A company needs a marketing plan just as it needs a businessplan. Here’s how to write a five-part marketing plan that works ashard as you do:
Section 1: Situation Analysis
This introductory section contains an overview of your situation asit exists today and will provide a useful benchmark as you adaptand refine your plan in the coming months. Begin with a shortdescription of your current product or service offering, themarketing advantages and challenges you face, and a look at thethreats posed by your competitors. Describe any outside forces thatwill affect your business in the coming year–this can be anythingfrom diminished traffic levels due to construction if you’re aretailer or a change in law that could affect a new productintroduction if you’re an inventor, for example.
Section 2: Target Audience
All that’s needed here is a simple, bulleted description of yourtarget audiences. If you’re marketing to consumers, write atarget-audience profile based on demographics, including age,gender and any other important characteristics. B2B marketersshould list your target audiences by category (such as lawyers,doctors, shopping malls) and include any qualifying criteria foreach.
Section 3: Goals
In one page or less, list your company’s marketing goals for thecoming year. The key is to make your goals realistic and measurableso that you can easily evaluate your performance. “Increase salesof peripherals” is an example of an ineffective goal. You’d be in amuch better position to gauge your marketing progress with a goalsuch as, “Increase sales of peripherals 10 percent in the firstquarter, 15 percent in the second quarter, 15 percent in the thirdquarter and 10 percent in fourth quarter.”
Section 4: Strategies and Tactics
This section will make up the bulk of your plan, and you shouldtake as much space as you need to give an overview of yourmarketing strategies and list each of the corresponding tacticsyou’ll employ to execute them. Here’s an example: A client of minemarkets videotape and equipment. One of her goals is to increasesales to large ministries in three states by 20 percent. Togetherwe’ve developed a strategy that includes making a special offereach month to this prospect group, and one of her tactics is to usemonthly e-mails to market to an in-house list.
Your tactics section should include all the actionable steps youplan to take for advertising, public relations, direct mail, tradeshows and special promotions. You can use a paper calendar toschedule your tactics or use a contact manager or spreadsheetprogram–what matters most is that you stick to your schedule andfollow through. A plan on paper is only useful if it’s put intoaction.
Section 5: Budget Breakdown
The final section of your plan includes a brief breakdown of thecosts associated with each of your tactics. So if you plan toexhibit at three trade shows per year, for example, you’ll includethe costs to participate in the shows and prepare your booth andmarketing materials. If you find the tactics you’ve selected aretoo costly, you can go back and make revisions before you arrive ata final budget.
You can adapt this plan as your business grows and yourmarketing programs evolve. You’ll find it’s a simple tool you can’tafford to be without.
