7 Tips for Creating a Great Business Marketing Plan

Marketing is a key component in the success of every small business. Use these seven tips to create a plan that works for you.

• A marketing plan identifies your target audience, the most effective channels on which to engage with them and analytical insights that guide future strategy.
• Businesses need a comprehensive marketing plan to coordinate their marketing campaigns and to properly measure their impact.
• Marketing is a cumulative effort, and a unified plan maximizes the value of every campaign toward a cohesive strategy.
• This article is for small business owners looking to build an effective marketing plan that achieves higher engagement and fuels business growth.

There are few documents that rival the importance of a business plan, which outlines your company’s course for success. One critical portion of that plan is your marketing strategy, one of the many smaller outlines that come together to form the entire vision.     

Because this strategy is only one piece in the larger puzzle and requires a heavier investment for less immediate results, you may not give marketing the attention it deserves. However, a well-thought-out marketing strategy can reveal opportunities through new audience segments, changes in pricing strategy or by differentiating your brand from the competition.

Don’t miss out on profits – here’s how to create an effective marketing plan.

How to develop a business marketing plan

A focused marketing plan sets two goals: to maintain engagement and loyalty among your current customers, and to capture market share within a specific audience segment of your target audience.

Your marketing plan outlines the strategies you’ll use to achieve both goals and the specific actions your marketing team will employ, such as the specific outreach campaigns, over which channels they will occur, the required marketing budget, and data-driven projections.

Marketing is a science-driven commitment that typically requires months of data to refine campaigns, and an interconnected marketing plan keeps a business committed to its long-term goals. 

All marketing guidelines will circle back to the Four P’s – product, price, place, promotion. The following tips are starting points that will ingrain the habit of continually circling back to the Four P’s.

1. Create an executive summary.

Marketing campaigns should not be considered individual functions. Marketing is the story of your brand as told to customers; like any narrative, its tone and characters should remain consistent. An executive summary details your marketing goals for the next year and helps tie each together. These goals should work together to achieve both internal and external harmony, telling a consistent story that informs customers of your exact message while building on its previous chapters.

2. Identify your target market.

Before you write a marketing plan, you need to find and understand your niche. Ask yourself who the specific demographic is that you’re targeting. For example, if your business sells 30-minute meals, then those who work traditional 9-to-5 jobs are likely in your market. Study that group of individuals to understand their struggles and learn how your business can solve the problem.

Read more: www.businessnewsdaily.com