Your Marketing Needs - 7Ps

It's a good time to assess your marketing needs for 2008. Here are some questions based on the 7Ps of marketing:

Marketing Overview

What is your greatest reason for marketing?

What do you want “word of mouth” marketing to achieve for you?

What are your expectations and what is your measure of success?

What marketing efforts or advertising have you tried successfully or unsuccessfully in the past?

What is your expected time frame for a marketing effort?

Are you willing to set short term, intermediate and long term
Measures of success?

Plan

Do you currently have a marketing plan?

Do you believe your marketing message is clear?


Product / Service

Describe your product or service.

Why are you passionate about it?

What do you uniquely deliver that others with same product/service do not?
Knowledge, quality, timely delivery, customer service . . .

What innovations have you created?

Describe any creative uses for your product or service

People

Do you have a core customer base?

Why do they use your product or service?

What are the benefits to them?

Describe your key customers/clients
Profession
Age Range
Where they live
Hobbies
Likes / dislikes / concerns / dreams

How did they typically hear about you?

Do you have any type of customer reward program in place?

Do you typically get referrals?

Do you actively ask for referrals?

What would customers be willing to do to help build your business?

In home demonstration?
Host a cook-out?
Hand out 20 business cards?
Host a mixer in their office?

Pricing

How do you compare to your competitors?

How do you decide to set your prices?

Do you use discounts?

Do you purposefully not give discounts?

Customer rewards or incentives?

Place

What’s the geographical area where you typically do business?

What is your “market share”?

How many more potential customers could hear about you?

Partners

What complementary businesses would help promote you?

Would you be willing to promote them?

Would they be willing to form a loose or temporary
“marketing” association?

Have you ever asked vendors for referrals?

Have you given referrals to vendors?

Are you actively involved in a business networking group?
Le Tip, BNI, etc.

How does that work for you?

What are the drawbacks?

What are the advantages?

Promotion

How do you currently promote your business?

How labor intensive is it?

How much money do you currently spend promoting?

Do you spend money on advertising?

What form: magazine, newspaper, cable, radio, online, etc.

Do you have identified spokespeople? (customers, employees, PR)