Written by Author: Lisa Wozniak
Marketing Plan? It’s easy if you do it smart. So often managers and business owners make it more difficult than it needs to be. And while larger corporations will create more elaborate and detailed marketing plans to cover all of the marketing facets of their budgets and product lines, the principles for creating a marketing plan remain the same. There are a few key areas that every marketing plan should focus on to provide you with a focused approach to increasing your exposure and your business. Each area poses questions you must answer about your business to help you move forward. Let’s take a look at the core principles every plan should have.
- Price – You will need to decide where your business will be on this scale. Will you be a Walmart or a Neimen Marcus; and how will you back that up? If you are luxury, can you prove how you will back up your price point? If you are economical, how will you beat your competitors pricing and are you prepared to handle the large volume? Also, how much of your budget are you prepared to devote to marketing/advertising your business? Industry standard is between 1-10% of revenue.
- Product/Service – Who are you? What product or service is your business all about? What product/service defines your business? And, what makes your product different? With that answer in mind, how will you leverage this against what is already in the market place?
- Promotion – Given your product/service in your industry, what form of promotion makes the most sense for you and your budget? Email Marketing? Blogging? Mainstream Advertising? Online Advertising? Social Media Content? Some of the best marketing plans will include a mixture of several of these forms.
- Placement – Is your business online or a brick and mortar presence? If its brick and mortar, will you also offer an online presence? Additionally, what category does your product or service fall under? It’s important that you create the most specific niche possible. Once this is achieved you will be able to select keywords that will ensure you are not in an over penetrated market.
- Packaging – This has a lot to do with how you brand your business. You need to have a log, color scheme, graphics and tag line that identifies who you are as a business.
6. People – Who is your demographic? Who is your ideal customer? Where do they spend their time and money? With these questions in mind, you will need to switdch gears and also take a look at what people you have access to, that can help you carry your your plan. Do you have employees, family or friends that can help you when you break this plan down into more manageable pieces?
Once you’ve answered the questions to the 6 P’s noted above, your marketing plan will write itself. There are several templates available online for you to plug in your data. We’ll even share the one Woz Marketing uses by requesting your copy. You’ll easily be able to see where you need to allocate your time, dollars and focus. From here it will merely be a matter of keeping yourself and your team organized and focused on moving the plan forward. To accomplish this, regular meetings, checklists and shared calendars are great tools. Marketing Plan? It’s easy if you do it smart. I’d love to hear what works for you!