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Introduction

The role and nature of marketing plan.

The Relationship between Marketing Plan and Business Plans

Uses of marketing plans, structure of marketing plan, elements of marketing plan.

• Ferrell, O. (2008). Marketing strategy. Mason, OH: Thomson South-Western.
• Fifield, P. (2007). Marketing strategy the difference between marketing and markets. Amsterdam
• McDonald, M. (2007). Marketing plans : how to prepare them, how to use them. Amsterdam Boston London: Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann.
• Luther, W. (2011). The marketing plan : how to prepare and implement it. New York: AMACOM.
• Jain, S. (2009). Marketing planning and strategy. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning.
• Pride, W. (2012). Marketing. Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning.
• Burrow, J. (2012). Marketing. Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning.

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Example Of Importance Of Marketing Plan Essay

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Business , Strategy , Toyota , Disney , Movies , Cinema , Marketing , Company

Words: 2000

Published: 12/23/2019

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This paper I will focus on marketing plan as an important tool in the marketing and financial growth of a business entity. I will create and explain various scenarios using two companies; Toyota Corporation and MYSpace.com and Movie John Carter from the Walt Disney Company in order to explain the importance of implementing a marketing plan. The case studies will prove helpful in the analysis of how these companies used their strategies, success or failure in their quest to becoming market leaders in their respective fields of operation.

Global businesses have become more systematically drafted with specific consideration and insight given to competitive edge of a company. Competition is based on advanced technological innovation and the need of the consumer. It is for this reason that business entities are constructing marketing plans in order to integrate their goals and objectives with the needs of consumers.

Marketing Plan

Marketing plan refers to a business document drawn with the aim of providing an extensive description of the existing market position of a business entity and its marketing strategy within an allocated duration normally between one and five years (Drummond & Ensor, 2005).

Usually marketing plans contain the following elements.

1) Critical description analysis of distinctive features of goods and services a business offers. 2) Marketing estimates such as promotional and advertisement plans. 3) pricing strategy 4) Market segmentation; including specific market niches and various variations between the segments. 5) The environment and factors to consider including government actions, emerging technology, cultural trends and demographic changes.

In this current business environment, a competitive marketing plan reinforces the needed consistent approach to production of goods and services that will outshine and outsell the competition. A well defined methodology implemented to the latter is the ultimate pre requisite to a successful marketing plan. Marketing plans are the foundations to marketing success (Drummond & Ensor, 2005). They are helpful in guiding the minds of companies and marketing departments on this exact crucial process of marketing.

Marketing Plans: an Example of Success

My focus analysis will be the Toyota Car Manufacturer. Toyota has invested in product differentiation as its key strategy in marketing, and we can all admit that it is working effectively. Since its establishment in 1937, it has risen to be the best performing famous brand in terms of sales volume in the United States during the 1980’s (Hino, 2006). It has continued growing, and in 2006, it was the second largest car seller globally with a convincing market share of more than fifteen percent. Market analysts believe that from 2008 to date Toyota is the number one car seller and producers of automobiles across the globe and the United States. This significant success is derived from implementing a proficient marketing strategy. Leaving us with the proof of how valuable market strategy can be to a company in its quest to be a market leader.

Marketing Plans: an Example of Failure

My focus analysis will be MySpace social interactive media. MySpace is an online social network that created a platform to share music, chat, dating, politics, pictures and pop culture all over the world. Founded in 2003, it took the U.S by a storm registering staggering 75.9 million visitors from the U.S (Its peak visitation ever) in 2008. In 2006; it was acquired by News Corporation (Petrini, 2008). It is obvious that during this period, MySpace was the most frequented site in the world overtaking Google in terms of visits to their websites. However, this growth could be maintained, and since 2008, MySpace monthly visitation dropped hugely to 34.8 million. The dominance and monopoly in the social Internet sites was collapsing, in 2008, Facebook emerged as the biggest gainer as it overtook MySpace in turns of membership and visitations. Example of how poor marketing planning strategies can lead to the crumbling of dominant business empire.

