Create a Marketing Plan - Elements for Success

Many entrepreneurs insist that hustle is all that is required in the marketing of their business. But, energy alone is not enough; it must be directed by intelligence. An excellent marketing plan Is an integral part of a good, solid business plan.

Intelligent marketing is marketing that is first and foremost focused on a core idea, a “brand.” All your marketing must be an extension of this idea. It isn’t enough to have a better idea—you must have a focused strategy!

A complete marketing plan includes the following sections:

• Marketing Plan: Identifies the market and your strategy
• Creative Plan: Similar to the marketing plan, but is limited to the content of your marketing materials
• Media Plan: Sets forth and details your selected media weapons and media calendar

Your marketing plan identifies the market and your overall position strategy. Its length is up to you and depends on your organizational culture and the audience who will read and use your plan.

You should start with a one-paragraph statement. A simple marketing plan may include the following points:

• Strategy purpose
• Techniques to achieve this purpose
• Target market
• Marketing weapons
• Positioning - What are your competitors up to?
• Business identity
• Budget - Express these figures as a percentage of projected gross revenues.

Develop a Creative Plan. Marketing is not creative unless it sells.
Your creativity, however, should never detract from your product message. A creative strategy is similar to a marketing plan, but limited to marketing materials and directed solely at that content.

You can write this plan very simply:

• Creative message purpose
• Techniques to achieve that purpose
• Advertising mood, tone or personality

Plan and select the Media and weapon that best suit your product or service. Then you’re ready to schedule your marketing calendar. This will tell you whether you can use your selected marketing methods properly. It forces you to come to terms with the costs and realities of the media you selected.

In some cases, you may need a more in-depth marketing plan.
If so, you can structure your plan in the following format :

• Executive Summary: Highlights the main points of your plan.
• Challenges: Includes a brief description of the product that will be marketed and associated goals.
• Situation Analysis: Examines your company’s goals, culture, strengths, and weaknesses.
• Market Segmentation: Describes the segments of the market you are targeting and presents a detailed analysis of each objective.
• Selected Marketing Strategy: Discusses the decisions you have made regarding product, price, place, and promotion.
• Short and Long-Term Projections: Forecasts production, ROI, and risks, detailing appropriate strategies to manage negative outcomes.
• Conclusion: Ends with a wrap-up summarizing the main points and calls for buy-in from your reader.
• Appendix: Includes related documentation and a detailed bibliography.

If you include an excellent, well-thought out marketing plan in your business plan, you will provide a roadmap for yourself, and let any investors or lenders know that you have taken the task of marketing your business seriously.