How To Develop A Standard Marketing Plan In 5 Simple Steps

Chidiogo Akaelu

2 years ago

If there is no plan to market your business, you will soon be out of business. This is because having a business is not enough; that is one side of the coin, having a marketing plan is a key to staying put in business. A sound business plan takes your business to the next new height, it turns your business goals into tangible reality as it provides your team with direction and actionable techniques.

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It is fine if you have not done this before and are confused about the whole stuff: where to start, what to include and all that. While there is no particular way or method of writing a marketing plan, there are elements that must be included in your marketing plan and this is what is enumerated in this article in simple terms. A marketing plan is like a map that highlights your business goals, target audience, and market share and modifies the impact of your business marketing campaign.

Steps To Writing An Effective Marketing Plan

Business Executive Summary: this is what summarizes everything about your business, the business name, logo, colour, its location/headquarters, those involved in the business, its mission statement, goal, achievement (if there are any), vision, value, contact, etc. it should be concise and creative.

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Business Mission/Initiative: you outline the mission, vision and value of your marketing plan. You should revisit the business’s values, vision, and mission and relate them to your marketing plan. The big-picture which should be in the business plan should not be here, only a fracture of these elements as they relate to marketing should be included here. The business initiative of a marketing plan helps you to outline and segment the various goals of your project and how they should be measured in your marketing plan.
Identify and Evaluate Your Target Customers: identify, evaluate and analyze your target buyer personas; this is a fictional representation of your ideal buyers, whether you are selling to other businesses – B2B or to customers – B2C. Market research is required to be carried out for precision. These will include their age, location, title, pain points, spending habits, challenges, income etc. the idea is to help you create an effective and efficient marketing plan.
Research Your Market and Competitors: every business has one or two competitors; either direct or indirect competitors – other businesses interested in the same target customers. These competitors are those sharing the same market population with you, offering almost the same service, solution, product, good and even prices as you. When researching your market and competitors, you should focus on their market value, position, market share, offerings, and pricing and see if there is any gap you can hang on to.

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Conduct Your Business SWOT Analysis: your marketing plan is not complete without an informed evaluation of your business’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats – SWOT Analysis. This is a careful analysis and evaluation which will largely base on the outcome of the steps above.

Apart from these steps above, you should also specify and build the activity plan of your marketing plan. This can be considered as your marketing strategy and everything must align with the mission, vision and value of your business. The essence of running a business is profitability, but this cannot happen if there is no clear-cut marketing plan for your business, with the steps listed above, creating a marketing plan, even if it is your first should not be an uphill task. Featured Image Source: Wrike

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