I made the decision to produce a new artisan product, a dry Italian Sausage. I also chose to do it under USDA regulations, but meeting their requirements while still maintaining the old time process has proven to be a challenge. Most people aren’t aware that federally inspected plants are in fact inspected every day. In order to justify our process, we had to formulate a new Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) Plan. This curing process was as new to the USDA inspectors as it was to us.  Many things (temperature, humidity etc) must be carefully watched during the 3 weeks that it takes to finish our product. It should be no surprise that we are only the second company inColoradoto attempt this process. I’m confident that it will get easier with time.

With a new product comes a new product name. I chose the name North Denver Sausage because that’s where the process originated.  Almost all families inNorth Denverhave sausage hanging in the attic, the basement or the garage.

As I was preparing to market my new product, I learned about ProjectREV. I was happy to be selected and am looking forward to building my marketing plan around my new product. I am already getting started with my website and logo design.

Have you launched a new product recently? Any tips or lessons learned?

One misconception is that coffee shops only sell $5 drinks. This is definitely not the case at Kodiak Coffee. We have a wide range of pricing for drinks. From the inexpensive brewed coffee to the more expensive lattes and mochas, we’re always willing to explain to our customers what the differences are or suggest a new brew. Also, there’s more to coffee shops than just coffee. Many shops offer bakery items, such as cookies, muffins, scones or even a simple lunch menu featuring sandwiches and soup.

Many people don’t realize that coffee shops have to keep up with the current trends. Not fashion trends, but coffee trends, from the different ways to brew or roast the coffee beans to new ways to present the coffee, such as foam art! Diet trends also play a big part in our shop; we have to make sure we have soy milk or sugar free syrups on hand and know the ingredients in our products.

I hope to outline a few tactics in our marketing plan that can help ensure customer satisfaction. Repeat customers are a key indicator that we are doing well with customer satisfaction. We ask questions and listen to what the customer is requesting and try to fulfill the need to the best of our ability.

I’d love to hear how you gauge your customer satisfaction, whether it’s by repeat business or online reviews. What has worked for your business?

So in 2012 we will not only re-position Blueline Security Services the premier private security firm in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, but we will also focus on reaching an entirely new segment of customers.

Thus far Project REV has been an eye opening experience, after spending the first four years of our company’s existence doing little to no true marketing. I am both excited and a bit nervous about getting started with a true marketing plan.  Excited about the prospect of continuing to grow our business but nervous about all that is involved and making sure we are putting our marketing dollars in the right places to get the best results.

At age  of 9 or 10 I shot this image of the flying angel while my family was living in Northern Italy.  My father was a photography enthusiast and all four of us kids had cameras.  He would informally teach us about composition and exposure by having us all line up and shoot the same image.  While visiting Castello San Angelo in Rome we lined up for our shot.  My brother and sister took their shot and took off with my dad.  I had the idea that if I moved the camera while I hit the shutter I could get the angel to look like it was flying!  My brother came up to me and said he was going to tell dad that I was wasting film (the threat that my Dad used to make sure that we didn’t waste film and took our time to get good images).  I didn’t care because I knew that in my photo the angel was going to fly!  In retrospect that was the day the passion was born.

Do you know someone who is driven by a passion?

Your Marketing Plan should answer the following questions:

• What is/are your product(s) or service(s)?
• Who is the target market customer?
• What is your placement strategy?
• How will your product or service be distributed?
• How will you price your product or service?
• How will you promote your product or service?
• What are the sales activities that must be executed on a daily, weekly and monthly basis to achieve your marketing goals?
• What are your budgetary needs to execute your marketing plan?

Marketing information is the foundation upon which you build a business. Anyone who reads this part of your business plan will not only understand who is buying and why, but also gather key insights into your pricing model, your plan to generate sales and your projected growth strategy.

Here are the key parts of the Marketing Plan:

Market Analysis: The market analysis starts with outlining the business opportunity, then it drills down what share of the market you believe your business can capture. You should define each customer segment in terms of revenue. It should also include a trends analysis about your industry and define where the market is going. The reasoning is that if you are not in a growth industry you need to understand how long you can pursue your business strategy before the market moves or is saturated. Then you need to explain your target customer and niche strategy. When identifying your target market, you should make sure you have three things:

1.  Meaningful – you need to know the problem you will solve, and be a real solution.
2. Sizable – you need to make sure the piece of the market you want is large enough to turn a profit.
3. Reachable – you must make sure that you have the resources to reach your target audience. Remember, your network is your net worth when starting a business

Who’s the Competition?: Your customer’s needs are already being met by some other vendor or company. Describe your top three competitors and discuss their strengths and weaknesses. Do your homework on your competitor’s websites. Then explain why their customer will buy your product or service over theirs.

Build The Customer Profile: Describe your customer in painful detail. Your description should enable anyone to see the face of your customer. Based on this information, you can now create a message and then a strategy on how you plan to communicate with your target customer. Marketing and sales go hand in hand. Your sales plan should also be a part of this section of the marketing plan.

The Niche: If everyone can use your product or service, no one will. No one is looking for yet another small business to do business with, but people are willing to hire specialists who can solve their problems. Niches offer a concentration of clients in an area of limited competition. Define a niche market for your products and services. You have limited time and limited resources as a small business, so you need to pick a lane and be disciplined enough to stay in your lane. So in other words, there are thousands of graphic design firms out there… what specific market will you serve exclusively? Will it be small business logos, nonprofit annual reports, or developing educational materials? You should strive to own an area of specialty. Think about it this way, which makes more money — your primary care physician or your cardiologist. Niche to get rich.

What Is Your Signature Move?: Michael Jackson was famous for the moonwalk. What is your signature move? Defining your secret sauce or signature move will enable you to stand out in the market place. A signature move could be uniforms, an extra free service, how you say thank you, a discount coupon for the next time. Here’s an example: a personal organizer I know shows up and helps her clients get their home or office organized. As value added service, and at no additional cost, she’s also a haul away service. If you do not want something, she’ll recycle it for you or find it a new home. Little things can be big winner with your clients.

Marketing Budget: Now that you know who you are selling to, your niche, the competition and your signature move, you need develop a budget to execute your marketing plan. Once you have a 30-day revenue goal, you need to determine how many sales leads you need to generate to hit that number each month. Then you need to figure out how many resources you need to put those leads in your pipeline (website, sales people, call center, tradeshow, Facebook ads etc.) That’s the easiest way to develop your marketing budget.

Marketing is anything you do to generate business, and I know that if you start planning for a great 2012 by developing your marketing plan everything else will get easier in your business.

Melinda F. Emerson, known to many as SmallBizLady is one of America’s leading small business experts. As a seasoned entrepreneur, professional speaker, and small business coach, she develops audio, video and written content to fulfill her mission to end small business failure. As CEO of Quintessence Multimedia, Melinda educates entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies on subjects including small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. Forbes Magazine named her #1 woman for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter.  She hosts #SmallBizChat Wednesdays on Twitter 8-9pm ET for emerging entrepreneurs. She also publishes a resource blog and is also a bestseller author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works.

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Next, each participant will finalize the 2012 marketing plan for their small business, and begin implementation.