Contributed In 2005 By: Howard Huges, Marketing Professional

Writing a marketing plan is essential if you’d like your NLP business to prosper and succeed. Making money as a therapist or as a trainer, even if you have an advantage of knowing the persuasion skills of NLP, still you would need a definite business outcome.

You already know how to set a well defined outcome for yourself, now you have to do so for your new / existing business. That’s where the marketing plan comes in.

To make it as easier as possible, here’s the complete outline and quick exercise to get you going.

Elements of a Marketing Plan

I. Description of the Target Market

- age

- sex

- profession

- income level

- educational level

- residence

II. Description of Competitors

- market research data

- demand for product or service

- nearest direct and indirect competitors

- strengths and weaknesses of competitors

- assessment of how competitors businesses are doing

- description of the unique features of your product

or service

- similarities and dissimilarities between your

product or service and competitors

III. Description of Product or Service

- describe your product or service

- emphasize special features, i.e., the selling points

IV. Marketing Budget

- advertising and promotional plan

- costs allocated for advertising and promotions

- advertising and promotional materials

- list of advertising media to be used and an estimate

of cost for each medium

V. Description of Location

- description of the location

- advantages and disadvantages of location

VI. Pricing Strategy

- pricing techniques and brief description of these

techniques

- retail costing and pricing

- competitive position

- pricing below competition

- pricing above the competition

- price lining

- multiple pricing (for service businesses only)

- service components

- material costs

- labor costs

- overhead costs

 

 

Other media formats to use are:

* newspaper, radio or television ads (newspaper

advertising is the least expensive and television

advertising is the most expensive of these formats).

You probably will need professional advice and

assistance when developing ads for these media

formats.

* business cards.

* classified ads in the local newspaper.

* direct marketing.

 

* telemarketing (this format can be expensive, also).

* Yellow Pages advertising.

* sampling – mailing or distributing free samples of

your product or a flyer about your service to the

public.

* advertising in community-based magazines or

newspapers.

Whatever media format you use, be willing to invest the money

needed to develop an effective ad campaign.

 

Promotions

Promotion entails more than just selecting

the media format to market your business. It can, and oftentimes

does, encompass community involvement. This involvement can range

from sponsoring a Boy or Girl Scout troop to hosting a charity

ball for senior citizens or allowing non-profit organizations to

use your facilities.

Your approach to promoting your business should encompass more

than creating a sense of awareness about your business. It should

include a commitment to community involvement–the desire to give

something back to the community and its residents. An excellent

way to foster this type of involvement is to meet with community

leaders to find out how you can help, and what events are

forthcoming that could or will require your assistance. Keep in

mind that community leaders can be an excellent networking tool,

especially if they feel your involvement is genuine.

Examples of community programs you can sponsor or take part in

are:

 

* sponsor a Boy or Girl Scout troop for summer camp

* sponsor a underprivileged child in day camp

* host and sponsor a charity ball for senior citizens

* sponsor cooperative education for high school and/or

college students

* volunteer as a tutor for at-risk (those likely to drop

out or fail in school) students

* sponsor a fund raiser for the homeless, or day care

tuition assistance for children of single-parent

households

* offer summer employment to local high school, middle

school and college students

* become active in the local chapters of the Big Bothers

or Big Sisters organizations.

* volunteer in a local literacy program.

Other inexpensive ways of promoting your business that doesn’t

encompass community involvement are:

* employee tee shirts, hats, aprons or jackets with the

name of your business and logo.

* ball point pens with the name, telephone number and

logo of your business.

* balloons with the name, telephone number and logo of

your business

* free samples

* a door prize for the 100th or 1,000th customer to

enter your business.

 

While it is impossible for you to participate in every event or

program in the community, you should at least get involved in one

or two activities, even if it’s only on a part-time basis. People

tend to be more supportive of businesses, organizations or

individuals who give something to the community. And, this is the

image you especially want to project in your promotional

activities.

 

No plan that anyone provides will show you how to promote or

advertise your business. These are techniques that you, yourself,

will have to develop. Talk it over with your family and community

leaders, then decide which activities you can afford to sponsor

and have the time to commit to before becoming involved.

