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point Business Marketing Checklist No matter the size of your business marketing is what helps take your product or service from inside your company and delivers it to your potential clients. Every business should develop a written guideline that outlines the companys marketing strategy and plans out how to implement it. In the day-to-day delivery and problem-solving that all businesses go through, knowing whats working with your marketing and whats not, and what you should focus on NOW to get the biggest return on your marketing investment can become a little overwhelming. At the end of the checklist please give us a brief description of where you are having the most difficulties with your marketing? GENERAL 1. I have an existing marketing plan in place for my business. 2. I have at least one person responsible for managing marketing. 3. Our staff is familiar with how we are marketing our companys products and services MARKET RESEARCH 4. I know who my target market is and Ive got a full written description of this market. 5. Ive narrowed down who in my target market is my most likely customer i.e. age, sex, income level, etc. 6. Ive estimated the number of customers in my target market who could potentially buy from me. 7. I know who my closest 3 competitors are, what services they offer and what their prices are. 8. Ive done a price comparison between my business and my closest competitors and have made notes on why someone would choose us over them and also why someone might choose them over us. 9. I am aware of what income my business is capable of producing at the level it is currently at right now. 10. I subscribe a newsletter for my industry so that I am aware of what news is happening in my industry. I stay current with whats happening in my industry. MARKETING METHODS In this section well look at the different marketing methods available to businesses today.

 Website: 11. We have one and the address is: 12. We have more than one website and the other addresses are: 13. I have a keyword list for my business and check it regularly to keep it updated. 14. The information on our site is current and is updated regularly. 15. Our website is it easy to navigate and its easy for visitors to find information from the home page. 16. Our website collects visitor information through a newsletter or pet alert sign- up offer. 17. We have an autoresponder email message that is sent out when someone subscribes. 18. Our phone and address is listed on the home page and is easy to find. 19. We have a contact form on our site with a map or written directions (if appropriate). 20. We use a tracking phone number on our website to determine what calls are coming from it. Our website answers the following questions for visitors who may not be familiar with us: o 21. An About Us page our something that tells about the companys history. o 22. Services and products we offer are easy to see on the home page. o 23. Different pages on the site for the different services and products we offer. o 24. Enough information to answer a customers questions. o 25. Informational articles on our area of expertise. o 26. Client testimonials that include a picture and name. o 27. Photos of our products. o 28. A price list or prices for our products. o 29. Photos of our personnel. Email: 30. We have a system in place to collect email addresses for clients and potential clients 31. We use an email marketing service like Constant Contact or iContact. 32. We produce a regular email newsletter for our customers and clients 33. We keep track of the responses to our email mailings (opens, clicking on links, unsubscribes) 34. We occasionally send special mailings to our email list such as special offers or alerts. 35. We have special email sequences that we use for events such as a new customer sequence, a tip sequence, etc. Online Advertising Methods: What online advertising methods does your business currently employ: 36. Pay Per Click ads such as Google Adwords 37. Search Engine Optimization for high search engine ranking for our main key words.

Blogs o 38. We have a blog on our website or our website is a blog o 39. We have a separate blog such as Blogger or WordPress Social Marketing Check off which of these your business currently has. o 40. Facebook Fan Page o 41. Twitter account o 42. LinkedIn account o 43. Google Buzz account o 44. MySpace o 45. YouTube o 46. Flickr o 47. Our business is using these social marketing tools competently o 48. Our business needs help learning how to use these social marketing tools Local Search Check off which search engines youve set up and claimed your local search listings on. o 49. Google o 50. Yahoo o 51. Bing Mobile Search Check off what you have set up. o 52. Mobile site o 53. Mobile Landing Page o 54. Mobile Ads o 55. QR Codes o 56. SMS Directories Are you using online directories to market your business? o 57. Online Yellow Pages o 58. Yelp o 59. Other o Other o Other Facebook Ads 60. Are you using Facebook ads? Banner advertising on other sites? o 61. Banner network: Other? Other Promotion What other advertising methods do you use? 62. Referral program for existing customers 63. Affiliate program for related business referrals 64. Direct mail 65. Radio ads 66. TV

67. Val Pak 68. Newspapers 69. Craigs List 70. Angies List Street Visibility and Signage 71. (If physical location is important) Our business has a sign that is easily visible from the street. Press Releases 72. Our business uses press releases to make announcements Media Kits 73. Our business has a media kit for media inquiries we might receive. BUDGET 74. I have an annual marketing budget. 75. Our marketing budget is based on a percentage of our gross income. 76. Average monthly spend for marketing and advertising currently? TRACKING: How do you measure the effectiveness of your marketing methods? 77. I keep track of how a caller or new customer heard about us by asking them and writing it down. 78. I keep a spreadsheet of where a call or customer came from 79. Our staff are trained to ask where a customer found out about us, including how they got to our website. 80. We have a system to separately track how our different marketing methods are working for getting new customers.