Of the 10 most-frequently cited reasons for small business failures, only one-lack of capital-is more prevalent than the inability to market the business's products or services properly.

Communicating an idea or concept to the marketplace is challenging. Cutting through the clutter is difficult, and convincing a customer to choose your product or service requires a focused, strategic marketing plan.

Of course, a good product is necessary, but there are lots of good products in the marketplace. Why should someone choose yours?

Franchisees, multi-unit operators and area developers make huge investments in their business-from real estate to materials to labor costs. Money is tight, and the need to see a return on investment is imperative.

As a result one important business investment that too often goes under-funded is a strong marketing plan.

A thorough plan will include some form of all marketing tactics, including media relations, special events, brochures, direct marketing and advertising. A narrowly defined communications plan may focus on one tactic or leverage the success of one news story or well-designed brochure to launch other tactical programs.

A brochure can be the focal point for a direct marketing campaign, or vice versa. The point, it's not necessary to reinvent the wheel each time you reach out to customers. A positive news article about your business can be transformed into advertising materials or a brochure.

For example, the marketing dollars spent on developing graphics and photos for an advertisement can be used to design a brochure. Moreover, the advertisement-with a few tweaks-can be turned into a direct mail piece to send to new customers. The idea is to get the most mileage out of all the dollars you invest in marketing your business.

Don't customers need to see something different to capture and maintain their attention, you might ask. The answer is, not really. In fact, repetition is the key to building an identity for your franchise. You want people to associate specific thoughts with certain pictures and words.

Big franchise organizations such as McDonald's Corp. are keenly aware of the value of that comes from this sort of identification. The Golden Arches and the phrase "I'm loving it" are synonymous with McDonald's. Whether it's on television, in the newspaper or in the restaurant, people know and understand they're learning about McDonald's.

How do you get started on your own marketing plan?

Some research is necessary before a marketing plan can be developed. You must understand your target audience and, more importantly, understand the market in which you exist. After this information is gathered and analyzed, it's time to write a plan. And that's something you should take literally-you really need to write it down.

The first step is to set attainable goals. A goal must be measurable, and it must be benchmarked. A goal should be an overarching achievement, not a detailed description of a business plan. While the methods of achieving a goal can be adjusted, the overall direction of a marketing plan should be clear and balanced.

Here is a good example of an unambiguous written marketing goal: "Increase new customers by 25 percent during 2007."

A specific tactic-one that measures return-on-investment (ROI)-should read something like this: "Mail 1,000 brochures, each containing a coupon, to households in Greenfield, WI during the month of July and expect to redeem 25 of those coupons."

The preceding goal has specific criteria, measures success and determines the return you expect to achieve on the resources you are investing in the marketing tactic. This tactic clearly supports the goal.

Along with this goal, other tactical campaigns can be implemented to help achieve the mark of 25 redeemed coupons. For example, placing an advertisement in the Greenfield newspaper will help remind households who received the mailer to visit the store or purchase the product.

I typically recommend clients start with a public relations tactic, because it is cost-effective and serves well as a launch point for future tactical promotions. Developing brochures and placing advertisement can cost a lot of money, but they also are effective tactics.

Working with a local newspaper, radio station or Internet site to write a story may take considerable time, but the cost is relatively low and the payout can bring big dividends.

Getting media coverage can be difficult-not everything happening at your franchise always qualifies as legitimate news. That's why I'm careful to remind the clients I work with that the value of media coverage begins-not ends-when media cover their product or service.

Your franchise's customers and potential customers view newspapers, magazines and broadcasts as credible sources providing objective reporting. By association, your product or service receives an implied endorsement from this objective third party known as the media.

But securing media coverage doesn't guarantee that the audience will see that coverage-or take the actions you want them to take.

To fully leverage the financial impact of your media coverage, consider the following list of actions. Each of them can play a role in contributing to the overall effect you are trying to create.

It is also very important that franchisees use and utilize the marketing materials provided to you by your franchisor. Chances are, these materials have been developed by professionals and speak well to your target audience.

However, as with aspects of running a successful franchise business, relying solely on the franchisor is not enough. Just as you are ultimately responsible for the success of your business, so, too, are you responsible for the success of your marketing program.

A close examination of the most successful franchise business will almost always reveal a franchisee who is deeply involved in all the activities and functions that are critical to the business's success-including marketing.

That involvement might be primarily hands-on, or the franchisee might opt to hire a marketing firm to help develop some materials and provide advice. In either case, though, the franchisee is fully invested in the decision-making process.

The right marketing firm can help your business put forth its best image. Consequently, a poorly matched firm will not garner the desired results, leaving your business with a poor image.

Building and maintaining relationships with customers is imperative and a well-defined communications plan is an integral component to achieve those key relationships for any growing franchise.

When it comes to how your customers view your company, perception is reality. As such, marketing should not be an afterthought when launching a business. If properly researched, developed and implemented, a marketing communications plan can drive top- and bottom-line growth.