A marketing plan is the key way that businesses decide how to market their products and services to customers. You have been asked by your company to participate in a cross-functional team t
A marketing plan is the key way that businesses decide how to market their products and services to customers. You have been asked by your company to participate in a cross-functional team to develop a new marketing plan. Reflect back on what you have learned in your program on marketing. Then as a refresher, research marketing plans and review this article:
Choose a product or service that you are familiar with and then answer the following questions to provide your recommendation to the cross-functional team:
- What market research would you conduct to know your target market and customers?
- What marketing tools such as promotion, advertising, and digital marketing will you use?
- What is your strategy to address your competitors in the market?
- How will you measure the success of your marketing plan?
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11 steps to create a marketing plan for your business
Raubi Marie Perilli June 26, 2020
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Many entrepreneurs know they need to create a
marketing plan, but they are either intimidated by
the thought of it, or they don’t put the time into it
soon enough.
You can hear the voices of protest (and excuses)
now…
“But I’m not going to be doing any advertising
anyway.”
“I just want to grow through word-of-mouth.”
“I’ve got to get my business up-and-running first
and then I’ll figure out the marketing.”
“I’m not a marketing person!”
If you’ve secretly thought of any of these things,
you’re not alone.
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But the reality is that writing a good new business
marketing plan is extremely important and not
very difficult.
It’s just outlining decisions about what your
business is, who your customers will be, and how
you will reach them — and committing those
ideas to paper in an orderly format.
A good marketing plan answers questions like
“Who are our target buyers?” and “Where will we
spend money to attract them?” With these kinds
of questions resolved, you’ll be setting your
business up for success right from the start.
Where to begin?
Well, let’s start at the beginning.
What is a marketing plan?
A marketing plan is a document that outlines a
brand’s plan to attract and retain customers and
promote its brand, products, and services.
It includes research, information, and past
marketing performance history, and it outlines a
plan for creating future marketing and
advertising strategies.
So stop procrastinating and learn how to make a marketing plan.
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Marketing plans are often a section of a larger
business plan. But they can also stand on their
own.
Why do you need a marketing plan?
A marketing plan helps you put all of your
research, ideas and plans in one place. When you
go through the process, you can:
Define your core messaging and positioning to
create a cohesive brand voice, vision, and
style.
Set a budget that matches your goals and
agenda.
Deliver a stronger return on investment as you
will create tracking processes to measure and
optimize campaigns.
Develop better future plans as you can clearly
see what’s working and what’s not.
Organize and centralize your marketing plans
so your entire team is on the same page.
Without an official marketing plan, it’s likely that
your business will have a lot of ideas, opinions
and plans floating around without much cohesion.
A marketing plan helps you get focused and
organized so you can be more coordinated,
productive and successful.
When’s the best time to make a
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marketing plan?
There’s no bad time to create a marketing plan.
But the best time to make a marketing plan is:
At the beginning/end of the year so you can
plan out plans for the year ahead.
When launching a new business so you have a
new business marketing plan to help you grow
and scale your business.
When launching a new product, service or
category in your business so you know how to
capture a new market.
The moment you realize you don’t have one
because it’s never too late to start to reap the
benefits of having an existing or new business
marketing plan.
If your business fits into any of these scenarios,
it’s time to create a marketing plan.
Before you begin
If you have an established business, but this is the
first time you’re creating a marketing plan, start
by reviewing your history.
You’ve probably had marketing plans in the past
even if they weren’t laid out in a formal
document. Reflect back on those campaigns and
strategies to help create your new plan.
Open up a spreadsheet to start recording an
inventory of everything you’ve tried so far to
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market your business. Note any action you’ve
taken (cost, time investment, dates, duration),
and categorize everything.
Think about each of these efforts.
List it all out so you can use it to inform and guide
your future marketing plans.
Now, let’s get into how to make a marketing plan
for your new or existing business.
