1 Challenge

• “I have a great product but I don’t know how to get potential customers to buy it. I need a marketing plan, and I need it yesterday!”

2 Questions

• “How should I create a marketing plan?”
• “What should I put on it?”

3 Steps

• Do your homework
• Write SMART goals
• Create an outline, populate it with the right information, and update it as required

In the modern business world, companies have to deal with immense competition, as well as customers who are highly demanding, easily distracted and not as loyal as they used to be. In this scenario, it’s important for them to pay closer attention to their marketing strategies. To this end, a marketing plan – especially one that is reviewed and updated annually – can be a powerful tool in a company’s arsenal.

If you are a small business leader, a startup owner or a solo entrepreneur, your marketing plan can guide the direction of your company’s marketing and sales campaigns, business objectives, and growth ambitions. This high-level plan will also help you identify (and take) the steps needed to achieve your goals, and also make course corrections whenever required. However, creating a marketing plan can be overwhelming, especially for those who have never done it before. That’s why we have created this article for you.

Ready to take a look at some of the key elements of a marketing plan? Let’s dive in!

Step1: Do your homework

Before you can get started with creating your marketing plan and describe your desired “what should be”, you should get a good handle on “what is”. This means you should know your product, current situation, challenges and target audience.

First, identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis). What makes you better than your competitors? Why should potential customers buy your product and not theirs? Next, do market research and competitor analysis to understand what your audience is looking for, and if your competitors are already providing it.

You should also define your target audience and create buyer personas. Ask yourself: What drives my audience? What are their pain points that my product can fix?

Step2: Write SMART goals

This may sound like a pretty obvious idea, but it’s still something that a lot of new business owners ignore (or forget). Without goals, not only will you not get where you want to go, you may even end up going in the wrong direction. Define SMART goals, i.e. goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound. The “measurable” part of SMART is especially important, because it will guide your future actions, show you where you are going wrong, and help you take concrete steps to stay on track. Goals without proper metrics tend to remain vague, which also minimises the chances of actually achieving them.

Once you have identified your goals, you can analyse which tactics will help you achieve them. For example, if your goal is to “increase social media followers by 30% in six months”, your tactics might include posting four times on each channel per week, running a contest, responding to every comment (positive or negative, etc.

Before implementing any of these ideas, know your budget. Also include time estimates required to complete each step, as well as resource requirements: people (e.g. digital marketing experts), ad space, special tools/software, etc.

Step3: Create an outline, populate it with the right information, and update it as required

Once you understand yourself and your customer base, clarify your goals and identify the tactics to meet those goals; you can start creating your marketing plan. To get you started, here are the elements every effective marketing plan includes (and so should yours):

i. Business Summary and Marketing Initiatives

The homework you did earlier will be very useful to quickly create your business summary and initiatives. This section should include information about:

• Company name
• Headquarters
• Mission statement
• Vision and goals
• Key marketing initiatives, goals and measurements

ii. Customer Analysis

Again, since you have already done market research and created customer personas, this section should not be too difficult to create. Make sure the persona focuses on (and clarifies) traits like:

• Age
• Location
• Gender
• Personal challenges, needs or pain points
• Triggering events
• Prior interaction or purchase history (if applicable)

iii. Competitor Analysis

What does your competitor do well? Where do you see gaps in your company, and how can you fill them? Include information like:

• Positioning
• Market share
• Offerings
• Pricing
• Past performance

iv. SWOT Analysis

Remember this? It’s a good idea to include SWOT analysis in your marketing plan, because it tells the readers (e.g. investors or VC firms) that you are self-aware, and already on the right path to improve on your weaknesses and achieve your goals.

v. Market Strategy (not just Marketing Strategy)

Use the information included in the previous sections to describe how your company will approach the market in terms of the “Seven Ps”: product, pricing, place, promotion, people, process, physical evidence.

vi. Marketing channels

In today’s times, marketing is not just about lead generation, product marketing or sales strategies, but also about strategies related to brand awareness, content marketing, audience education, and more. Which channels will you be using for all these tasks? For example, if you intend to publish regular content on social media, this is the place to talk about it. Similarly, if you plan to create a company blog with thought leadership articles, mention it here. Also mention how you will measure your success on each of these channels. The purpose of this section is to show your audience (i.e. whoever will see or approve your marketing plan) how you will leverage these channels to grow the business.

vii. Budget and Financial Projections

Here, the budget refers to your marketing budget, not your product’s price or other company financials. Include elements like:

• Paid promotions
• Events
• Advertising
• Outsourcing costs to a marketing agency
• Marketing software

Based on all this information, you should be able to prepare financial projections and estimate the RoI of your marketing strategies and tactics. Your projections won’t be 100% accurate (that is why they are called “projections”!). However, they can help with executive planning, so do spend some time on this section of your marketing plan.

Also remember that your marketing plan should be a “living document” that you regularly update. As you get a better hold in your market, your goals and priorities may change. Your audience may demand a different product or a different version of your existing product. Or you may find that you need to completely overhaul your marketing strategies or tactics. Incorporate these changes into your marketing plan, so it continues to deliver value to you and your team.

Conclusion

So there you have it. Now you know how to create a marketing plan and what to include in it. But don’t stop with reading! Start gathering the necessary information, organise each piece into the right section, and get started!

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