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How To Write A Marketing Plan for your Las Vegas Business

A marketing plan is the portion of your overall business plan that describes the market for your products, an analysis of your competitors, and your marketing budget. It is a complete breakdown of the services or products you will provide, your unique selling proposition, and your distribution plans. It will also describe your strategy for sales and pricing, as well as plans for promotion and advertising. Each of these topics are summarized in brief paragraphs with separate headings. Each paragraph will explain how you plan to get customers or clients to buy your products, and the advantages they can expect in return.

The products and services portion of your marketing plan will clearly define the unique qualities of the products or services you plan to offer, and how your customers can benefit from using them. This section of the marketing plan characterizes your product telling what it does, how it works, and how it differs from similar products distributed by your competition. Your marketing plan will define the services you are presenting to customers, and list the advantages you have over other companies that provide the same services.

Depending on the products or services that you will be providing, the benefits for your customers may be tangible (can be touched or felt), or intangible (untouchable). For this section of your marketing plan, think about the products or services that you will be providing, and then list as many benefits as you can. Narrow your choices to the benefits that suit your target customers, and write a paragraph highlighting the advantages of each one. Your marketing plan is a detailed description of your company’s products, and the benefits or incentives that you will offer your customers.

The heart of your marketing plan will define the unique selling proposition for your company’s products or services. It is important that you give specific details showing which features set your products apart from that of your competitors. The goal of your marketing plan is to send a message to your customers showing the advantages of using your products or services. The marketing plan is a direct form of communicating with your customers, it’s message should be clear and concise. An essential document for your business plan, your marketing plan will need to be updated regularly. Your updates will address issues such as changes in the market, product prices, and customer demand.

Writing a marketing may seem like an overwhelming task when you consider all the information that has to be included. A company with unlimited funds can hire a professional to write the marketing plan for them, and keep it updated. Small companies or home based businesses can have a well written marketing plan without spending a lot of money. Business software programs can be used to help you create a business plan, and a marketing plan for your company. There are websites that offer free downloads of templates that you can use to write your marketing plan. This templates can be customized to suit your business, and they include step by step procedures for writing a successful marketing plan.

V Finance is a website with free templates to help you write business and marketing plans for your company. They have an extensive website with templates that are designed for a large number of industries and careers. You can visit them at: www.vfinance.com.

Las Vegas Brochure Design Tips

If you are in business in Las Vegas, you should probably have a brochure to promote your business that you can leave behind when you meet a potential client. Maybe you’re afraid you cannot write one yourself? This articles was written to help!

Brochures are basically a great way to help promote your Las Vegas and can be left after meeting a potential client, can be left in hotel and restaurant lobbies, handed out at networking events, trade shows, etc. So how can you create and write an effective, targeted brochure that will stay on someone’s desk and not end up in the shredder?

Define your products and services & your target market.

Take a few minutes to figure out exactly who your target market is. Gender, age, location, and specific issues that they face that you can help solve with your products and services. Tailor your brochure copy to most effectively communicate and help your target market.

For example, if you are a family law attorney and your clients are mainly women, late thirties, seeking child support, then your brochure copy should focus on this target market. The copy you write, the tone and the points you make in how you will help a potential client should focus around your target. The images used in the brochure, the headlines, the colors, etc. should all support the communication.

Keep your reader’s interest.

Write enticing cover copy and headlines for your brochure. Try not too stuff too much information on each panel of your brochure as you don’t want it too look overwhelming to read. A reader should be able to glance at headlines and sections of your brochure without becoming overwhelmed. Keep paragraphs brief and use bullet points to help compact the information you’re trying to communicate. Keep your paragraph headlines exciting! This will want to make readers read on!

Keep your brochure from ending up in the trash.

Utilize an area of your brochure that has helpful Q&A, resources or tips on information relevant to your business. In the example of the family law attorney above, perhaps include links to complimentary legal and government websites or direct readers to more information or resources they might find on your own company website.

The key is to think carefully about designing and writing your brochure so that you will keep your target market engaged, raise their interest, provide helpful information and ultimately get that reader to contact you for more information!

Marketing your Las Vegas company is the current economy is now more important than ever. Without effective marketing strategies in place, you will not be able to reach new potential customers, and as we always say, if you aren’t marketing, your competitors surely are.

