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[M273]Marketing Plan For Hotel

by Diana Barnum, Dia

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is an outstanding resource for the small business owner. Whether you are thinking of starting, or are already running your own company, it is one of the essential websites to visit for information and tips on nearly any issue that you are likely to come across.

Back to Basics

To increase your business, the SBA offers a “Tools” section that is extremely comprehensive and offers a wealth of advice. For example, a good marketing strategy is essential for any business to be successful so the SBA emphasizes the importance of a sound marketing plan. Three basic features to include in your business marketing plan are:

(1) Description of the business

The description of a business encompasses a number of items; for example, staffing, company profile, industry overview and more, and should be as detailed as possible. This is essential to help you to establish what the unique selling point or USP is. This will be what puts you above your competition, and as such, your USP will involve analyzing the competitors' products and their methods of promotion.

The key to define your USP is to perform as much research as possible at this stage to really give your business the edge. And regardless of the size of your company and your location there are numerous opportunities for research. The local Yellow Pages are a good place to start your search for competitors. And the Internet also gives you a valuable insight as to what is available in your area as well as in other geographic locations.

(2) Definition of customers

Your customers are the most important part of your business. Without them you have no business. So it is important to narrow down who your customers currently are and who you want to target in the future. This will help you assess how you need to promote your products and services.

Also assess the qualities that keep your existing customers ordering from you. You can then use this information to discover what you need to develop to attract new customers.

To attract new customers and bring back previous clients, there are many popular means of advertising like classifieds, direct mail, online promotions, etc. However, keep in mind the one that is often underestimated is the power of ‘word of mouth.' Happy customers are likely to tell others about your company but so are unhappy ones. So use surveys if you need to so that you can get feedback regularly and monitor how your company is doing.

(3) Finalization of plan and budget

Finally, you reach the stage where you are ready to begin finalizing your marketing plan and your budget. There may be so many marketing plans and strategies that you want to address, but realize it is impossible to do so within the constraints of most budgets. So you need to prioritize where you will spend your money.

To help out, there are low cost methods of assessing the effectiveness of current marketing campaigns and project results or ROI (return on investment) via new avenues of advertising. For example you can use tracking links and special promotional codes, both with offline and online marketing, to monitor response rates and sales.

In addition, the Internet offers many areas of promotion that are free, including discussion boards and link exchanges with complimentary businesses or services. It can very well be worth spending time investigating other avenues at no charge before spending your budgeted dollars on any one particular method of advertising before testing it online here first.

Helpful Marketing Plan Resources

For more help with your marketing plans, you can head to the SBA website, chock full of plenty of suggestions and useful links to give your business marketing plan the best chance of success. Contact them at:

SBA Answer Desk
6302 Fairview Road, Suite 300
Charlotte, North Carolina 28210
1-800-U-ASK-SBA (1-800-827-5722)
Send e-mails to: answerdesk@sba.gov
Answer Desk TTY: (704) 344-6640
Visit them online at: http://www.sba.gov

For more help, grab a copy of “MAP: Moving Ahead Plan,” an easy all-in-one business, marketing and advertising plan jam-packaged with lots of information. The new book features tips, downloadable tools, SBA-based worksheets and special sections from Tom Hua's eBookWholesaler™ online program and Internet Marketing Expert Willie Crawford to and more to advance your business. It's available at http://Booklocker.com: http://www.booklocker.com/books/2715.html or check soon with http://Amazon.com and http://BN.com (Barnes and Noble) and your local library.

Demographic information is easily accessible and it is based on information collected by the Census Bureau. If you are conducting research to start a new business or to enhance your marketing strategies then you should use this information to your advantage. It will help to ensure your efforts are going to be a success with your target market. Failing to use demographic report data can cost you time, money, and sales.

There is a significant amount of data you will be able to use for your marketing plan with a demographic report. It is going to tell you the ages of the people in that area, their level of education, and their income range. What you are marketing has to be something that these people are going to want. Taking their demographic information into account can help you find the right way to promote it by appealing to their emotions.

Rather than investing your time and money in a new business, opening the doors, and no one comes, you need to use the demographic information that is available. It will provide you with significant information on the trends and lifestyle of those in the area. This is even more important if your business sells goods or services that are considered to be luxuries instead of necessities. If the demographics tell you this is an extremely poor area then chances are not too many people will be coming to purchase what you have to offer in that area.

This is why you find certain types of businesses are able to thrive in any given location. They have the demographic information and they use it for effective marketing strategies. You will also find that some locations have one failed business after another. This isn't due to a lack of skills or dedication on the part of the business owner. The fact is that the demographics of the area just aren't parallel to the types of businesses being offered.

The use of demographic report data for marketing purposes has declined in recent years due to the popularity of online businesses. Since they are selling goods and services on a global scale, it doesn't matter about the demographics because they aren't selling in a particular area. They can sell it to someone that is 100 miles away or 10,000.

However, for traditional businesses that rely on people in the area being able to come in to make a purchase this type of information is very important. Starbucks is one of the leaders in the coffee industry. You may have noticed that their locations are always extremely busy.

One of the main reasons for this is that they engage in demographic report data analysis. They know the age group of those that are likely to drink coffee and they know the locations where those in that age group are likely to work. These are heavy foot traffic areas too so they can get sales from people going to work or taking a walk on a daily basis.

Article Source : Best Affiliate Marketing Program

About Author

Both Diana Barnum & Lory Sargu are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Diana Barnum has sinced written about articles on various topics from Real Estate, Entertainment Guide and Computers and The Internet. Diana Barnum is a freelance writer and the president of Moving Ahead Communications, offering affordable business support services since 1984. Contact her at: (614) 529-9459 EST and sign up for her ezine at:. Diana Barnum's top article generates over 14800 views. to your Favourites.

Lory Sargu has sinced written about articles on various topics from Cars, Search Engine Marketing and Cats. Pat Andarton is a professional writer specializing in and