How to create a marketing plan in 11 steps
It can be easy to feel overwhelmed as you start to
think about creating your marketing plan. But, all
you really need to do is follow a simple outline
and go through the following marketing plan
steps.
1. Define your offerings.
2. Define your brand mission.
3. Define your target audience.
4. Conduct a market analysis.
5. Conduct a competitor analysis.
6. Define your brand positioning.
Be honest about what did and didn’t work, and what is and isn’t working.
“ ”
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7. Outline your goals.
8. Outline your marketing strategy.
9. Set a budget.
10. Outline offers and marketing tactics.
11. Define metrics and KPIs.
Let’s walk through each step.
1. Define your offerings
Before you can create a marketing plan, you need
to be clear about what it is that you’re selling.
Create a list of your products and services and
outline:
The features of each offer/product
How each feature benefits customers
What makes each offering different from other
similar offerings
The price for each offering
Related: How to write a mission statement you’ll be proud to share
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2. Define your brand mission
Now that you know exactly what you’re selling, it’s
time to explain why you’re selling it.
Outline your brand mission by answering
questions like:
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What is it that you would like your brand to
accomplish?
Why do you want to help your customers?
Why are your products or services important?
Why should customers look to do business
with you instead of your competitors?
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3. Define your target audience
Once you know what you’re selling and why you’re selling it, it’s time to outline who you will
sell to.
Define your target audience by creating buyer
personas that describe your ideal customers and
audiences. Outline their:
Demographics (age, gender, income,
education, location, etc.)
Professional details (industry, job title,
company, etc.)
Psychographics (personality traits, beliefs,
attitudes, etc.)
Goals (what they what to achieve)
Challenges (pain points, what they’re afraid of
or in need of, etc.)
Influences (favorite media outlets, thought
leaders, etc.)
Need help defining your target audience? Check
out this guide on What information should you
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include in your buyer persona customer profile?
Related: Why a target audience matters (and how to find yours)
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4. Conduct a market analysis
A market analysis describes the total marketing
environment in which your company competes.
When you create a marketing plan, this analysis
is an essential section as it answers questions that
help you navigate your competitive market’s
landscape.
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How many businesses offer similar offerings?
How many businesses will your brand be in
direct competition with?
How large is the market?
What are the trends in the market (growing,
decreasing, etc.)?
How much are customers already paying for
similar offerings?
How much are customers willing to pay for
similar offerings?
What does the sales cycle in your market look
like?
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5. Conduct a competitor analysis
The market analysis should help you come up
with the names of a few of your direct
competitors.
Now, look closely at those competitors to see how
you can differentiate your brand and drive
customers to choose you over others.
Who are your competitors?
What is their market share?
What are their strengths, weaknesses and
unique selling propositions?
How can you differentiate your brand from
competitors?
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Related: How to find inspiration from your competitors (without stealing their ideas)
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6. Define your brand positioning
By this step in the process to create a marketing
plan, you’ve done a lot of research, and you’ve
outlined what you know about your brand,
market, and competitors.
Use this information to decide how you will
position your brand in the market.
Outline your unique selling propositions.
Define what market differentiators you will
highlight.
Specify what market segment you will target.
Define your brand voice and tone.
Related: A beginner’s guide to branding your business
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7. Outline your goals
The goals section is just that — defining your
short- and long-term goals. Think about where
you’re starting from, and where you want the
business to be in three, five and 10 years.
Some examples of marketing goals might be to:
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Attract customers
Retain customers
Increase website traffic
Increase social media following
Increase online sales
Increase in-store sales
Generate more leads
Improve online conversions
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8. Outline your marketing strategy
Your marketing strategy should then outline your
approach to reaching your goals.
Look at your goals and figure out what type of
marketing tactics will help you get closer to your
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target objectives.
They might include (but aren’t limited to) the
following.
Online advertising. Pay-per-click advertising,
banner ads, text ads on partner sites.
Email marketing. Sending electronic
newsletters, adding subscription tools to your
site to grow your email list.