Analysis of the Toyota Automobile Marketing Plan

Toyota is guided by a unique philosophy of having the right car at the right place. Toyota has implemented psychographic and demographic forms of market segmentation and continued targeting its market on this basis (Hino, 2006). It has carefully segmented all the countries in the world as its focus markets. In all the different markets, it ensures that it invents a variety of automobiles that target different class status and groups of people with different needs. Its flexibility in satisfying the needs of a particular product is remarkably effective. For example, Toyota has models of Sports cars and SUVs for sports people, Prius model for environmental caring people, Trucks for professional s and recently unveiled a 100% bio ethanol fuel car in South America in Particular Brazil (Hino, 2006). As we can see its segmentation and targeting are facilitated by its vast array of product attributes and offers.

Moreover, its product strategy of mass production has enabled it to increase its global sales including the unveiling of its hybrid automobiles that have since gained popularity across Europe (Hino, 2006). Price strategy as a tool of marketing cannot be left out; Toyota’s ability to using tactful price differentiation where their vehicles are sold at a reasonable price range and still producing high quality vehicles has won the hearts of many.

Finally, it has created and upheld a strong promotional strategy through the integrated marketing communication and using its blog for successful promotion and advertising where it encourages feedback about its products (Doole & Lowe, 2008). Through the integrated marketing communication Toyota has earned competitive advantage against its chief rivals such the GM, boosts profits and sales and cements a relationship marketing whereby the bond between consumers and the Company increases.

Toyota’s Impressive Outlook in the last three years. Source, (Doole & Lowe, 2008)

Analysis of the MySpace Marketing Plan

It is clear that MySpace collapsed due to poor and ineffective marketing strategies. The marketing plan under looked several issues that would literally affect their operations and profitability. First the entire marketing team never understood the current needs of Internet users, ignoring conducting a situational analysis to fully understand what critical aspects of the business will attract more users (Petrini, 2008). Its collapse came after numerous complains of poorly arranged pages and crowded and overwhelmed advertisements.

Moreover, they overlooked the following aspects, profile appearance, user names, feature development and simplicity. Lack of introduction of new products negatively affected the company’s image and immediately led to its collapse. Situational analysis and pilot innovations should be performed in order to understand consumer psychology. This is the greatest mistake that MySpace under looked and faced the wrath of ignoring excellent marketing planning. MySpace methodology in implementation of their marketing strategy failed from the beginning (Petrini, 2008). Its majority staff had no expertise in consumer behavior and market analysis coupled with inadequate information in page encoding for their sites (Petrini, 2008). This essentially left MySpace at the mercy and control of people with inadequate expertise to run the company.

The Box Office Flop: a Marketing Application

My movie Analysis is titled John Carter, released globally on the 9th march 2012 by the Walt Disney Studios. This movie cost an approximate $350 million to produce and hence all people including all stakeholders were optimistic that it will be a success during its debutante. This was not to be John carter made a meager $30million in its release date. This mega loss highlights John Carter as among the greatest box office bombs in modern history. Its failure coupled with $200million losses forced the head of the Disney (Dick Cook) to resign and a subsequent exchange of blame games from the production house.

It is intriguing to note that Disney Company through a statement reinforced that the entire blame was squarely on one of the film director Andrew Stanton. Even, though he made some numerous mistakes Andrew was allowed by the Disney executive to continue directing the movie giving him too much money and freedom in bringing the movie to life (Sehlinger, Ridge & Testa, 2011).

In a movie situation, there are several elements that will aid in the success of the film. Extensive marketing from the day of first screening is crucial to a movie debut. Secondly, timing of the release date of a movie is by far significant, for example, by checking the current relevant theme in the marketplace. Finally, by collectively using a marketing plan in order to collect peoples’ perception concerning a product will aid in the changing of strategy and tactics to increase brand acceptance.

Marketing Analysis: What Went Wrong?

