Import From China Business
A practical guide for starting a small business
2010-
Import from China
Sell on eBay
Sandra Kell
Ontario, Canada
Baby Products
Profit This Year: $10,400
“I started with $1,000 and began importing baby products from China. I sell them on eBay, Facebook and in my local stores. After 8 months, I am earning $400 a week. I finally quit my day job!”
Learn How
Small Business Marketing Plan
Small Business Marketing Plan Makes You More Successful
It’s been proven that small businesses are more successful when they have a marketing plan. This plan focuses on the customer. It utilizes facts and numbers to generate marketing objectives, strategies and tactics or plan of action.
Components of a Small Business Marketing Plan
It has information on:
- What you plan to sell (product or service).
- To whom and how often will you be selling this product or service (target audience & purchase frequency).
- How much will you charge (price)?
- How will you get the product or service to the end consumer (distribution)?
Four Steps to a Small Business Marketing Plan
You can follow these 4 steps to drafting your own marketing plan:
- Product definition -
you need to clearly define your product or service and what you have to offer in terms of features and benefits. - Product positioning -
determine which buyer time will most likely buy your product based on its features and benefits. - Target Audience definition -
define in detail the profile of your target consumers or buyers. Are they male or female (sex), tend to be younger or older (age), single, married or married with children (marital status and family), high, medium, or low income (earnings), live more in urban or rural areas (geography), and risk takers or conservative (lifestyle)? - Communication plan creation -
design a communication plan that has specific actions reaching out to potential buyers to inform them of your product and its benefits.
Here is a template for you to develop your marketing plan for your product or service. You need to determine your marketing objectives, strategies and plan of action for each of the marketing mix (product, price, distribution, promotions). Then you will need to understand what you need to measure to know if your plan of action will be successful or not.
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Price |
Distribution |
Communication & Promotions |
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Objectives |
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Strategies |
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Plan of Action |
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Success Measure |
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Small Business Marketing Plan Grid
Ways to Promote Your Business
- Mass Advertising (T.V., Print, Radio, Bill boards)
This area has been severely impacted by the birth of the Internet. Gone are the days when big companies poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the traditional media vehicles reaching out to the masses.
Today, everything is much more targeted.
As a small business owner, you could look into advertising on local cable television or radio. Bill boards and bus stops are good methods for reaching out to your local neighborhood. Most huge advertising campaigns are almost off limits for the small business owner.
- Direct Mail
Using a targeted mailing list, you can send communication pieces to your potential customers within your defined geographical area. You can send letters, brochures, or post cards.
- Internet Marketing
This is replacing some of the more traditional marketing methods. It is constantly changing. Think of newspapers. How many have shifted from reading hard copies of newspapers to the Internet. The different ways that you can use the Internet to capture your audience and convert them to customers are endless. Here are some tips on leveraging the Internet for your small business.
Set up a company website -if you are serious about you small business, you need to set up a website to communicate to your potential and existing customers. Collect a database through your website -You can collect a database of your existing customers and email them promotions, offers or newsletters. Links to similar but non-competing websites -Work with websites in adjacent markets and set up cross links to each other’s websites to help drive customers to each other. Banner ads -