Marketing How To: How to Create an Effective Marketing Plan
Marketing How To: How to Create a Marketing Plan
A marketing plan is an essential document for any business as it provides a roadmap your activities. It ensures that the marketing activities are focused on achieving business goals.
Here are some useful guidelines on how to create an effective marketing plan.
Create a mission statement
The mission statement should briefly describe the nature of the business, its products/services and the market segment it intends to serve. It should not be more than a few sentences.
Describe your product/service and your target market
Briefly document the features and benefits of your product or service. Prepare a list of potential users. This will help you to identify your target market. Identifying the right niche is the key to success in the long run.
You may have to conduct market research at this stage to identify peoples’ expectations from your product/service. You also need to create a budget (labor, materials and other costs) for conducting various marketing activities. It is also advisable to list various industry standards.
Document various promotional activities
Promotional activities vary with the product/service and the target market. It is very important to clearly document what ever you intend to do. The basic guiding principle behind a promotional activity is that it should prompt people to buy your product or service. For this it is important to understand the emotional component of your product or service.
Analyze your competition
Your marketing plan is incomplete if it does not have a strategy to deal with your competition. It is very important to document how you intend to position your brand amidst your competitors’.
Do a SWOT analysis of your brand and your competitors’ brands. This activity will provide you many insights. You will be able to clearly communicate to your customers as to why and how your product/service is superior to that of competitors’.
Establish clear and quantifiable goals
A goal can be anything, like the number of units sold, number of applications completed, number of prospects generated, amount of revenue generated, etc. It is advisable to be realistic and practical while setting goals.
Follow up on the results
It is very important to constantly monitor the results. By doing so you will be able to see what strategies are working and what are not working. Sales figures and surveys help you in this endeavor. It is important to modify your strategies periodically based on inputs from the market.
Marketing how to experts stress on the need of a good marketing plan, irrespective of the size of your business. Having a good marketing plan based on the above mentioned guidelines will take your business towards success.