John carter’s marketing strategy was doomed from the word go, I will start by highlighting the title of the movie. The title of the movie does not reflect its plot. In the early stages, the title of the movie was changed from John Carter of mars to read John Carter. This is a poor and costly decision since it portrays a dull movie; people had no idea what or whom John carter was this in turn made people lose interest (Sehlinger, Ridge & Testa, 2011). Movie title should be catchy and create more suspense to people for them to watch the movie.

Secondly, Walt Disney ignored the Movie’s pedigree. John Carter is based on a book written by Burroughs. It is so unfortunate that one would never know this from the marketing of the movie. It is clear that there is no mention on the plot by Disney Company, and it did not weigh the expectation that it is based on a classic literary works. The Disney executives toned down Burroughs work in trying to make it family friendly (Sehlinger, Ridge & Testa, 2011). Disney furthermore never made use of the achievements of the team who put this movie together although they were experienced and successful in their previous movies.

Furthermore, the movie is different from the initial Edgar Burroughs book. Disney totally changed the earlier concept of the movie. For example, the book was rated as R (violent and sexy). Disney tries to fit an explicit movie into a family friendly movie that becomes difficult and automatically lose in trying to explain the story line of the movie. Thus, the target audience of the movie was misunderstood and misinterpreted by the marketing analysts of the movie. Poor target audience or consumers leads to a product failure in this case the flop of the movie in terms of sales volume.

John Carter failure was also due to lack of promotion. Promotion is one of the key marketing strategies in a movie success. Disney Company had the ability to promote the movie but opted to entrust the main details with Stanton who totally rejected all other marketing ideas and insisted on his personal views. The trailer of the movie was boring with classical sound tracks and did not include some characters that were considered necessary by audience. Its advertisement was poor and ineffective as witnessed on its opening day (Sehlinger, Ridge & Testa, 2011).

John Carter would be still considered a failure due to its exorbitant budget of $250 million. The movie yielded a loss of $200 million nearly twice of the production cost. This is because the Disney executives let one person manage the entire budget without considering the consequences. Lack of using marketing strategies and implementation of marketing tools during the production of this movie was obvious.

Marketing plan is ultimately basic component of business survival and excellence in this era. It is used to revise the other marketing strategy and also measure the performance of key practices of a company including its product and services. In the current competitive marketplace, a strategy that will deliver a consistent approach to offering services and products in a method that will outsell the competition is significant.

Drummond, G., & Ensor, J. (2005). Introduction to marketing concepts. Oxford, UK: Elsevier.

Hino, S. (2006). Inside the mind of Toyota: Management principles for enduring growth. New

York, N.Y: Productivity Press. Doole, I., & Lowe, R. (2008). International marketing strategy: Analysis, development and

implementation. London etc.: South Western Cengage Learning. Sehlinger, B., Ridge, M., & Testa, L. (2011). The unofficial guide to Walt Disney World 2012.

Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Petrini, Catherine. (2008). MySpace. Norwood House Pr.

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What is a Marketing Plan and Why is it Important?

December 19, 2023

Spread the love 💛, table of contents.

No matter the hat you are wearing as a marketer, it all starts with a solid marketing plan. Think about the power of a strategic approach that leads to measurable and referral-worthy results. 

This guide is designed to help you master the craft of developing a marketing plan that’s not just effective but also a driving force for your strategy. Whether you are build a plan for your team, your clients, or yourself, we got you. 

Dive into the essentials of creating a well-structured marketing plan, just like we teach students in our certification.

What is a Marketing Plan?

Have you ever wondered what drives the success of standout marketing campaigns? It boils down to a robust marketing plan. This plan is your guiding tool, steering your marketing activities towards clear goals. It’s a straightforward layout that details your company’s marketing objectives, targets your audience, and outlines the tactics and budget for a specific period. 

Essentially, it’s your roadmap in the marketing world, aligning your efforts with your business goals. Incorporating market analysis and competitor insights, it helps you pick the best channels and strategies to effectively reach your audience.