Print advertising. Newspaper or magazine ads,
business cards, direct mail postcards,
brochures or flyers.
Social networking. Maintaining your business
profile and engaging with customers and
prospects on platforms like Facebook, Twitter
and Pinterest.
Blogging. Writing your own blog, responding
to or submitting articles or features to other
people’s blogs, RSS feeds, etc.
Online directories. Your business listing on
both global (i.e. Google, Yelp and YP.com) and
local (i.e. Chamber of Commerce) listings sites.
Live networking. Handing out business cards,
professional memberships, public speaking.
Search engine optimization (SEO). Tweaking
website content to attract organic traffic.
Trade shows. Sending your team to attend or
present at industry conferences and events.
Public relations. Getting mentions and
features about your brand in the news.
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Back to top
9. Set a budget
There are a lot of factors that go into setting a
marketing budget. But at this point, you should
have some good information to help direct your
budgeting.
Ask yourself:
What is your current revenue?
What percent of your revenue have you
allocated for marketing?
What set marketing costs do you have (for
software, team members, etc.)?
How much money will you need to reach your
goals?
What are your competitors are spending on
their marketing?
Once you start running strategic and goal-
focused marketing campaigns, it will become
easier to set marketing budgets. You will be able
to use past campaigns to measure costs and your
return on investment (ROI) — such as cost per
lead, cost per customer, etc.
But, in the beginning, you will need to try a few
campaigns to see what works and delivers the
best ROI.
Related: 5 ways to build a strong online presence on a shoestring budget
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Back to top
10. Outline offers and marketing campaigns
Now, it’s time to turn your ideas into concrete
marketing promotions and campaigns.
Decide what type of offers you can make. What
can you offer as a special or deal? A free
consultation? Special pricing for new customers
or for referrals? Rewards? Samples?
Whatever you do, be consistent with your goals.
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It doesn’t make sense to offer early bird specials
if your target audience is college students
grabbing late-night burgers.
Then, consider your marketing strategy, goals,
offers and budget to lay out a few concrete
campaigns. Outline the cost, time and tactics for
each campaign.
Examples of marketing campaigns
Increase awareness with business cards
Cost: Less than $20 to print custom business
cards with a service like Vistaprint
Time: 10 minutes to two hours per week
Tactic: Carry business cards with you at all
times. Share them with anyone you meet who
shows an interest in your business, whether
you’re at a client meeting, your Rotary Club, or
a party where the topic of what you do for a
living comes up in conversation. Give each
person multiple cards, one for them and
another one or two to share with someone they
know who might also be interested in your
services.
Drive traffic to your website with a banner ad
Cost: About $200/month (costs will vary from
$0 to thousands, depending on where you
choose to place your ad)
Time: 3 hours
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Tactic: Banner ads are those rectangular ads
you see in the margins of just about every
website. When someone clicks on a banner ad,
they’re typically taken to the advertiser’s
website, where they can redeem the offer or
shop for whatever is advertised in the banner.
Promote your business with email
Cost: Starting at about $10/month for an
online email marketing tool
Time: One to five hours per month
Tactic: This assumes you have a list of email
addresses to start with. If so, subscribe to an
email builder and customize one of the email
templates. Start by sending one information-
filled email every 10 days to two weeks (“Check
out our latest offerings.” “SAVE 10% now
through Thursday!”, etc.). Track customer
responses. Resend emails that work and stop
sending those that don’t.
Back to top
11. Define metrics and KPIs
The final step as you create a marketing plan is to
decide what metrics you will use to evaluate your
campaigns.
Better-known measurement options like surveys
can be useful, but you’ll also want to understand
things like the cost of customer acquisition (for
every new customer you get, how many
marketing dollars do you have to spend?) or
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market share (out of the universe of your
potential customers, what percentage do you
have, and is that growing?).
As mentioned earlier, having the right set of
metrics will allow you to make more i
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