With this in mind, I’ve compiled a list of links that discuss and outline top effective marketing strategies for businesses:

• The Top 7 Marketing Strategies for Independent Professionals on a Budget - BusinessKnowHow.com
• Best Marketing Strategies - helium.com
• Top 10 Internet Marketing Strategies of 2009 - marketingcharts.com
• Top Marketing Strategies for Businesses on a Budget - UnArchived Articles
• Web Site Marketing Techniques Rated - streedirectory.com
• Best Marketing Strategies for Maximum Sales - Combining Market Research, Brand Management, Advertising and PR - suite101.com
• Top 5 Guerilla Marketing Strategies - sparxoo.com
• Top Email Marketing Strategies For B2B Marketers - webpronews.com
• Top 8 Strategies to Marketing in a Recession - ElementsDaily
• Niche Marketing Strategy - How to Greatly Increase your Odds of Business Success by Using a Niche Marketing Strategy = Geisheker Group
• Market Targeting - learnmarketing.com
• How To Find And Sell To Your Target Market - about.com
• Target Marketing - Targeting Strategies - websitemarketingplan.com
• Top Small Business Marketing Trends for 2009
• Top 10 Internet Marketing Strategies - about.com
• Seven Top Online Marketing Trends for 2009 - ClickZ.com
• The Top 10 Marketing Tips of All Time - marketingscoop.com
• Business Owner’s Toolkit: Marketing Strategy
• Business Marketing Strategy Essentials - bizrave.com
• One Page Marketing Plan Template
• Marketing Plan Outline - quickmba.com

How Reliability and Consistency Build Brands in Las Vegas

In the world of corporate business and in Las Vegas, branding has never been more important to the success of products, services, and the companies that produce and provide them than it is today. Most of us remember the Canon camera catch phrase, “Image is Everything” spouted by Andre Agassi in the 90s, and in the world of corporate branding, this statement couldn’t be more true. However, image alone is not enough to create and maintain customer loyalty; it must be back up by performance.

It can take years to build a successful brand or brands. Even with nifty catch phrases, a brand must be built over time and backed up with quality products or services to maintain respectability in its niche or market segment. While a flashy professional image is enough to create a buzz, and eye-catching models or flashy pictures can plant a brand’s image in our mind for future reference, the first time a product is utilized and is found to under perform, that image is immediately destroyed. A successful corporate brand must not only walk the walk, but talk the talk with a proven and time-tested track record.

Let’s take Hilton Hotels for example, a name associated worldwide with professional service, and a high quality and reliable product. This association with the Hilton brand is not a fluke; it is due to years of providing a consistent product to millions of guests. Crisp uniforms on employees, rooms cleaned to perfection, a high degree of professionalism, and a willingness to go the extra mile for guests has made staying at a Hilton into something more than just putting your head in a bed — it is an experience.

By Hilton creating this level of expectation, it builds customer loyalty, and loyalty in turn creates return customers. These customers, because they have such expectations of quality, are therefore willing to pay a higher price for the product and/or service, and are more apt to be repeat business. They are also more likely to create further business through word of mouth regarding a product with which their expectations were exceeded or though service that when above and beyond what is typically expected.

It is through reliability and consistency that brands build a professional image. When customers come to know and expect a certain level of service or quality of product, it breeds success on both sides. In making a customer look good, it makes a company or a brand look good, which builds a stronger brand name. It therefore stands to reason that while “Image is Everything”, without maintaining consistent quality, a company or brand’s image will be nothing.

In tough economic times, especially here in Las Vegas, it is easy to eye marketing and market research as potential victims for the chopping block. However completely axing marketing can have devastating results for a Las Vegasbusiness.

Consider an analogy: A runner’s muscles need air. Even though the muscles may not have burned all the oxygen in the blood, the lungs continue pumping new air, new oxygen into the blood stream. Without the lungs continuing to pump air and oxygen, the muscles would use up whatever oxygen was in the blood and then tire quickly before failing completely Does this seem like a far fetched analogy? I assure you that it is not. Cash flow and continued patronage are the oxygen of any business. And marketing is to business what lungs are to a runner: Marketing continually pumps in new business, new patronage and new cash flow.

