A marketing plan helps you establish, direct and coordinate your marketing efforts. Preparing a marketing plan forces you to assess what's going on in your marketplace and how it affects your business. It also provides a benchmark for later measurement. Often, simply embarking on the process of preparing a marketing plan guides you in developing a successful marketing strategy.
Just as a road map guides you on a journey, a marketing plan guides you and your staff to reach your goals; it keeps you from getting off- course.
Representatives from organizations that plan to lend you money or invest in your business require a business plan - and your marketing plan is a critical component of that business plan.
A marketing plan contains information about your company and its products, marketing objectives and strategies, as well as how you will measure the success of your marketing activities. It describes all the marketing activities you will perform during a specified time period (usually one year). you will also include any background information and research results you used to select those marketing activities. Finally, you will document the costs associated with your planned marketing activities as well as the measurements you will use to determine success. For an example of an outline and for more detail, click here.
Most often, a marketing plan is a component of a business plan. A business plan basically states how you plan to run your company - what your goals are, how much money it will take to achieve your goals and what activities you will perform to achieve your goals. Marketing, obviously, is one of those activities. Marketing plans sometimes stand alone but should always support and be closely linked to a company's business objectives.
You need to have a thorough understanding of the following points to develop a marketing plan:
- your products or services and their features and benefits
- the problem, need or desire your product or service solves or meets for your customer
- your target market and its characteristics and buying habits
- current and potential competing products or services
Ideally, you will develop your first marketing plan as a component of your overall business plan before you launch your business. If you're already in business without a written plan, however, develop one now with your goals for the next 12 months in mind.
Update your plan on a regular basis. Last year's strategy may not work given this year's market conditions. Prepare reminders to review and update your marketing plan about every quarter, but at least annually.
