Marketing Strategy and Template for Independent Professionals

Having a marketing strategy and marketing approach is very important. Thus, instead of recreating the wheel, here is a short, sweet, easy-to-understand marketing strategy template to help you place your ducks are in a row in designing your marketing strategy.

MARKETING STRATEGY FOR INDEPENDENT PROFESSIONALS ...coaches, consultants, accountants, lawyers...

GENERAL OVERVIEW

Business Strengths

Our extensive knowledge of the adventure travel industry is our greatest strength, in addition to our positioning in the region.

Business Weaknesses

The greatest weakness our business faces is our ability to handle new competition. Currently, we are the only providers of our services in the area, and any competitor that moves in will pose a threat to our stability.

BUSINESS GOALS

Profit

Our current profit goals are: Year Two: $__________ post-tax profit Year Three: $________ post-tax profit We have not established any other long-range profit goals at this time

Sales

Our long-term sales goals are to operate at or close to cash flow break-even by Year Two and to be profitable from Year One onward. We would like our profit margin to be 7 percent by Year Three.

Marketing

Our long-term marketing goals are to develop an extensive Web site, to increase our public relations activities, and to create an informative store window to draw in customers.

POSITION IN THE MARKETPLACE

Description of Our Customers

Our customers are ___ to ___-year-old professionals, married or unmarried, without children, who are ___________.

Our Customers' Needs

Our target customers are looking for customized planning services that will provide them with all the information necessary to take an adventure vacation in Europe. Often, they do not have the time or the resources to do the research themselves, so they turn to us for hassle-free planning services.

Why Our Customers Choose Us

Our well-informed, up-to-date staff, combined with our extensive knowledge of the ______________, allows us to surpass the services provided by other agencies.

What Sets Us Apart From the Competition

What sets our company apart from our competitors is the fact that we sell custom-designed packages for people. We ask them questions, find out exactly what they want and need, and direct them to the appropriate destinations.

MARKETING CAMPAIGN SPECIFICS

STRATEGY

Goals of the Campaign

We would like to increase our visibility, attract new customers, and display special offers that are currently available.

Campaign Focus: Specific Products or General Promotion?

Our primary focus is to expand our customer base. We would also like to keep our current customers aware of special promotions we are offering and secure their future business with us.

Products to be Advertised

We will be advertising our complete range of European adventure travel services, special discounts on travel packages, and sales on seasonal clothing and gear.

Measurements of Success

We will measure this ad campaign's success by the number of inquiries received after its launch. This includes phone inquiries as well as inquiries made in person at the store.

Evaluation of Effectiveness

We will be reviewing the campaign's effectiveness one month after its launch. We will evaluate its effectiveness based on the number of inquires we receive and any corresponding increase in revenue.

MESSAGE

Our Marketing Message:

No one knows more about [what] than [Your name]. TIME FRAME

Campaign Start Date

We will launch this marketing campaign in ________.

Length of Campaign

This campaign will run through __________, for a total of ________ months.

BUDGET

Annual Marketing Budget $40,000

Budget For This Campaign

$81,025. This includes $41,325 for Web site and database design, implementation, and hardware purchases, which will be useful for more than one year and will therefore be capitalized and depreciated accordingly.

Cost-Saving Measures

We plan to keep advertising costs down by targeting the most appropriate advertising methods for our business, which include online advertising, newspaper ads, and classified ads.

Catherine Franz, a Certified Professional Marketing & Writing Coach, specializes in product development, Internet writing and marketing, nonfiction, training. Newsletters and articles available at: http://www.abundancecenter.com blog: http://abundance.blogs.com

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