But if a business has worked hard to develop a loyal customer base, why can’t it rely on this base until things loosen up a bit? The answer is simple. There is no such thing as a loyal customer base. It’s not that customers are fickle and whimsical. It is that the customer also exists in a fluid environment where they constantly have to make choices in order to provide for and protect their families. In a free market system, competition is fierce. In a free market system during a recession competition is brutally fierce. Your customers need reduced prices while still getting quality products or services. If your business doesn’t provide this, it is 100% guaranteed that someone else will. Would you really expect your customer to turn down a better deal out of loyalty? Would you remain with a vendor if the vendor no longer offered your business the best deal available?

So we’ve established that there is no way to just hold your breath through a recession and hope your customers stay with you. But your business is in the red, you are dangerously short of liquid cash and marketing is as much art as it is science. How are you supposed to know how to apply your money when you need to be sure of a return? Of course, there are no guarantees but there are a few things to remember. A recession shakes things up. Some of your competitors will freeze up. They are not your worry. Your worry is the horde of competitors who are hungry, a little desperate and ready to try anything to take a bite out or your market share. Some of them are going to make mistakes, be hasty and blow their budget on ineffective marketing. Some of them will be do something different, effective, will tap into the customer’s need for comfort during a recession. You need to be one of these companies. Easier said than done?

However, there is one fundamental that is often ignored when people get scared. Keep it simple! It’s a recession. People aren’t in the mood for anything cute. They aren’t in the mood to see a company blow millions on a slick ad campaign. People want security, longevity, reliability, honesty. Those qualities are best communicated by customer service. It takes a human face. Don’t bug your customers with surveys, followup phone calls, etc. Teach your employees to always ask what the customer needs and mean it! It’s shocking to see how often companies try to pitch their customers. In good times, customers put up with it because it’s often entertaining. In hard times, customers just go somewhere else. Don’t anticipate their needs, ask them what they need. Improved customer service requires thought, energy and leadership but isn’t inherently expensive. It’s not an ad campaign but it is far more effective if implemented sincerely. And while you’re at it, if you want your employees to be sincere and attentive to your customers, why don’t you ask them what the company can do to alleviate some of their stress? What do they need to do their job well? If you tell them to be attentive, very few will comply. If you model it, most of them will be happy to imitate the behavior. Sincerity is infectious.

Dropping marketing during a recession isn’t an option. To complete the analogy: Just as it is even more crucial for a runner to breath deeply through the most demanding exercise, businesses must market, pursue customers, communicate with customers during a recession. The analogy holds true. If you stop marketing, you may as well try to run a race without breathing.

The Great Equalizer
The Internet provides equal access to it users, whether you are a small business, organization or a Fortune 500 firm.

Improved Customer Service
Your web site is a great place to publish your own list of “Frequently Asked Questions”, contact information, and even discussion boards!

Low Cost Advertising
When compared to the costs associated with traditional advertising methods such as direct mail, newspaper or magazine ads, or radio and television, the cost of a web site is nominal. A Web site is easier, cheaper and quicker to update than print material, like a printed brochure. Its capacities are almost limitless which allow you to provide users with more comprehensive information. This will save you money on printing and distribution costs as well.

Great Demographic
Surveys have shown that the average Internet user is 36 years old, has a college education, and an annual income of $65,000.

24 X 7 Availability
The time of day is now irrelevant. With a web site your products, services and information become available to anyone with Internet access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Product and Service Demonstrations
Multimedia presentations allow you to provide your customers with an in-depth, interactive experience with your products and services.

Gather Information and Generate Valuable Leads
You can gather information about your customers and potential customers by using forms and surveys. Rather than going out and getting leads, let them come to you. This is a great tool for prospecting targeted customers looking to use your products and services.

Your Competitors Have One
As more and more businesses and organizations get online, those who don’t will increasingly be putting themselves at a competitive disadvantage.

Present a Professional Image
For a small business, a well-designed Web site is a great way of instilling confidence and looking bigger than you actually are. In this day in age, customers assume that you already have a Web site. By now, your primary competitors probably already have a presence on the Internet. If they do, keep up with them and find ways to make yours better. If they don’t, your will be the one out in front.

Promote & Sell Your Products Services
Promotion of businesses on the Web lets customers see that they have a choice. Millions of users are referring to the Web and are using company’s Web sites to make major decisions when they need a specialized service like yours.