Examples of marketing plans include:

• Product Launch Plan: Focused on introducing a new product to the market, this plan covers market research, audience targeting, promotional strategies, and metrics for success.
• Digital Marketing Plan: Tailors specifically to online platforms, encompassing social media strategy, content marketing, SEO, and digital advertising campaigns.
• Social Media Marketing Plan: Centred around crafting and executing strategies for various social media platforms. This plan involves identifying target audiences, creating engaging content, scheduling posts, and analysing social media metrics for continuous improvement.
• Content Marketing Plan: Focuses on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience. It includes content creation guidelines, distribution channels, editorial calendars, and metrics for tracking content performance.

Why is a Marketing Plan Important?

The beauty of a marketing plan is that it will help you communicate strategy and results to teams and clients easily, as well as build confidence and credibility – especially important if you are looking to take bold decisions with your strategy.

Here’s how:

• Clarity in Goals and Metrics: A marketing plan sets clear, quantifiable objectives, making it easier to explain goals to your team and clients. Whether it’s about enhancing online presence or driving sales, having specific targets simplifies reporting and measuring success.
• Efficient Use of Resources: It guides the optimal allocation of time, budget, and people. This clarity can help justify marketing spend to clients or managing your team’s workload, ensuring every effort is targeted and effective.
• Competitive Insight: A good marketing plan includes competitor analysis, giving you and your clients an edge. Understanding what others in the market are doing helps in creating strategies offer unique value propositions to your clients.
• Agility in Strategy: Marketing plans are dynamic, allowing you to adapt to market changes ever-so-quickly. This adaptability is essential when updating clients or recalibrating team strategies in response to new trends or feedback.

In essence, a marketing plan is a roadmap for success, both for internal strategy and building trust

It’s about laying out a clear path, backed by data and insights, to achieve marketing objectives with precision and efficiency.

Challenges and Tradeoffs

Crafting a top-notch marketing plan isn’t all smooth sailing; it comes with its fair share of challenges and decisions. Here’s a glimpse into some of the obstacles you might face and how to navigate them:

• Gathering Accurate Data: Getting your hands on reliable market research and customer insights can be tricky. But remember, the quality of your data is the backbone of your marketing plan. We LOVE using the Fcking Fast Buyer Insights to help with audience data.
• Balancing Innovation with Proven Tactics: Deciding where to place your bets – on cutting-edge strategies or tried-and-tested methods – can be quite the balancing act. The key is to blend innovation with foundations that work, for a mix that keeps your strategy both fresh and grounded.
• Resource Allocation: Figuring out the best way to divide your budget, time, and team efforts across various marketing channels is a constant juggling act. Stay focused on your goals and be ready to adjust allocations as you measure what works best.

Every challenge in crafting a marketing plan is an opportunity to sharpen your strategy and refine your approach. Remember, the goal isn’t to avoid these challenges but to tackle them head-on, making informed decisions that drive your marketing forward.

Consider your Impact

Marketers, we are a rare breed of overachievers. Still, in crafting your marketing plan, it’s vital to weigh the potential impact of your strategies on a diverse range of areas. Here’s a thoughtful approach to ensure your marketing plan is as effective and responsible as it can be:

• Customer-Centric Approach: Always keep your customers at the forefront. Your strategies should resonate with them, offering value and building lasting relationships. Satisfied customers are the cornerstone of a successful business.
• Ease of Execution: Assess how straightforward it is to implement your strategies. A plan that’s easy to execute reduces complexity and enhances the likelihood of smooth, successful rollouts.
• Collaborations and Partner Relationships: Nurture your relationships with partners and collaborators. A strong network can lead to more innovative and effective marketing strategies, leveraging shared resources and insights.
• Social and Environmental Responsibility: Be mindful of the social and environmental implications of your marketing efforts. Ethical and sustainable practices are not only good for the planet but also enhance your brand’s reputation and appeal to a socially-conscious audience.
• Inclusion and Accessible Practices: Ensure your marketing strategies are inclusive and accessible to all. This commitment to diversity and accessibility can broaden your reach and resonate with a wider audience.
• Stakeholder Confidence: A well-conceived marketing plan builds confidence among stakeholders, including managers and clients. It demonstrates that you have a robust strategy in place, capable of driving growth and delivering results.

