What is Marketing Plan? The written document that describes your advertising and marketing efforts for the coming year; it includes a statement of the marketing situation, a discussion of target markets and company positioning and a description of the marketing mix you intend to use to reach your marketing goals What is the importance of Marketing Plan? Marketing is one of the single most important places you can focus your attention in your business, particularly if you hope to create a successful business.
Marketing equals money, when it is done right, and most businesses don’t put nearly enough attention on their marketing planning process, or on their marketing. Format of a Simple Marketing Plan Elements I Description I Marketing Plan Summary I Your marketing plan summary should summarize the key components of your marketing plan. Think of it as a quick reference tool that you can refer to at any time to keep your goals on track. I Background Analysis I The background analysis section should detail the opportunities and challenges that your business has encountered along the way.
This will help you to define your business’s capabilities and opportunities within the market. It will also play a key role in helping you to meet your customers’ needs. Read more about your market research option. I Marketing Objectives I Be specific about what it is that you want your marketing plan to accomplish. Your objectives may be financial, with a goal to increase sales, or marketing focused to build awareness of your product or service.
The most effective (and accountable) way to define your marketing objectives is to follow the ‘SMART’ acronym (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely) I Marketing Strategy I An effective marketing strategy will help you to define the overall direction for your marketing program. It will also detail how you are going to bring your products and services to market in ways that will satisfy your customers. I Marketing Mix I The elements that make up your marketing strategy are often referred to as the marketing mix.
In this case your mix will include the 8 As of marketing – product (or service), pricing, position, promotion, people, process, hysterical environment and productivity. I Actions Plans and Budgets I Strategies and marketing goals are theoretical objectives. It’s your action plans and budgets that will bring them to life. Your action plans and budgets are your key tools for implementation. To ensure that they are successful they should be detailed, definitive and revisited regularly.
I Organizational implications I Organizational implications are often overlooked when business owners tackle a marketing plan. For example, if your goal is to increase your customer base by 15% and therefore your Marketing Plan By Acrimonious outsource some tasks? It’s important to consider and document these decisions in your plan. I Contingencies I All business plans should remain flexible and adjustable as you are often working with assumptions. The more planning you do, the better you will become at predicting.
I Evaluation and monitoring strategies I To ensure ongoing improvement it’s critical to test and measure the results of your marketing activities. Whatever method or technology you choose to use – formal methods of evaluation and monitoring will help you to understand the effectiveness f your marketing and return on investment. I Supporting documentation I Use this section of the marketing plan to reference and attach documents supporting the claims or assumptions made within the marketing plan. I Simple Marketing Plan Example 1 .
The Product or Service (and timeshare): New Baby Food (launching 2013) 2. Marketing Goals: * Launch a new range of fresh, chilled baby foods * Achieve sales target of ex. Units in year one * Build database of customers through website 3. Targeting: Our core target market is mums, aged 28-40, ABACI who live in our local city of ex.. They are above average income and education; many are ex-career women. They are very health conscious and only want the very best for their baby. Like all new mums they are very busy and tired.
Making baby food is one more thing on their list of domestic chores to do but they want to ensure that their baby is only eating the best ingredients. Our new baby foods will provide convenience with the peace of mind of good quality ingredients like they use at home. 4. Competitive Edge: Our products are 100% organic, sourced from local ingredients with zero additives. . Marketing Strategies: * Pricing: Individual units priced at $x, packs of four will be priced at $x. This is the higher end of the market (competitor prices are… * Distribution outlets: Selected supermarkets, cafes and health food stores in areas with a high density of young families in our target demographic * Promotion: PR and advertising in local parenting magazines (we will also seek to provide sponsored editorial in the form of baby recipe ideas), flyers in baby shops and distribution outlets, online advertising on coal mums forums * Positioning: Compared to key competitors our products will be locally made with high quality, fresh ingredients. Packaging: Glass Jars (zero chemical exposure). Graphics and logos to be simple, elegant, market 6. Actions Steps (with Timeshares) * Distribution outlets to be finalized by Cot * Media release with images to be drafted by Septet. Sent out Cot 15 with hi-rest product images and offer of samples. * Graphic designer to be briefed by Septet on brand/logo design for packaging and advertising artwork * And so on… 7. Resources Needed: * Media contacts list to be sourced
