Marketing Notes and Marketing Plan template

1. Prepared by
Kofi Kyeremateng Nyanteng
yacaraconsults@yahoo.com
yacaraconsults@gmail.com
Tel: +233501377013
SMALL BUSINESS MARKETING
MANAGEMENT

2. SMEs Marketing Management Manual
MODULE 1
INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
Module objectives
By the end of this module, participants will be able to:
 Understand marketing
 Know the importance of marketing
 Understand the consumer buying process
Module content
 Definition of market
 Definition of marketing
 The importance of marketing for small businesses
 The consumer buying process

3. SMEs Marketing Management Manual
What is a market?
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and
infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange.
Market
 The customer who needs what you are buying
 The customer who is able to buy what you are selling
 The customer who is willing to buy what you are selling
Marketing
1. Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to
customers. Companies create value for customers and build strong customer
relationships in order to capture value from customers in return.
2. Marketing is the process of satisfying business customers and creating value for them.
3. Marketing consists of the strategies and tactics used to identify, create and maintain
satisfying relationships with customers that result in value for both the customer and
the marketer.
 Strategies and Tactics - Strategies are the direction the marketing effort takes over a
period of time while tactics are actionable steps or decisions made in order to follow
the strategies established.
 Identify – The utmost important marketing function of the business encompasses
desirable efforts to gain knowledge of customers, competitors, and markets.
 Create - Competition in the market invigorate businesses to be creative. When a
business starts, it is often grounded around something that is new (e.g., a new product,
a new way of getting products to customers, a new way of using a product, a new
solution to a problem etc.). But once something new is launched innovation does not

4. SMEs Marketing Management Manual
end. Competition puts pressure on business owners/managers to develop strategies
and tactics in order to stay in business.
 Maintain - In the present day, business owners/managers work hard to ensure their
customers coming back to buy from them over and over.
 Satisfying Relationships – Marketing aims at providing products and services that
customers really want. It makes customers feel that their contact with the business is
helping build a good relationship between the two. In this way the customer turns out
to be a partner in the business, not just a source of revenue.
 Value for Both Customer and Marketer - Value refers to the opinion of benefits
received for what someone must give away. For customers, value is most often
measured by how much benefit they feel they are getting for their money, though the
value one customer feels may vary from what another customer feels even though
they purchase the same product.
In summary, marketing is;
 Finding out what the customer wants
 Producing and selling the things that people want
 Letting people know about your products/services
 Selling your products in the right places
 Making your products/services unique and more attractive than of other similar
businesses
 Setting the right price so that people will buy your products
 Giving customers value for their money

5. SMEs Marketing Management Manual
The consumer buying process
The buying process is the set of steps that a customer chooses to go through with the goal of satisfying
a need. The selling process is the set of steps that a company uses to organize and optimize the way
that it sells its products.
1. Identify the problem (Need identification)
The first stage of the decision-making process is that people can feel the difference between
current and desired situation, so trying to resolve these differences.
2. Data collection (information search)
For solving this problem collect information. This information can be internal (experiences) and
external (family, exhibits, product advertisement, etc.)
3. Assessment Options
After gathering information, the consumer is ready to make a decision. At this point, he should be
able to evaluate different options and choose products that meet the demands of him.
4. Purchase
This stage is the stage that all marketing activities are the result. Consumer at this stage, according to
the information already obtained, Select a product that feels satisfy his need and buys it.
Figure 1: The consumer buying process
Purchase
Evaluation of
alternatives
Information
Search
Need
identification

6. SMEs Marketing Management Manual
The importance of marketing
Marketing offers significant benefits. These benefits include:
 Developing products that satisfy the needs of customers
 Providing information to customers about their needs
 Creating a competitive environment that helps lower product prices
 Developing product distribution systems that offer access to products to a large
number of customers and many geographic regions
 Building demand for products that require organizations to expand their labour force
 Offering techniques that have the ability to convey messages that change societal
behavior in a positive way.

