How to Write a Marketing Plan
A good marketing plan helps your organization
to define its goals and develop a series of activities to
achieve those goals. The key to writing a good marketing plan
is to keep it simple when you start, but return often to revise
and update your marketing plan.
Here are a few basic elements to get you started.
You can expand from these marketing plan essentials as your
needs require additional details. Your marketing plan should:
1) Describe the Unique Solution Your Company Provides
What products, or services do you provide
to the market. Often described as an elevator pitch, you should
be able to quickly describe your solution to a prospect within
20 seconds. Think about this as your purpose. What need was
identified in the market that led to the development of your
solution to fulfill that need.
2) Define Your Target Market
When organizations write the marketing plan,
defining the target market often proves to be the most challenging
aspect of the plan. However, if you do not choose the right
markets to target, you will often never achieve complete success.
Too often companies see that their solution can serve the needs
of multiple markets and they go off trying to establish multiple
markets at the same time. Ultimately this may lead to failure
because they overextended themselves and didn't successfully
meet the needs of any market. Choose a well-defined market when
you write your marketing plan and stick to it until the market
dictates a change.
3) Write the Benefits of Your Products or Services
When companies describe their products and
services, they often talk in features, or advantages, when what
the customer really wants are benefits. If your customer ever
says to you, "Hey that's great, but what's in it for me?"
then you are guilty of talking features instead of benefits.
Features describe a product, or service, but the benefits help
your customers understand how they'll use it, and most importantly
why they will use it.
4) How will You Position Your Products or Services
Take a position and defend it. For your customers
to make a decision, they need to know what you have to offer
and why it is different from your competition. We see this most
readily with consumer product as companies seek to define their
products and build their brand. Your positioning defines your
location in the market and will drive your price and how you
market your products or services. Finish the statement "we
want to be known as ____________" and you will have the
first piece of your positioning.
5) Define Your Marketing Methods
How do you plan to tell the world about your
products and services. We refer to this as the integrated
marketing communications plan. The communications plan defines
the methods you will use to promote your products or services,
for example, advertising, online marketing, and/or public relations.
For each of these aspects of the communications plan, you'll
need to choose the proper deliver vehicle, budget and resources
to implement them. The best communications plan is an integrated
program that works together to promote a consistent message
to your customers.
6) The Cost and Resources Needed
Define your budget and your resources. Marketing
is an investment in your company that must be consistent and
steady to produce results. Without a consistent approach you
will not be able to achieve the goals your established for the
organization. Your budget and resources - both internal and
external should be sufficient to sustain the plan.
7) Revisit and Refine Your Marketing Plan
Once you write a marketing plan be sure to
come back and revisit it often. You may find aspects of the
plan that need to be updated, or modified to reflect changes
in the market. Set specific goals within your marketing plan
and evaluate your performance against those goals.
Good luck with your marketing plan. Once you get it in writing,
you now have a plan to excel.
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