You don’t need no stinkin’ marketing! You’ve got clients who love you, and they’ll spread the word. And you’ve got horses to feed, so who’s got time for marketing?
Ehhh, wrong answer. The marketing plan is one of the most important aspects of your horse business plan because it creates a roadmap that you can follow for years to come. Some horse business owners rely exclusively on their marketing plans to drive their advertising efforts.
A marketing plan has four distinct sections:
- USP Strategy
- Pricing Strategy
- Marketing Strategy
- Incentives Strategy
This formula will give you a comprehensive and realistic marketing plan that creates a foundation for horse business success. Without it, you’ll just be posting flyers in the local tack stores and begging clients for referrals.
USP Strategy
Your USP is your unique selling proposition, which is marketing speak for what makes you special? It takes all the other factors out of the equation and boils your horse business down to the most important features of your business model.
In some cases, a USP is a one-line sentence that has been translated into a tagline. For example, FedEx built its unique selling proposition on their tagline: When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight. This communicates to their shipping customers that they are faster than the competition, and their speed is the cornerstone of their business.
It isn’t enough to be unique, however. You’ve got to solve a problem for potential clients, relieve some sort of discomfort they experience. For example, if you’re a riding instructor and you know that busy parents have trouble dropping their kids off and picking them up on time, you could develop a USP around that. You might allow parents to drop their kids off after school and pick them up by, say, 8:00 p.m., which gives the adults plenty of time to run errands while you keep their kids occupied at the barn.
Or maybe you’ve developed a concierge approach to your horse boarding business, and your USP is related to the luxury of your boarding amenities.
The point here is to develop a USP that will capture your target market’s attention and bring them in for a look-see.
Pricing Strategy
How you price your horse business services is a big part of marketing. I don’t mean deciding how much you want to charge for boarding or riding lessons, but the way in which you approach pricing.
For example, will you charge by the day, week, month? Should your clients render payment by check, credit card, PayPal, cash? Are you charging more or less than your competition? And why have you chosen these specific price points?
If you’re going to charge more than the competition, there should be a reason. And you should be able to deliver sufficient value to make those additional costs worth it. If you’re charging less than the competition, there should also be a good reason.
Marketing Strategy
How are you going to get the word out about your horse business?
Marketing is not the same as advertising, but you can include plans for advertisements in this section. Will you post ads in the local paper, the horse magazines, the trade publications? And how will those advertisements be worded?
You’ll want to make plans to print marketing materials, such as business cards, brochures, letterhead, flyers and anything else you might need. And, of course, you need a web site so you can communicate with potential clients online.
Figure out ways to generate publicity for your horse business. Maybe you can write and submit a press release, or perhaps you can get the attention of local media. Whatever the case, write down all ideas that come to you, then assemble the best ones into a plan.
Incentive Strategy
In a retail store, incentive strategies might include sales, clearances, buy-one-get-one-free deals and other incentives related to moving product. In the horse business, however, incentives need to involve the services and programs you offer.
Start a referral program, for example, that gives one free riding lesson to any student who brings in new students. Or offer one free month of board to every new client who boards with you. Or have a raffle drawing every month for a free saddle bad, bag of grooming materials or monogrammed leather halter.
There are plenty of incentives that horse business owners can use to draw in new clients. Get creative, and you’ll likely move far ahead of the competition.
Marketing Genius
You’ll learn the marketing part as you go. The horse business plan provides a guideline for bringing in new business, but don’t get so stressed out about it that you lose sleep. You can always go back and modify your original plan to include new, fresh ideas that come to you later.
You might also like:
- Horse Business Plans 101:
Management Plan - Horse Business Plans 101:
Operational Plan - Why Write a Horse Business Plan?
- Horse Business Plans 101:
The Objective - Horse Business Plans 101:
Competitive Analysis
About the Author: Laura Jane Thompson is the Chief Equestrian Officer of Riding Instructor University and the Feature writer for the horses section at Suite101. She believes that any horse business can succeed provided its owner practices smart strategy.
