What Goes Into A Good Marketing Plan?

To get ahead in business, you need a roadmap to show you where you want to go, and a marketing plan helps you do just that.

1. Look At Your Industry Structure

Here you need to consider questions such as:

• What is the size of your industry?
• Is it expanding or retracting?
• What factors are affecting industry performance?
• How does your industry perform domestically versus internationally?

2. Conduct Market Research

Here you need to gather and organise information relating to your target market, the needs of the consumers in that market and your position as a business in that market.

3. Define Your Market And Customer Personas

Aided by the information collected in step 2, you need to decide which segment or segments of the market you are going to target so that you don’t waste resources on market segments who won’t be picking up what you’re putting down. Consider the demographics of your chosen segment and think about how to address their needs.

4. S.W.O.T analysis

This one is a pretty self-explanatory section and is centered on your business.

• Strengths: What does your business do well? What do you do better than your competition?
• Weaknesses: What does your business need to improve to stay competitive? What does your competitor do better than you? What’s holding your business back?
• Opportunities: What market trends could lead to increased sales? What can you use to your businesses advantage?
• Threats: What are the advantages competitors have over your business? What could harm your business?

5. P.E.S.T Analysis

This section focuses more on the major external factors that might affect your business.

• Political: Is it an election year?
• Economic: Are we in a recession?
• Social: Does your local market have an ageing population?
• Technological: Are there fast-paced changes resulting in outdated tech?

6. Consider The Competition

Here you are thinking about who your direct (offering same products as you) and indirect (offering different products but satisfying the same customer need) competition is. The more you know about them, the better you’ll be at identifying your niche in the marketplace and any potential opportunities. What could you do better?

7. Set Your Goals And Objectives

Here you are thinking about what it is you want to achieve with your business. Looking long term, consider your main business goals, whether that be expansion plans or profit figures or selling the business for a profit? Then, consider your immediate objectives, it might involve moving from bricks and mortar retail to online retail or to increase sales or customers.

8. Outline Your Marketing Strategies

Here you are choosing the tactics and marketing activities that best suit your customer personas and help you to meet your short-term objectives. For example, if your target market are millennials, then don’t do newspaper ads! You need to choose multiple activities that all complement each other.

9. Prepare A Marketing Budget

Your marketing plan is the lifeblood of your business. If you are aiming to increase revenue, then giving 10% of historical budget does not factor in the importance of marketing to the growth of company revenues. So, base your 10% on your forecasted sales for the year. Whatever method you choose for setting your budget, a marketing budget will ensure you accurately calculate your marketing campaign or advertising and that you’re only spending money on the requirements of your current marketing goals.

Marketing plans can differ in content. Depending on the business type, size and stage of ‘life’ – in terms of what is specifically required, you may need ALL or just some of the nine stages above.

If you’re in any doubt about what to put in your plan or how to figure out any of the information required for each step, then don’t hesitate to contact a marketing professional to help you with your thinking.

Check out our budgeting tool, which will help you plan your activities. Access your free Marketing Budget Planner at the bottom of this article.

Key Takeaways

Like a business plan, a marketing plan is a road map to help you stay the course. It will organise and structure a busy owner/operator and effectively guide a business to reach and meet the needs of its target audience, boost your customer base, and ultimately increase your bottom line. It can be particularly helpful when there are multiple decision makers in the mix – a grounding document to retain everyone’s focus and on which to base collective decisions.

Free Marketing Budget Planner

Click here to download. 

Remember, this template is 100% editable and adaptable, so you can get as granular as you want with your entries. Content has been placed as a guide only. 

• marketing budget
• marketing plan
• marketing strategy