to plan for retirement, have financial resources to pay for our services, are willing to make the time commitments required and are 50+ years of age and are no older than 65 years of age

5. How to determine your target market Thomas Burns, Consultant 916-912-3880 www.theSBSF.com [email_address] The first thing you want to do is ask yourself two questions. The first question is, “Who do I really want to do business with and why?” The second question is, “Who is most likely to purchase my product/service and why?” I cannot stress the important of these two questions. Who you choose as your target market (niche) has direct consequences on the success or failure of your business. This is especially true for startup, micro-enterprises and home-based businesses. Limitations on time, money and resources means that if you waste what money and time you do have marketing to the wrong target market, then you are almost guaranteed to fail.

6. How many are in your target market and where are they located. http://www.ca.gov/ Locate state agencies, their headquarters. http://www.saccounty.net/default.htm Locate information on Sacramento County. http://www.census.gov/ This site provides all statistics on the US population broken down by state, city or county. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Online encyclopedia that provides updated information on all manner of subjects http://library.csus.edu/guides/rogenmoserd/general/sacramento.html site providing statistics on Sacramento and its surrounding cities. http://sacramento.areaconnect.com/statistics.htm An excellent site offering a snapshot of statistics on Sacramento County. http://www.blackwebportal.com/ A great site offering an extensive list of links to black organizations. http://www.strictlybusinesssites.com/ A directory site listing all types of sites important to small business owners. http://www.ceoexpress.com/default.asp Another site with links to valuable sites used by small business owners. http://www.csac.counties.org/ The site has valuable statistics on all California counties. Thomas Burns, Consultant 916-912-3880 www.theSBSF.com [email_address]

7. How to create a Marketing Plan & Budget Determine your niche market, its size and location. Make an honest assessment of your financial situation and ask yourself just how much money you are willing to spend on marketing every month for at least 12 months. Make an honest assessment of your time and existing responsibilities and again ask yourself just how much time can I commit to marketing my business. Then examine the list of most effective marketing activities and decide which ones fit your budget and time frame. Once you make your list, then you narrow down this list until you have no more than 3 or 4 marketing strategies. Regardless of the product/service your selling and where your business is located, the process for creating a plan and budget is the same. Thomas Burns, Consultant 916-912-3880 www.theSBSF.com [email_address]

8. #2d Most Effective Marketing Activities (18) Email Marketing Mobile Text Messaging Trade shows / Vendor fairs / Craft fairs Networking Events Social Networking Telemarketing Outside Sales Representation Radio advertising Television advertising Newspaper advertising Magazine Advertising Referral Marketing Search Engine Ranking Print & Online directories Internet Advertising; Banner ads, google adwords, Direct Mail Billboard advertising Online marketplace; Ebay, craigslist, yahoo auctions Thomas Burns, Consultant 916-912-3880 www.theSBSF.com [email_address]

9. Marketing Activities For Entrepreneurs On A Budget Email Marketing Mobile Text Messaging Trade shows / Vendor fairs / Craft fairs Networking Events Radio advertising Referral Marketing Print & Online directories Online marketplace; Ebay, craigslist, yahoo auctions Social Networking Telemarketing Thomas Burns, Consultant 916-912-3880 www.theSBSF.com [email_address]

10. Marketing Activities & Projected Results Thomas Burns, Consultant 916-912-3880 www.theSBSF.com [email_address] Close 1 sale a day Advertise in small community newspapers. Close 1 sales a day Advertise in Penny Saver. We will advertise weekly selecting only the most populated zip codes. Close 4 sales a day. AT&T Yellow Page advertising. First rule of marketing in the auto glass business; You must have a presence in the yellow pages. This will generate repeat business and referrals from satisfied customers. Close 1 sale a day Give discount coupons to all customers. Close 2 sales a day. Online Directories. Google, yahoo, Craigslist and yellowpages.com. We will have a regular listing and enhanced listing on these sites.