Build Your Marketing Plan with Confidence

As we come to the end of our exploration into the art of creating a marketing plan, let’s reflect on its role as your trusted guide in the marketing journey. 

• A well-crafted marketing plan is your key to unlocking efficient resource management, clear goal-setting, and that all-important competitive advantage. 
• It’s about skilfully navigating through challenges, embracing trade-offs, and always considering the wider impact of your strategies.
• Your marketing plan is more than just a strategy; it gives clarity and direction, whether you’re collaborating with a team, advising clients, or steering your own projects. 
• It equips you with the insights to make impactful decisions, quickly adapt to changes, and achieve results that make people sit up and take notice.

So, go ahead and use what you’ve learned to create a marketing plan that not only reaches but goes beyond expectations.

With this trusty roadmap, you’re more than prepared to make a mark in the marketing world – you’re ready to shine.

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Develop an advanced set of marketing skills that drive more measurable results to any project and harness the power of psychology , purpose , storytelling , and impact to build trust in an increasingly skeptical world.

Take our certification , build your marketing plan and build your ultimate marketing toolkit.

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What is a marketing plan and why is it important?

Before you spend a cent on marketing, you first have to understand the market and your customers.

Companies of all sizes have one thing in common: They all began as small businesses.  Starting small  is the corner for those just getting off the ground. Learn about how to make that first hire, deal with all things administrative, and set yourself up for success.

A marketing plan is a blueprint for launching new products, understanding the intricacies of your market, growing your audience, and promoting your company to customers who want what you’re selling. 

With a well-designed marketing plan, you can design more effective promotions and impactful campaigns, reach your customers with targeted advertising, and track your business success with analytics. Without one, you might as well throw your marketing budget down a well and hope for the best. 

If you’ve been tasked with creating a marketing plan for your company, there are some basic elements to keep in mind. Though every marketing plan will reflect the specific business and industry it’s been created for, most share a few common features and can be boiled down to just one or two simple objectives. In this article, we’ll outline some of the basic elements of a marketing plan and how to write one.

When you’re ready to put the plan into action, WeWork All Access and WeWork On Demand are there to support you with hundreds of dedicated workspaces around the world, so you can seamlessly collaborate on marketing strategy in a professional and stylish office space.

What is a marketing plan?

A marketing plan is a document outlining a company’s future marketing efforts and goals. It can be as short as a single page or made up of many smaller campaign plans from different marketing teams. 

However large and complex those plans are, the idea remains the same: A marketing plan is created to organize, execute, and eventually measure the success of a business’s marketing strategy .

Types of marketing plans

Marketing plans come in as many different shapes and sizes as there are different kinds of business, but they can be broadly placed into one (or more) of a few different categories. Here are some of the most common you’ll encounter.

• Annual marketing plans. These types of marketing plans arrange campaigns according to when they’re expected to launch, rather than the content of the campaigns themselves. It’s a useful way to get an overview of a marketing strategy for the upcoming year, and to measure success continuously as time passes.
• Content marketing plans. This is a more content-focused way of approaching a marketing strategy, and highlights the specific channels and audiences you want to reach. Content marketing plans can look very similar to annual marketing plans, but are less concerned with the “when” and more with the “what” and the “how.”
• Product launch plans. Launching a new product or service requires a specific kind of marketing plan. The main goal is to successfully introduce the new product to the market. But these plans also include the strategies, tactics, and content needed in the buildup to the launch itself.
• Social media marketing plans. Social media channels are such a vital part of a company’s marketing goals that it’s often wise to create a separate social media marketing plan dedicated to creating advertising and promotional content on these platforms.

What is the purpose of a marketing plan?

