What are some foundations of marketing every business owner should know?

The foundation of any business is its business plan, and the same holds true for your marketing. If you have a built-out marketing plan that you reference and update regularly, you will notice more effective market efforts.

The first key to a good marketing plan is to narrow down your target audience by defining a niche in which you can thrive. That niche could be a segment of a bigger audience that needs something slightly different or a real passion area for you where your voice can be heard.

Once you define your niche, clearly define your target customer in the most specific terms possible. I like to make an actual customer profile of exactly what my ideal customer looks like, does, buys, how they will interact with me, and for fun, I even give them a name.

The next piece is to set SMART goals for your marketing plan. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and trackable. So, for example, your goal should not be, “I want more customers,” but instead, “I want 10 new customers that buy full-color black shirts in quantities less than 12 in the next 3 months.” This allows for your marketing efforts to go after the right people to meet those three pillars we just discussed. Once you have those three pillar defined then you build out the rest of your marketing plan you are ready to grow!

—MontCo Consulting