The Complete Guide to How to Create a Marketing Plan

Everyone will say that doing business requires a marketing plan. But few people can tell you what a marketing plan contains.
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Creating a marketing plan for your small business doesn’t take much time. Ideally, it should take you a few days to do the research and have the necessary discussions—even a week, depending on the size of your market and the uniqueness of your product line. The following articles will help you develop your marketing plan.

Executive Summary

A high-level summary of a marketing plan. This is a paradox on paper: it should be the last thing you write, but it should appear first in the report. It’s best to keep your executive summary as brief as possible—a few summarizing sentences will do. When writing, write it in an “elevator speech” style. Once you’ve finished, read it out loud. If it takes longer than 10 seconds, you may need to simplify it further.

Challenge

This section should include a brief description of the company’s product or product line. Each description should include the goals of the product or product line (sales, strategic and company goals, etc.). The goals of each product/product line should be complex enough, with a maximum number of no more than 3. Remember they should be concise, measurable, and relatively easy to achieve.

Situation Analysis

This section contains your company, customer base, and detailed market introduction. It should contain the following 6 parts:

Company analysis:

  • Company-wide long- and short-term goals
  • Your company’s focus (which should be aligned with the company’s purpose and vision statement)
  • Analysis of company culture (Does your company pursue a fast-paced culture or a laid-back culture?)
  • The strength of the company.
  • Company weaknesses.
  • The company’s estimated market share.

Customer Analysis:

  • Estimate the size of your customer base. (That is, how many potential people are willing to buy your product. “Anyone” is not an answer).
  • Demographic characteristics of the customer base (age, social class, gender)
  • Value Drivers (What do your products and services provide customers?)

Competitor analysis:

  • Market position (Are your competitors fully invested in the market, or are they only dedicated to a specific segment? Are they large or small?)
  • strength
  • Disadvantages
  • market share

Collaborator:

  • Networks and companies are key to your development.
  • Ancillaries, joint ventures, wholesalers, suppliers, etc.

Macro environment:

  • Political and legal environment (Are there special rules or laws that govern your product?)
  • economic environment
  • social and cultural environment
  • Technology environment (Does your product require cutting-edge technology? Does the project require updates?)

Advantage analysis:

  • The company’s internal strengths (can your special structure or unique team of employees help you?)
  • The company’s internal weaknesses (could your particular structure or unique workforce hold you back?)
  • The company’s external opportunities (how to easily take advantage of opportunities to improve)
  • External threats to the company (what potential threats are out there that could destroy your business if you’re not careful)

Market Segmentation

  • Each market has its distinct segments. Understanding the relevant segments of the market for your product is important because it allows you to tailor your “sales mix” (the 4P mix discussed below) to better suit the different needs of each segment.
  • Segments should be measurable, accessible, and differentiated from other segments based on the sales mix. Additionally, it should be homogeneous and large enough to generate profits.
  • In your marketing plan, your segments should be listed in a clear and predictable format.

Alternative Marketing Strategies

Write down the alternatives you and your team considered before writing down the current strategy. This could exclude a specific product or product line, change their price point, etc.

Selected Marketing Strategy

Write down the 4P tools for each product. Every product should have its 4P tools – you can follow the following format:

Product:

  • brand name
  • The expected quality of the product (is it a $1 plastic toy fire truck, or a $30 metal car with flashing lights and a siren?)
  • Product line scope
  • guarantee
  • Package

Price:

  • Pricing
  • Discount
  • Bundle
  • payment terms
  • Lease options (if applicable)

Location (delivery)

  • Delivery channel (do you buy it yourself, ship it to a retailer, use a warehouse, etc.)
  • Channel incentives (how profitable are your wholesalers)
  • Criteria for evaluating retailers
  • place
  • Logistics and supply chain

Promoting products:

  • Advertising (What type? How much does it cost? Type of advertising channel – TV, printer, internet, etc. – what do you plan to use?)
  • public relationship
  • Promotion process
  • Budget, including your break-even point
  • Predicted results of promotional projects (impact on customer loyalty, acquisition of new customers, etc.)

Long-Term and Short-Term Engineering Forecasting

The breakdown section should include revenue and noted forecasts, a break-even point analysis, or future changes or adjustments you predict.

Tips

  • Remember to integrate the needs and ideas of each department (and each employee, if you feel comfortable) into your marketing plan. Make sure your plan integrates seamlessly with your business plan, goals, vision, and core values.
  • Charts should be an important part of your marketing plan. It is necessary to explain and expand the various subdivisions listed above.