8 Pivotal Steps To An Effective Marketing Plan

So, what is a marketing plan?

A marketing plan refers to the strategies that an organization chooses to implement that outline future marketing efforts and overall business goals.

A good marketing plan displays specific strategy based on data, and hard objectives the business wishes to achieve because of the plan. A marketing plan not only needs to include the overall goals of your business, but it must clearly have strategies in place to achieve them. Your marketing plan is a detailed guide on how to promote your business, and how to do it well.

An effective marketing plan will give a business a clear understanding of potential opportunities in their operating market, allowing them to closely monitor their target audience and competitors.

Here are 8 pivotal steps to an effective marketing plan.

1. Set your overall marketing goals

The first step in marketing your business requires you to set out a clear understanding of what exactly you want your business to achieve. This will ensure that in achieving your marketing goals, you have the right resources for success. It is pivotal that you communicate these goals within your team, to ensure that everyone is on the same page and working towards a common goal.  In setting these goals, a SMART approach should be taken to ensure they are actually achievable and their success can be measured.

2. Conduct Market Research

Prior to identifying your key strategies and tactics, it is crucial to conduct intensive research. In this step, your business will be able to identify exactly where you fit in the market so that your plan can be tailored to this. This will provide critical information that is necessary for gaining an accurate view of which market you will be operating in, and who you will need to target. For many businesses, this step is a key element to developing a marketing strategy and is extremely valuable for the growth and success of your business. Ultimately, without market research, you are operating blindly and holding your business back from capitalizing on major opportunities.

3. Analyze your findings

This next step will require you to take the data found in your market research and transform it into findings that will shape your overall marketing plan. The prior research will give you a clear understanding of your target audience, including their overall expectations. You will also have a much better understanding of your competitors and what you need to do to differentiate your business.  This step may require you to make necessary changes to previous business goals, ensuring they are relevant to the market you intend to operate in.

4. Determine your target audience

Your target audience refers to your identified group of customers that you wanted to market to. It is pivotal for your business to gauge a clear understanding of exactly who these people are, which could be based on age, gender, geographical location and so on. In doing this, businesses can customize their marketing efforts for each customer type. This is extremely crucial in generating valuable leads. The success of your marketing plan will be dependent on your business marketing to the right group of people and will allow you to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage.

5. Plan your budget

A major consideration when developing a marketing plan is how much you are willing to spend. Marketing can be expensive therefore ensuring you have a clear guide on your budget and how you are going to spend it is vital.  Without marketing, growth is limited and therefore businesses should view it as an investment rather than an irritating expense.

Many businesses fail because they are not willing to allocate enough money for marketing activities and refuse to acknowledge how it contributes to revenue growth. It is suggested that businesses allocate 5% of their overall revenue to marketing.

6. Develop your specific strategies

This step requires your business to gather all the above information, and specifically define tactics in response to them. Here, you can build strategies that account for your aforementioned goals and outline specific actions required to achieve them. Businesses should carefully map out clear plans that fall in line with their resources including their budget.

7. Develop an implementation plan

This step will require your business to set out a clear document that defines exactly how your business will execute the decided strategies. This will dictate the direction of your company in achieving its overall marketing goals. Ultimately, there is no point in creating a marketing plan if you do not have the means to successfully execute it. This step will allow you to carefully designate resources for achieving your intended marketing goals.

8. Have the means to measure results

The world of marketing is constantly changing, therefore ensuring you’re ahead of the curve is vital. This step ensures that your business is able to monitor and measure the overall success of your business plan. An effective business plan should be regularly reviewed, and your progress should be recorded and compared against the set out goals. If progress is slow, it is vital to understand why. This will allow you to monitor where you are compared to where you began and give you an understanding of the changes required to get where you need to be.

Time to create your marketing plan!

The effectiveness of your marketing plan is determined by dedication and consistency. A marketing plan without commitment to implementation will halter growth and limit your boundaries.

Wanting to create an outstanding marketing plan but don’t know where to start? Contact one of our expert marketing consultants at Marketing Eye to guide you toward creating a successful marketing plan that will bring your marketing game to the next level!


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