11. Marketing Activities & Projected Results Thomas Burns, Consultant 916-912-3880 www.theSBSF.com [email_address] Obtain at least one new client a week. Conducting Weekly Free Webinars. All prospects will be invited to listen to a free Webinar held every Tuesday evening. Generate between 50 and 75 strong prospects Exhibit at Select Trade Shows & Conferences. We will exhibit at these following events, The Get My Money Conference I Need Clients Trade Show Generate 10 new prospects a month. Social Media Marketing. Promoting our business, services and expertise on Facebook, Linkedin, You Tube and Twitter. Generate 10 new prospects a month. Attending Networking Events. I will attend 3 networking events a month. The goal is to connect with prospects and potential referral partners.

12. Example of a Marketing Budget Thomas Burns, Consultant 916-912-3880 www.theSBSF.com [email_address] $100 Brochures, Newsletters, Business Cards and Banners $300 Exhibiting at Trade Shows FREE Conducting Weekly Webinars $300 Referral Marketing $300 Social Media Marketing $100 Attending Networking Events $300 Email Marketing Campaign $300 Online Directories $300 Yellow Page Advertising Total Monthly Budget $2,000 Listing of Marketing Activities

13. Creating a Competitive Analyses & Edge Against the Competition Most of you already know exactly who your main competitors are, while others do not have a clue. Here are the steps involved with creating a competitive edge. Use the phone book and online directories to create a list of competitors. Visit their websites and study their advertising. Call at least 5 direct competitors and pretend to be a potential customer. Ask as many questions as possible about their business and what benefits and features they offer customers. Once you have a clear understanding of the competition, create a competitive analysis. Only then will you be able to create an edge against the competition. Thomas Burns, Consultant 916-912-3880 www.theSBSF.com [email_address]

14. Example of a Competitive Analyses X Selection X Service X Products X Price X Quality X Advertising Importance To Customers Competitor B Competitor A Weakness Strength Me Factor

15. How to Create a Sales Forecast The process of creating an accurate sales forecast is as follows: How many niche market customers exist. How many competitors exist and do I have a competitive advantage strong enough. What are my marketing activities, its cost and time limitations. Thomas Burns, Consultant 916-912-3880 www.theSBSF.com [email_address] Based on this information, you are able to create a sales forecast that is based on more than an educated guess. Your sales projections are now based on a factual basis that relates to your business and expertise.

16. Sales Strategy & Process Now we get to have some fun. Because now we get to figure out how we create sales and how much profit we are going to make. The first step is to describe your sales process. As an example, my sales process is described as follows: Using the marketing activities described, Small Business Sales Force will encourage prospects to setup a face to face meeting by offering a free 1 hour consultation. During the consultation, I am able to answer their questions so that they can determine for themselves the value and quality of our expertise. This also allows us the ability to offer our services and negotiate rates. From this activity, prospects will usually purchase a business plan, marketing plan or individual consulting sessions. Thomas Burns, Consultant 916-912-3880 www.theSBSF.com [email_address]

17. Example of a Sales Forecast Thomas Burns, Consultant 916-912-3880 www.theSBSF.com [email_address] $9,680 $9,680 $9,680 $9,680 $9,680 $9,680 $9,680 $9,680 $9,680 $9,680 $9,680 $9,680 Insurance Customers $5,940 $5,940 $5,940 $5,940 $5,940 $5,940 $5,940 $5,940 $5,940 $5,940 $5,940 $5,940 Wholesale Customers $6,950 $6,950 $6,950 $6,950 $6,950 $6,950 $2,950 $6,950 $6,950 $6,950 $6,950 $6,950 Retail Customers Aug July June May April March Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sept Revenue Sources

18. Once you start writing, do not spend too much time on word selection and grammar. Put together a first draft soon as possible. The editing and revision of each section will always take place at another time. Remember, a marketing plan is a living document that will be used daily, weekly, monthly. As things change, the marketing plan will also change. However, taking the time to do the research, planning and writing out your thoughts, ideas and goals, is the first step in the process of creating a marketing plan that generates the desired results. Thomas Burns, Consultant 916-912-3880 www.theSBSF.com [email_address] Conclusion