Answer to Question #284087 in Management for Ikay

Question

Would a very small enterprise, such as neighborhood barbeque stand, benefit from having a marketing plan? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Marketing is a critical component of a small business' success. The challenge is that so many small business owners have no idea what it takes to make marketing work for them. They are experts in their business, but they simply don’t have the time to become experts in the ever changing world of online marketing. Rather than taking a strategic approach, most small and medium business marketing efforts are the result of off-the-cuff thinking, and it shows. Their marketing mix looks like a fragmented collection of tactics and tools from a variety of in-house and external sources.  

Developing a marketing plan is the best chance at success. The best thing a marketing plan does for any small business is it provides a blueprint, of sorts, to follow. It keeps the owner and everyone on the team on the same page when it comes to the direction the business is heading and how it's going to get there. The opportunities for marketing seem to have no bounds in the digital age, making it extremely easy for the owner to get distracted and lose sight of his/her goals. With a marketing plan in hand, the business owner will have an easy to reference guide to remind him/her what the best opportunities are for the business. It will keep the owner on track using the technologies and practices that will support business growth.

Typically, a marketing plan helps set a timeline for when the business owner wants to see certain results. Again, this helps keep him/her on track toward achieving the goals by telling him/her what tasks he/she needs to complete and when. A marketing plan also helps measure success, this is because business owners set goals in their marketing plan, they've provided a benchmark for how they will measure success. This is critical to the marketing strategy, if there is no way to measure results, that means one will never know if the strategies are paying off. Having a plan identifies what "success" looks like for the business and lets the owner determine whether or not they found success at the end of the campaign.

In conclusion, yes small enterprises absolutely need a marketing plan if they want to optimize marketing investment. It doesn’t have to take weeks and it doesn’t need to look fancy, but it does require one to give it their best thinking.