Involvement in the community doesn’t necessarily have a price tag

attached. Find a project that you can afford, that you have time

for and is of interest to you.

 

For ideas on how to develop an effective advertising and

promotional strategy, see “Marketing Tips, Tricks & Traps” in

Appendix I. A sample Marketing Plan also is included to assist

you in developing an effective marketing strategy for your

business, and Table 1. “Advertising/Promotional Strategic Mix,”

will help you outline a strategy for advertising and promoting

your business, while monitoring costs.

 

THE ENTREPRENEUR’S

MARKETING PLAN

This is the marketing plan of__________________________

I. MARKET ANALYSIS

A. Target Market – Who are the customers?

1. We will be selling primarily to (check all that

apply):

Total Percent

of Business

a. Private sector _______ ______

b. Wholesalers _______ ______

c. Retailers _______ ______

d. Government _______ ______

e. Other _______ ______

2. We will be targeting customers by:

a. Product line/services.

We will target specific lines _________________

b. Geographic area? Which areas? _________________

c. Sales? We will target sales of _________________

d. Industry? Our target industry is _________________

e. Other? _________________

3. How much will our selected market spend on our type of

product or service this coming year? $_______________

B. Competition

1. Who are our competitors?

NAME _____________________________________

ADDRESS _____________________________________

_____________________________________

Years in business ___________________

Market share ___________________

Price/Strategy ___________________

Product/Service

Features ___________________

NAME ______________________________________

ADDRESS ______________________________________

______________________________________

Years in business ___________________

Market share ___________________

Price/Strategy ___________________

Product/Service

Features ___________________

2. How competitive is the market?

High ____________________

Medium ____________________

Low ____________________

3. List below your strengths and weaknesses compared to

your competition (consider such areas as location, size

of resources, reputation, services, personnel, etc.):

Strengths Weaknesses

1.________________________ 1._______________________

2.________________________ 2._______________________

3.________________________ 3._______________________

4.________________________ 4._______________________

C. Environment

1. The following are some important economic factors that

will affect our product or service (such as country

growth, industry health, economic trends, taxes,

rising energy prices, etc.):

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

 

2. The following are some important legal factors that

will affect our market:

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

3. The following are some important government factors:

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

4. The following are other environmental factors that

will affect our market, but over which we have no

control:

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

II. PRODUCT OR SERVICE ANALYSIS

A. Description

1. Describe here what the product/service is and what it

does:

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

B. Comparison

1. What advantages does our product/service have over

those of the competition (consider such things as

unique features, patents, expertise, special training,

etc.)?

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

2. What disadvantages does it have?

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

C. Some Considerations

1. Where will you get your materials and supplies?

______________________________________________________

2. List other considerations:

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

 

III. MARKETING STRATEGIES – MARKET MIX

A. Image

1. First, what kind of image do we want to have (such as

cheap but good, or exclusiveness, or customer-

oriented, or highest quality, or convenience, or

speed, or …)?

______________________________________________________

B. Features

1. List the features we will emphasize:

a.___________________________________________________

b.___________________________________________________

c.___________________________________________________

 

C. Pricing

1. We will be using the following pricing strategy:

a. Markup on cost ____ What % markup? ______

b. Suggested price ____

c. Competitive ____

d. Below competition ____

e. Premium price ____

f. Other ____

2. Are our prices in line with our image?

YES___ NO___

3. Do our prices cover costs and leave a margin of

profit?

YES___ NO___

D. Customer Services

1. List the customer services we provide:

a. ____________________________________________

b. ____________________________________________

c. ____________________________________________

2. These are our sales/credit terms:

a. _____________________________________________

b. _____________________________________________

c. _____________________________________________

3. The competition offers the following services:

a. ______________________________________________

b. ______________________________________________

c. ______________________________________________

 

E. Advertising/Promotion

1. These are the things we wish to say about the

business:

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

2. We will use the following advertising/promotion

sources:

1. Television ________

2. Radio ________

3. Direct mail ________

4. Personal contacts ________

5. Trade associations ________

6. Newspaper ________

7. Magazines ________

8. Yellow Pages ________

9. Billboard ________

10. Other___________ ________

3. The following are the reasons why we consider the media

we have chosen to be the most effective:

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________