To have effective marketing, you should start with a comprehensive and strategic marketing plan. When you’re just starting, it can be easy to get overwhelmed by the idea of such a daunting task, and you may wonder if your plan is as good as it can be. Marketing plans are incredibly important and can make or break your objectives, so we’ve put together this guide to create a marketing plan.
Marketing strategies start with clear, realistic, specific goals for your business. Once you have your goals set in place, you can begin to create your marketing plan around them. A few basic things that every good marketing plan should include based on general best practices:
- A description of your business, its products and services, and your goals
- An explanation of your products or services and how they interact with other products and services currently saturating the market.
- A profile of your customer base and your business competition.
- A list of marketing tactics you plan to use to attract new customers and retain existing customers.
- An estimated timeline for the implementation of your plan.
- A list of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that you will be tracking to measure your progress.
Start By Identifying Your Business Goals
Everyone’s business goals are different because every business is different. Large companies are going to have different goals for their future growth than small companies, and vice versa. When you set clear, defined, values-based goals based on good ideas for your business, the steps that you should take to create a marketing plan should fall in place easily. Business goals might look like reaching a new target audience, spreading brand awareness, increasing overall customer volume, or something entirely different. No matter what your goals might be, it can be easier to create a marketing plan if you put SMART goals in place.
SMART Goals
SMART goals are…
Specific
Your goals should state exactly what you are trying to achieve.
Measurable
There should be a tangible way to measure your progress for any goals you put in place, such as increasing new customers by 20%.
Achievable
Your goals should be reachable and within your means. Consider your budget and your marketing capacity and experience when calculating the achievability of your goals.
Relevant
The whole reason you create a marketing plan is to improve certain aspects of your business, right? Your goals should relate to the aspects of your business that you’re looking to improve.
Time-Bound
You likely have a timeline for your goals. Make sure to set goals that you can achieve in the amount of time you set for yourself.
Marketing Plan Goals
At the center of your marketing strategy should be your goals. You might just have one goal, or you may have several goals. Goals are important because they give your marketing team something tangible to work towards, and they’re easy to refer back to when making all marketing decisions and planning. By having goals for your business’s marketing plan, you’ll be able to ask yourself “Does this choice serve the goals and objectives set in place for my business?” when making important decisions.
Examples of potential marketing strategy goals could include:
- Increase market penetration (getting existing customers to purchase existing products)
- Increase brand awareness
- High-quality lead generation
- Increase customer value
- Increase revenue
- Generate new leads
- Market development
- Rank higher in search engine results
Good Marketing Plans Include Research
Comprehensive marketing plans include market research, which gives your company insights into potential customers, competitors, the overall market, and much more. Market research enables you to see what strategies are working for your competitors, shows how you can tweak existing strategies to create your unique strategy, and shows what customers in your target market respond to. Market research also allows you to identify and follow – or break – current marketing trends.
Use market research to profile your competitors and customers. Giving yourself a competitive edge against your competitors can make all the difference when it comes to retaining existing customers and attracting new customers. Through basic market research, you should be able to easily identify the strengths and weaknesses of many of your competitors.
Consult a Digital Marketing Agency to Create a Marketing Plan
This marketing plan guide provides you with the “bones” of how to create a marketing plan, but to develop a comprehensive, high-quality marketing plan, you need to have a deep, clear understanding of your business’ marketing. Marketing plans also require some trial and error, measuring your results, and refining your goals. By working with a digital marketing agency, you’ll be able to take advantage of their years of experience creating marketing plans for businesses just like yours. Creating a marketing plan with a digital marketing agency can help you reach your goals much quicker and with much less trial and error than if you were to go it alone. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you create a marketing plan for your business.
