Marketing for Moms Who Mean Business

First make sure you've developed a marketing plan. Completing a marketing plan helps you to understand what your customer wants and to ensure that the services or products you develop reflects what is in demand by your target market.

In a nutshell your marketing plan should outline the following:

• Your Target Market: Determine the target market for your products or services - and be specific. For example, if you're running a medical transcription business from your home, then health professionals like medical doctors, pscyhiatrists, medical malpractice attornies, etc. might be your target group. It's important to know and understand the people in this group because you'll want to package, price and promote your services in a way that would appeal to their sensibilities. Think about the many ways corporations package their products to appeal to you moms.
• Market Demands: Identify your competition - see what they are charging and how they are selling and promoting to your target market. Are they meeting the demands of your market or do you see an opportunity to topple your competition?
• Pricing Your Product or Service: Examine your pricing - is it competitive? What must you charge to meet your needs and future growth needs? What kinds of incentives and discounts can you offer to be more competitive and to introduce more people to your business?
• Distribution Channels: How does your product or service "get to" your customer? Are you the best salesperson? Is it enough to have you as the channel for delivering your product or service? Are there opportunities for you to build in an affiliate program so that you can have something like a sales force promoting and selling your product or services for you?
• Promotions: How will you make your target group aware of your fantastic product or service? What are the magazines, websites and newspapers that reach your target audience? If you can interest journalists or publishers of media outlets that reach your target group you could secure FREE and effective publicity/exposure to your audience. You'll need a public relations plan to promote your story to the media. You can also write your own promotional material (or hire a writer to do this) and then send that promotional material to the media outlets that reach your target market.
• Advertising: This can be costly, but there now many options for small businesses that make advertising affordable especially if you look into participating in a business directory and the various online and community advertising options available.

The bullet points above provide you with a brief outline of a marketing plan - just ensure that you add in time lines for start and completion of each task you develop under the general headings above.

To get a better understanding of how to really work, refine and implement a marketing strategy think about participating in a small business workshop that your local chamber of commerce or regional economic development office may be offering. You might also consider visiting the popular online business reference site for moms called Mom Masterminds (private mentorship group for moms in business).

Don't forget to utilize the services of any professional or trade associations that represent your field and offer education and promotional services to members. For example the International Virtual Assistants Association offers business advice and resources to virtual assistants and the Public Relations Society of America assists PR practitioners who work independently or with firms. If you're not sure if there is a group representing your field, use Google to start a search.

Finally, I mentioned above that business directories offer an affordable means of advertising and promotion. There's a new directory online called Shelancers that works specifically with professional female freelancers who do everything from website design to bookeeping. Shelancers is also unique in that they offer an active online networking and educational forum for their members.