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Marketing Plan Ideas

What market-minded shop owners do to increase revenue.

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Dean Derhak, an SAi product director with 19 years in RIP software, management, marketing, sales and engineering technologies, often visits signshop and large-format print businesses to learn how they increase their profits. This month, Dean offers ideas on what successful sign and print shops are doing to improve their marketing and business outlook. Reach Dean at deand@thinksai.com
Overall, the business outlook for 2015 appears highly positive. In January, I conducted a national survey of small sign and print shops and learned that more than 72% of shop owners expect their businesses to grow this year. Another 24% expect their businesses results to remain level, the same as 2014. If you’re in the 24%, let me share some insights on what the market-minded shop owners will do to increase revenue.

Create a marketing plan and budget
My research revealed that growth-expecting shop owners have a clear marketing plan and a reasonable budget committed to that plan. Further, more than half the growth-side shops plan to invest 3 – 9% of their total revenue on marketing this year. Another 10% plan to invest 10 – 20% of revenue on marketing. Because marketing drives new revenue, it’s good to write and follow a simple marketing plan, one that includes a budget.
Spending less than 2% of your revenue on marketing puts you in the minority, those unlikely to see future business growth.

Target a New Market
Studying the progressive shops’ marketing strategies indicates 60% plan to expand into new markets and launch new products and services. Not all plans are costly new investments, either. As I’ve discussed previously, some expansion can be accomplished with your existing equipment — automotive paint protection film and window tinting, for example.
Training is also a big initiative for growth-minded shops. My study reveals 30% of the growth shops plan to focus on software and application training. For example, learning how to do ADA signage or specializing in the design of vehicle wraps can open new customer bases. Perhaps you could print and install the wraps in-house, or outsource the printing and installation.

Don’t neglect the internet
Marketing is primarily about on-going, new-customer acquisition. Almost all potential customers use smartphones and the web, and increasingly, more go on-line first, to purchase signage. If your website still says “coming soon,” or you don’t have one at all, put web activation at the top of your marketing plan. You will lose new business without a strong Internet presence that, at a minimum, comprises a working website, one which appears in local business searches.
Also, check your business listing at www.google.com/business. Finally, invest time each month to find more local listings that help promote your shop.
Combining your shop skills with a written marketing plan and a reasonable budget will help give you a better outlook — and revenue — for this and the coming years.
 

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