Marketing Plan is Important for Business Success

Team consulting on what a marketing plan is and how to write one for business success

Read why a marketing plan is one of the most important factors for the successful growth and development of a business.

What a Marketing Plan is and How to Write One:

All business owners want to see a successful business. They want high sales. They use marketing plans to drive the sale of products or services to the target audience. No business can survive without customers and sales. A well written plan is therefore necessary for every business, big or small, as it helps in connecting it with its customers.

You can reach your targeted audience, improve your customer base and increase the base of your business with an effective marketing plan. It will help you not only in setting clear, measurable and realistic objectives but also in seeking finances for your enterprise. Good planning can also help in popularizing your brand to make your business more successful. Ymhmarketingplan.com shows you how to write a plan the right way.


Creating a marketing plan usually starts with an executive summary and an introduction covering the purpose, steps, goals, etc. In addition to these it includes the following topics:

Analysis, What A Good Marketing Plan Is

A good plan is made after researching marketing strategies and the changing trends with the passage of time. You should research:

  • The market you are focusing on and know the ways to meet customers’ needs through your products and service.
  • The competitors of your business and the views of your targeted audience about their weaknesses and strengths.
  • The external environment; demographic, cultural, social, political, economic and technological conditions.
  • The Internal environment; staff and management performance as well as the infrastructure and delivery readiness.
  • The strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats of the organization. This is known as a swot analysis.

Objectives

Read below the definition, factors to consider and them examples.

Definition

Marketing objectives are basically a list of goals set by a business which are to be accomplished when undertaking product/service promotion to its potential customers. They are very crucial since they define how a business will benefit from its marketing strategy. They also set the specific standards that are to be used when measuring the progress of the business. These increase the morale among the business employees and leads to strengthened teamwork towards common goals.

They should always help a large or small business achieve its main mission and goals. Generally, objectives are part and parcel of any marketing plan of a business. Marketing, along with other factors, enable a business to achieve its goals, and hence success. It is the key aspect that you need for your business to generate more sales.

Factors to consider when setting objectives

There are various factors that a business/company owner should take into consideration prior to setting out their objectives. This is necessary in order to attain complete effectiveness.

First, the goals set should address specific areas rather than generalizing. Such areas include management, business development, employee and operational issues. The goals should also be achievable. This implies that that the set objectives should be attainable as per the level of skills available within the business.

They should also be realistic, depending on the availability of resources. It is important for a business to allocate a specific period of time within which results of certain objectives should be achieved. The set measuring standards should render the goal progress quantifiable for proper evaluation.

The Objectives Examples

Case in point, a new business X is manufacturing a new brand of laptops. The business X hence sets out its objectives as follows:

  1. Create a brand awareness to the target market by participating in upcoming exhibitions during December and giving out 250 laptops to the best performing students in a school.
  2. Have a large number of people in attendance at the official launch of the new laptop brand by inviting at least 5,000 persons by mail by January and include reputable guests.

The first objective takes all important factors into consideration. You want to create a unique selling proposition. For instance, the goal is specifically to increase sales and market share. The goal is also quantifiable since business X has clearly quoted 250 as the number of laptops for distribution. The business has also allocated the month of December as the period within which it will carry out exhibitions, hence time-bound. On the part of business X, the first objective is both achievable and realistic.

The second goal of business X is to achieve a large number of persons in attendance at their official launch. This goal is measurable since the business aims at mailing out at least 5,000 invitations. It is also specific since it is addressing the issue of public attendance in the launch of the new laptop brand. The business X specifies the time by which they are supposed to have mailed out the invitations. Considering the strategies they have put in place to attract a large number of people, the objective is achievable and realistic.

Strategies

A marketing plan usually include Positioning Strategies, Mix Strategies, among others.  In setting strategies you must consider:

  • The needs of the customers you focus on, including social media marketing.
  • The marketing strategies adopted by your competitors to satisfy the customers targeted by you.
  • The marketing strategy you can adopt to show your new customers that your product or service is different or better than those of your competitors.
  • How to improve the level of your product or service of your brand to make your targeted customers recognize their better quality and difference from that of your competitors.
  • The scalable targets and parameters for the marketing activities of your business.
  • What channels such as social media and email marketing, tools and messages to use in approaching your targeted customers.

Implementation

A marketing plan is a strategic document which can help in achieving the growth and success of a business through effective use of its strategies and resources. Implementation is putting the plan into action to achieve marketing goals. The plan should include a schedule of when, how and where things will be done. It should also state who is responsible for implementing the particular item. There is no use learning how to write a plan if your products will not reach the target market.

Control

It will be useless to spend time writing and implementing a plan then it does not work. There has to be follow up to ensure planned strategies are properly implemented and are producing the desired results. The documentation of a plan provides effective control to its owner as it helps in controlling the day-to-day works. A scheduled table of timelines for implementation of various actions and events guides the process. You may have to do some tweaking of these timelines at times to fall in line with set key performance indicators. You also need to operate within the marketing budget.

The targets set in the plan can help business owners in several other ways. These include distributing the budget and resources, encouraging the marketing team, managing the marketing efforts, as well as rewarding the performance of the sales staff.

Conclusion, Marketing Plan is

These are the basic principles to create a marketing plan. You have successfully completed the first step of marketing your business, if you apply these points. You have to update your marketing plan from time to time to ensure it remains effective in changing times.

Learn More: Contact us for more help, or buy books on how write marketing plan from amazon to learn more on how to make a marketing plan. Check out https://www.solvedpuzzle.com digital marketing agency for answers also. You can even learn more marketing terms here. Sägeketten und Ersatzkette für Kettensägen aller Hersteller. Sales tracking content management.

Download Free Sample

Download a free marketing plan template that will show how these points have been utilized.