If you’re interested in help with your website design, marketing or promotion, please contact Perkolate at 702.341.0085 or email us at fullsteam@perkolate.com.

If there is one thing your Las Vegas company can never compromise on, it would be marketing. Marketing often forms the base for a consistent and a productive sales effort for your company’s products or services. If you are serious about promoting your company and presenting a professionally targeted image, you should think of hiring a professional marketing firm like Perkolate.

4 reasons why you should hire a professional Las Vegas marketing firm:

Leave the specialized job to the experts.
Marketing is definitely not a job everyone has the experience, education and skills to do, it is a profession. It may seem like anyone can do it, but then there is a fine line of difference between doing something and doing something professionally and with strategy. Professional marketing firms like Perkolate Marketing have marketing experts who have years of marketing experience under their belts. 

Do you really want to do it?
Remember, you could easily end up spending a lot of time with the marketing efforts for your product or service. And you most likely wont have the experience to even take an educated guess as to what a sound marketing plan could accomplish for your business. The first question you need to ask yourself – Do you really want to handle your company’s marketing by yourself? Assuming you do have the right kind of resources to do the job, would you really wish to invest the time into your own marketing programs, tracking the results and deciding the best way to refine those efforts? Most business owners answer “no” to this question, and could be much more effective handling other parts of running their Las Vegas businesses.

Marketing strategies and tactics are ever changing.
Years ago, marketing used to be primarily print ads, radio and television spots, yellow pages, door-door or through the newspaper classifieds. Nowadays, the turnaround time for running a marketing campaigns gets shorter and shorter. It involves much more that traditional advertising efforts. Online marketing, social marketing, pay-per-click campaigns and search engine optimization (SEO) are more important than the traditional marketing strategies of yesteryear. You need to stay on top of these new and emerging marketing tactics, and Perkolate can show you how!

Let a professional marketing firm maximize your marketing budget.
Whether you are promoting a $2 pen or a $20,000 wrist watch, your marketing plans and programs require a budget, a truth you cannot and should not escape (especially in today’s economy). Do you really want to risk spending your marketing budget on efforts that will not deliver results? It’s far more cost effective to hire a professional marketing firm like Perkolate to assist you in marketing your products and services.

As a marketing professional, you might consider radio advertising to promote your Las Vegas business or company. Radio advertising can be effective and cost-efficient. It can help you widen your brand awareness, advertise specials and promotions and gain more clients.

Radio stations are a great place to reach your specific target market because radio stations are formatted for and marketed to very targeted audiences. Think of the difference in audiences that listed to talk radio vs. oldies vs. top 40 vs. hard rock. Furthermore, a radio station’s audience is broken out further into specific times of day a particular segment listens, morning drive time vs. late night, for example.  The demographics are also broken into age groups as well.

In a nutshell, radio offers a very highly targeted way of reaching a specific audience in the Las Vegas market.

If you are considering radio advertising in Las Vegas, you might think ahead about:

• Who will create your radio spot/s?
• How many times will your ad/s run, on what stations, and at what times?
• Will you work with a marketing/advertising agency or try to set up the ad campaign yourself?
• How will you judge the results of your efforts?
• What is your budget?
• Who will write your ad?
• How will you negotiate the ad rates offered?

Earlier this year, Perkolate launched its new sister website, marketinginlasvegas.com, in order to provide a free website for Las Vegas business owners and Las Vegas companies marketing resources. It is loaded with free marketing advice, marketing tips, tricks and articles.

If you’re on a tight budget, you can get a lot of great ideas and find valuable resources on marketinginlasvegas.com. You can perform searches for information, suggest articles to the author, Michael Gazzano, even post comments and feedback about the resources and articles you find.

Marketinginlasvegas.com contains information on:

• Marketing
• Online Marketing & Internet Marketing
• Business Networking
• Social Networking and Social Media
• Advertising
• Free Resources
• Blog Marketing & Blog Submission
• Search Engine Optimization
• Community News and Information
• Latest marketing, advertising, and casino & gaming headlines
• Las Vegas Charities and Non-Profits
• Las Vegas Trade Show links and information
• PR and Internet PR
• Web Design & Development
• Graphic Design
• Corporate Identity and Branding