create a marketing plan for alibaba including Prepare a mission statement.

$2.$ List and describe target or niche markets.

$3.$ Describe your services.

$4.$ Spell out marketing and promotional strategies.

Basic marketing strategies include the following:

Network, either in person or electronically, by participating in discussion groups online where your target markets congregate.

Direct marketing involves sending out sales letters, capability brochures, flyers, or special offers on a regular, repeated basis to the same group of prospects. Direct marketing can only work if you speak the language of your target market and contact them regularly.

Advertise in print media or directories, often with a specific offer to reap the benefit of an immediate response or sales. Advertising lends credibility $($image advertising$)$ and, like direct marketing, must be continuous.

Devise training programs that increase awareness about your services.

Write articles for local media or professional journals and newsletters that describe the benefits of your services.

Direct or personal selling is the one$-$on$-$one selling, often on site at a prospect$$s office or company. Direct sales are a particularly costly form of marketing since you only reach one person at a time. However, if you present your services to a group of people at a company, such as people from a particular department or several department heads, direct sales can be beneficial.

Send out publicity and press releases through local newspapers, radio, and television stations.

Participate in trade shows at the local or regional level.

When a strategy works, repeat it$.$ But if it fails, and you have done it right, drop it$.$ The ability to develop and implement each of the strategies above requires learning and honing new skills. It will most likely be necessary to read marketing and sales books, attend courses or workshops, or hire consultants and specialists to assist you as necessary.

$5.$ Identify and understand the competition.

As part of the market planning process, you must learn about your competitors and how to position yourself in relation to them. Describe your strengths and what you want to emphasize. Once you identify both direct and indirect competition $($for example, the Internet as indirect competition$),$ you can determine how and why your services are special and benefit users in a particular way. You can compete based on value, price, product, or service, or some combination of these. Your unique position in the marketplace must be touted in your marketing programs and marketing literature.

$6.$ Establish marketing goals that are quantifiable.

Marketing goals can include setting the number of new clients you would like to acquire, the number of people you would like to reach, or the amount of income you would like to generate. Be realistic and practical in establishing your goals. Take a good look at the available skills and resources that you can commit to implement and integrate your goals into your marketing plan effectively. Study the budget requirements for the strategies you select and plan accordingly.

$7.$ Monitor your results carefully.

By monitoring results, you determine which of your marketing strategies are working and which are not. Identify strategies that generate leads and sales. This involves tracking and evaluating customers$$ responses to each marketing strategy. Survey or interview regular users for comments about why they find a service important. As you get to know your repeat clients better, meet with them for detailed feedback and ask them for ideas and suggestions about how you can introduce your products and services to more prospects who are just like them. Client comments are invaluable for creating or enhancing your market literature, and you can also learn and incorporate terms or language common to a particular user group through this process. Just as valuable, these interviews lead to statements that can be used as testimonials $($with permission of course$)$ and in future brochures and promotional activities.