Introduction
A marketing plan is nothing more than a strategic roadmap mainly used by businesses to organise and track their marketing strategy over a given period. Marketing plans include different marketing strategies that can be used by various marketing teams working towards the same business goal.
The primary purpose of a marketing plan is to jot down multiple marketing strategies in an organised manner. Writing a marketing plan is essential as it will be beneficial for the marketing team to stay on track with their strategy. In this blog, the marketing team will discover the various parts of a marketing plan.
Components Of A Marketing Plan
- Market Research: Conducting market research provide information in supporting businesses with their pricing decisions and new market entries.
- Tailored Messaging: This component involves targeting certain geographical areas, which helps bring in customers for small businesses.
- Platform Selection: Choosing the ideal platform helps the businesses distribute their product information through various advertising campaigns, such as traditional venues, which include radio, TV, and newspapers, and digital methods, such as websites, online ads, social media, etc.
- Performance Metrics: The performance metrics help to accurately assess the results of marketing efforts. This is very important for the success of the business.
Types Of Marketing Plans
Below is a list of different types of marketing plans which can be followed by small businesses:
- Product Launch: This marketing plan for small businesses will help outline various ways of launching a product in the market.
- Social Media: This plan focuses mostly on the advertising strategies on different social media platforms.
- Time-Based: This plan is executed either quarterly or annually and also focuses on the current condition of the business.
Why And How Do You Write A Marketing Plan?
Why Do You Write A Marketing Plan?
It will help the marketing team to:
- Identify the target market.
- Identify how the marketing team will attract new customers.
- It will help the marketing team in encouraging their existing customers to continue purchasing their products.
How Do You Write A Marketing Plan?
- The first and foremost step in writing a marketing plan is to mention the mission. The mission should state the goals of the business.
- The marketing team should choose their “key performance indicators” (KPIs) to keep track of the business’s mission. These are individual metrics that will help measure multiple elements of a marketing plan.
- In a business, it is essential to understand a buyer’s persona. It might include age, location, job title, etc; every persona will directly reflect the business’s current and potential customers.
- The marketing team should create a strategy to promote their business on social media. They should choose their content wisely to explain their plan to the audience.
- Writing a successful marketing plan will define the focus of the marketing team. However, it will also determine where the marketing team should not focus. This will help enhance the mission and goals of the business and make it look more appealing to the audience.
How To Write A Strategic Marketing Plan?
- Writing a strategic marketing plan will help the marketing team understand their strengths and weaknesses. It is essential to analyze their competition, which will help the marketing team redefine their marketing strategies.
- After the marketing team is transparent with their marketing plan, they should consider what they can achieve. They should set significant business goals and objectives and increase their chance of success.
- After setting the goals, the marketing team should consider what marketing activity will help them achieve them.
- The marketing team must set a budget plan to keep track of the expenses. A marketing budget will help the marketing team calculate their strategies accurately.
- The marketing team needs to evaluate their marketing activities. They should be able to analyze their results. It is also essential for the team to keep track of different marketing trends and change the strategies accordingly.
What Are The Parts Of A Marketing Plan?
Market Research: Marketing team is advised to collect, organize,and note down the data about those markets that are currently buying the products our market is selling.
Target Market: The marketing team should find out their target markets in order to sell their products.
Product: The marketing team should be able to describe their products to their customers.
Competition: The marketing team should be able to describe their competition and develop their unique selling proposition.
Mission Statement: The marketing team is advised to write a few sentences about their product which will attract the customers.
Market Strategies: The marketing team should note down the marketing strategies which they are considering using.
Pricing, Positioning, and Branding: The information collected by the marketing team should be used to create strong marketing strategies to determine the price of the products.
Budget: The marketing team is advised to create a budget and note down the strategies which are affordable to them.
Marketing Goals: The marketing team should establish strong, quantifiable marketing goals.
Monitor The Results: Lastly, the marketing team should analyze the strategies that worked and keep track of their sales and the percentage of sales to impressions.
Challenges Faced By The Student’s
- The students might lack a clear understanding of the target audience, which then will be challenging for them to create an effective marketing campaign.
- Consumer behaviors are constantly changing. The students might find it challenging to keep up with the changes as they will need to monitor them continuously.
- The students might lack clarity when using technology while writing a marketing plan. The students will then face challenges in implementing those technical strategies in their marketing plan.
- While writing a marketing plan, the students often fail to keep in mind the diverse culture of the customers and their needs. As a result, they will not meet the student’s expectations.
Final Thoughts
Before creating a strategic marketing plan, the students are advised to keep in mind various challenges which they might face while writing a marketing plan. Eliminating those challenges and writing a strategic marketing plan will help the students in understanding the market clearly and deeply.
