Definitions of marketing are plentiful. For small business owners, most would agree that marketing is about generating sales opportunities so that your businesses can grow.

Concepts such as brand building and customer relationship management may seem slightly more nebulous in terms of immediate impact on revenue, but it is this type of activity that will assist in achieving customer loyalty. Loyal customers generate invaluable Word of Mouth (WoM) referrals and provide repeat business, reducing your cost of sale.

Whatever the size of your business, successful marketing relies on a combination of long-term strategy and a short-term plan of action. Here are some top tips for marketing success:

1. To fail to plan is to plan to fail

Creating a marketing plan is an essential starting point. Once you have a plan, this should become a manual for marketing activity and should be reviewed and updated regularly. Start with a ‘top-down’ approach. Establish a clear vision for your business; define your brand values and your messages from the outset. Once this is clear, all your campaigns should fit with the overall image and messaging that you want to portray.

2. Knowledge is power - get market savvy

Before you can decide where you want to go, you need to know where you are starting from. Define your market, whether geographically or in terms of products/services, establish who your key competitors are and their strengths and weaknesses, consider what your customers views are of your company and other stakeholders such as press and industry commentators.

3. Know your competitors

Keeping one eye on the competition is an essential ingredient for success in any marketing strategy. Marketing campaigns, news, changes in pricing or policies by your competitors can have a direct impact on your customers’ perceptions. Stay one step ahead of the competition, pre-empting and reacting to their news where appropriate.

4. Set clear objectives

Setting clear goals is crucial to ensure that marketing activity is focused and measurable. Be specific about your objectives, set a timeline for achieving them and make sure they are realistic.

5. Talk to your customers

Building a rapport with your customers will not only help you to create a loyal, customer fan base, but will also ensure that any occasional glitches in service delivery are forgiven. In today’s consumer age, an opinion, good or bad, is only a click away, so make sure that you provide customers with regular news and updates and provide an open channel for communication.

6. Establish clear messages

Once you are clear about who you are targeting and what they are looking for, decide exactly what is you want to say to them that will convince them to choose your company. Make sure that the message is consistent across all marketing activity for maximum impact.

7. Advertising, email or PR? Which tactics work best?

Promotional tools such as advertising, direct mail and e-marketing are what most people identify as ‘marketing’, but really they function as the delivery mechanism for your messages.

The key to choosing the right mix is in understanding and profiling your target market; that will provide you with the best idea of which methods and vehicles (eg which websites they are likely to log onto, magazines they might read or events they might attend) will be most likely to reach them. You then need a creative campaign to spur them into action.

8. Set a budget

The type of activity you select will also be affected by how much you can afford. Clearly, we all look for keeping costs to a minimum. If you have a good story, such as a new product or interesting customer case study, PR with trade magazines or local press and radio can be great for raising awareness at low cost, and online listings and articles can boost your web presence significantly.

9. Measure your success

Whatever activity you choose, set targets to measure the impact of your actions. It might be monitoring enquiries from a direct mail campaign, increasing hits to a website or increasing sign-up for your customer newsletter.

10. Feedback and keep going – marketing is an ongoing process

The key to successful marketing is to analyse, review and adjust. It is an ongoing process and should be tweaked, tailored and updated regularly.