You don’t have to kill a tree to create an effective marketing plan. In fact, you can create a successful plan for your business in just one day. To begin, don’t worry about writing style or making your plan fancy. Just go get a pencil and paper and let’s get started.

Step 1 - Understand Your Market and Competition

A big mistake that many business owners make is to latch on to a cool product or service without first understanding the market and what it wants (not what it needs). If you try to sell something that people don’t want, they won’t buy it.

It’s that simple.

A profitable market consists of people who have dire wants that are being unmet, so much so that they will jump to buy your solution (product or service). A profitable market can be comparedto a lake with thousands of starving fish. All you need to do is throw in the bait and it turns into a feeding frenzy.

To get an understanding of your market you should ask yourself questions like:

- Are there segments in my market that are being underserved?

- Are the segments of my market for my product or service big enough to make money?

- How much share of that market do I need to capture, to just break even?

- Is there too much competition in the segment of my market to be competitive?

- What are the weaknesses in my competition’s offering that I can capitalize on?

- Does my market want or value my unique competitive offering?

Step 2 - Understand Your Customer

Knowing your customer intimately is the first step to easy sales. Until you know (1) who your customers are, (2) what they want, and (3) what motivates them to buy, you can't prepare an effective marketing plan.

Don’t confuse "wants" with "needs." People don’t necessarily buy what they need, buy they’ll most always buy what they want. For instance, have you ever known someone that went to the store to buy a pair of pants that they needed and came back with a new shirt, sweater, and shoes? Or how about the everyday shopperwho goes into the supermarket to buy some milk and eggs and comes out with a frozen pizza, cheese cake, and other goodies.

People will buy what they want (even if they don’t have the money!), not what they need. And yes, this even applies to those "sophisticated"corporate honchos (I used to be one, I should know).

To really get to know your customers you’ll need to ask yourself questions such as:

- How does my potential customer normally buy similar products (i.e. in a store, on the web, door-to-door)?

- Who is the primary buyer and the primary buying influencer in the purchasing process (i.e. husband or wife, purchasing agent, project leader, secretary)?

- What kind of habits does my customer have? For instance, where do they get their information (i.e. television, newspapers, magazines)?

- What are my target customer’s primary motivations for buying (i.e. look good, avoid pain, get rich, be healthy, be popular etc.)

Step 3 - Pick a Niche

If you say that your target customer is "everybody" then nobody will be your customer. The marketplace is jam packed with competition. You’ll have more success jumping up and down in a small puddle than a big ocean. Carve out a specific niche and dominate that niche, then you might consider moving on to a second niche (but not before you’ve dominated the first one!).
You could be a "lawyer that specializes in child accident liability" or a "C.P.A. for used car dealers" or a "dry cleaner
for the Heritage Park subdivision in West Oaks, CA." You get the picture. Make sure to choose a niche that interests you and that is easy to contact. I can’t stress this point enough. There’s nothing more destructive than to pick a niche that you can’t communicate with or that costs you a ton of money to contact.

Step 4 - Develop Your Marketing Message

You marketing message not only tells your prospect what you do, but persuades them to become your customer. You should develop two types of marketing messages. Your first marketing message should be short and to the point. Some may call this your elevator speech or your audio logo. It’s your response to someone who asks you, "So, what do you do?"

The second type is your complete marketing message that will be included in all your marketing materials and promotions. To make your marketing message compelling and persuasive it should include the following elements:

- An explanation of your target prospect’s problem.

- Proof that the problem is so important that it should be solved now, without delay.

- An explanation about why you are the only person/business that can solve your prospects problem.

- An explanation of the benefits people will receive from using your solution.

- Examples and testimonials from customers you have helped with similar problems.

- An explanation about prices, fees, and payment terms.
- Your unconditional guarantee.