7. SMEs Marketing Management Manual
MODULE 2
SMALL BUSINESS MARKETING
STRATEGIES & MARKETING PLANNING
Module objectives
By the end of this module, participants will be able to:
 Identify their market
 Understand Small Business Marketing Strategies
 Develop a marketing plan
Module objectives
 Market research
 Small business marketing strategies
 Marketing planning

8. SMEs Marketing Management Manual
Knowing your market (Market research)
Every business must understand the market in which it operates. The 4Cs model is used as a
tool in understanding the market for a business or product.
a) The 4 C’s of Market Research
i. Customers: (Who are your customers?)
 Who are they?
 What do they do?
 How many of them are there?
 Where are they located?
 What will they pay?
ii. Commodity: (What product do you offer to the target market?)
 What are you offering?
 What is the gap in the market?
 What are the benefits of your commodity?
 Is it there demand for it?
iii. Cost: (What is the cost of producing the product).
 Fixed cost (Rent, Insurance, Wages, etc.)
 Variable Cost (Raw materials, etc)
iv. Competition (What other businesses are operating in my target market?)
 Who are they?
 Where are they?
 What are their prices?
 How do they promote their product?

9. SMEs Marketing Management Manual
The Marketing Mix (4 Ps)
The Marketing Mix
Marketing is the process used to get customers to buy your product/service. The goal of
marketing is to increase sales. The considerations used in designing marketing plan are called
‘marketing mix’. The marketing mix can be summarized as the four P’s (4Ps)
i. The PRODUCT itself(that is, its nature, design, brand-name, packaging),
ii. The PRICE at which it is to be sold,
iii. The PLACE at which it is sold,
iv. The PROMOTION (that is, the means and style of advertising and selling).
Product: The Product management and Product marketing aspects of marketing deal with the
specifications of the actual good or service, and how it relates to the end-user's needs and
wants. It includes all the attributes of the product or service offered by the marketer.
Pricing: This refers to the process of setting a price for a product, including discounts and
price-cuts.
Promotion: This includes advertising, sales promotion, publicity, and personal selling, and
refers to the various methods of promoting the product, brand, or business.
Placement or distribution refers to how the product gets to the customer or where the product
will be; for example, point of sale placement or retailing. This P has also sometimes been
called Place, referring to the channel by which a product or service is sold (e.g. online vs.
retail), which geographic region or industry, to which segment (young adults, families,
business people), etc.

10. SMEs Marketing Management Manual
Ten (10) Commandments of Small Business Marketing
1. Identify your target audience
2. Don’t make promises unless you will keep them
3. Listen to your customers
4. Deal with complaints
5. Be Courteous
6. Make your customer feel important
7. Empathise with customers
8. Let them have their way
9. Be mindful of your attitude
10. Use a pleasant tone

11. SMEs Marketing Management Manual
Marketing
Plan
Name of Business
______________________

12. SMEs Marketing Management Manual
Name of Business
Vision (What do you want your business to become?)
Mission (Why does this business exist?)
Objectives List at least 3 SMART objectives for developing this plan)
E.g. Increase Sales by 30%
1._______________________________________________________________________________
2. _______________________________________________________________________________
3. _______________________________________________________________________________
Situational Analysis (What is happening in the business?)
SWOT (List at least 3 in each quadrant)
Strength Weaknesses
Opportunities Threats (What

13. SMEs Marketing Management Manual
Industry Analysis (What is happening in the industry?) Answer “Yes” or “No”
Answer
Barriers to entry
There are barriers to entering the industry (e.g. Capital requirement, government
policies, qualification)
Bargaining power of suppliers
There are few suppliers
Threats of substitutes
There are available close substitutes
Bargaining power of buyers
There are few buyers in the industry
Threats of potential entrants
There are obstacles for potential businesses to enter the industry
Market Analysis
Customers (Who are my customers?)
_________________________________________________________________________
Commodity (What product am i offering to the customers?)
_________________________________________________________________________
Cost: (What is the cost of producing the product?)
_________________________________________________________________________
Competition (Who are my competitors?)
_________________________________________________________________________

14. SMEs Marketing Management Manual
Marketing Mix
PRODUCT: What should I do to my product (s) in order to achieve the set objectives? (List at
least 3 things you can do to make your product attractive)
1. ___________________________________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________________________________________
PRICE: How should the price of the product (s) be so that it will give value to the customer and
my business (List your pricing strategies)
1. ___________________________________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________________________________________
PLACE: Where will I sell my product (s)? (List at least three places where customers can easily
find the product and purchase)
1. ___________________________________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________________________________________
PROMOTION: How will people know that I am selling my product (s)? (List at least five ways
you can use to communicate your product (s) to your target market)
1. ___________________________________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________________________________________
4. ___________________________________________________________________________
5. ___________________________________________________________________________
How much money do I need to achieve these objectives?
(Revise notes on budgeting and develop a budget for this plan.)
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