How to plan your marketing campaign based on your objectives

When it comes to marketing and promoting your small business, a well-planned, well-organized marketing campaign will play a huge role in the success of your business.

In order for your marketing campaign to be successful, you must have a list of objectives you would like that campaign to achieve. As a general rule, your objectives will seek to answer the question, Where do we want to go as a company? Objectives will enable you to control your marketing plan, motivate your team, and provide common goals that you can work to achieve as a team.

Objectives should be as specific as possible. So instead of having an objective of "increasing sales," the objective should include the steps needed to get there, or "increasing sales through more aggressive marketing" or "increasing sales by 10%." When objectives are specific and measurable, they are easier to attain.

Planning your marketing campaign based on your objectives
Once you have listed your objectives, you can then go about planning your marketing campaign.

You can plan your marketing campaign based on your objectives by answering the following questions:

• Who do you want as a customer? If your objective is to increase your number of regular customers, you must first decide who you want as a customer. Your products and services help to determine this. For example, if you have a catering business, deciding on a niche market can help you to better reach your objectives by focusing your marketing campaign. So let's say you decide to focus your catering business on corporate catering. As a result, you would market to business owners, CEOs, human resource executives, and others who work in the business sector. Once you have determined who you would like as a customer, you can develop a sales and marketing message directed specifically to them that will target their individual needs.
• What advantage do you have over your competition? In order to be successful in planning a marketing campaign, you must be able to identify the advantage you have over your competition. You can differentiate yourself by doing something that your competitor's don't do - for example, your catering business promises companies that their order will be correct or they get half off, or something to that extent. When you have something that sets you apart, use it in your marketing campaign. Or, let's say 9 out of the 10 businesses in your area use your product; you can use that as a selling point as well. Aggressively market your competitive advantage so your customers will have a reason to choose you.

Once you have identified who you will be marketing to and what advantage you want to focus on, you can then begin planning your campaign. Let's say your catering company has an objective to add 3 new businesses to its clientele this year. Your marketing campaign can then focus on attracting new customers.

You can do this in a number of ways. Perhaps your marketing campaign includes special incentives for first-time customers, a common approach in marketing campaigns. This could include free drinks and desserts for new customers, or 20% of their first order for new customers.

Clear objectives are essential to helping you plan a successful marketing campaign. Once you have your objectives in place, you can plan your campaign in a way that allows you to achieve them as efficiently as possible.

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