A marketing plan lays out your business strategy for acquiring new customers and selling more products and services. But it also serves as a way of analyzing exactly how successful your marketing efforts have been so far. Knowing this information helps steer ongoing campaigns in the right direction, aligns your marketing with your company’s values, and ensures that future campaigns are better targeted and more effective.

To understand why a marketing plan is important, just consider what would happen without one. Your advertising budget would be spent based entirely on guesswork about where your potential customers can be found and what they’re looking for. You’d have no idea which of your campaigns contributed to increased sales figures. And you’d have no baselines from which to build more effective campaigns in the future.

How to create a marketing plan

Elements of a marketing plan.

The basic building blocks of any good marketing plan are focused on objectives, research, competitors, and content. These objectives should be clearly defined and easily measurable goals —ideally no more than two or three—and informed by as much consumer research as you can reasonably gather.

Whether your goal is increasing your Instagram followers, driving traffic to your site, or attracting more cheese fans to your cheese store, set a specific target by which to monitor the performance of any campaign. As you develop your marketing plan and learn what’s effective and what’s not, you can set more accurate targets and begin to hone in on the strategies that really work for your company.

A marketing plan should also describe your brand’s biggest competitors and the campaigns they’re running, as well as identify any openings in the market that would allow your company to grab market share. This is where SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis comes into its own, enabling a company to shape its marketing plan around its own strengths and weaknesses.

Lastly, a marketing plan should outline the content of each campaign. Will your pre-roll video content use animation or live actors? Can you offer discounts and voucher codes to new customers? Will you leverage your mailing list to notify existing customers of a new product launch?

Define a marketing plan strategy

If your marketing plan is a roadmap, then your marketing strategy is the road. The strategy describes which tools you’ll use to hit the targets laid out by the main marketing plan document, and how they’ll be applied.

Here’s where you get down to the fundamentals of selling. Depending on who you ask, there are as many as seven P’s of marketing, though most agree on four core elements: price, product, place, and promotion.

What are you selling? How much are you charging? Where will your customers see it? And how will you promote it to them? Marketing gurus will promise you that if you can answer all of these questions correctly, you’ll be guaranteed boundless success.

Of course, in the real world it’s not quite so straightforward. But the four main P’s are an ideal starting point for anyone creating a market plan from scratch.

How to measure the success of a marketing plan

An enormous amount of effort and investment is poured into monitoring the effectiveness of advertising campaigns, but at some level, consumer behavior becomes what’s known as a black box. You can measure what goes into it and what comes out the other end, but what happens inside the mind of a consumer can ultimately only be guessed at based on outcomes. Even the shoppers themselves can’t reliably report on why they choose certain products over others.

That’s why tracking a marketing plan’s performance alongside more specific KPIs (key performance indicators) is crucial. Advertising spend and sales figures aren’t linked in a simple or obvious way, so measuring success on a more granular level—such as increasing conversions or returning customers—helps create a much clearer picture of how well your marketing plan is doing.

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Final thoughts on creating a marketing plan

Marketing plans need to be squarely outlined and adhered to, but they shouldn’t be set in stone. You need to be able to course-correct when something isn’t landing, or lean more into campaigns when they’re working well. 

Quick aside: This is particularly true when it comes to the content of social media marketing plans, which are truly effective only when they’re timely and topical. Memes are a perfect example of this: How often have you seen a promoted tweet deploy some forgotten joke from months ago, presumably because it had been left in somebody’s annual marketing plan?

But while it’s useful to have a flexible approach , it’s important that your marketing plan is resilient and doesn’t flip-flop or bounce wildly between ideas. Move the goalposts too much and your plan will quickly fall apart, leaving your campaign in chaos. Allow your strategies some time to settle in, and even if you don’t reach success, you will gain invaluable performance data for future projects.

Steve Hogarty is a writer and journalist based in London. He is the travel editor of City AM newspaper and the deputy editor of City AM Magazine , where his work focuses on technology, travel, and entertainment.

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Blog Marketing What is a Marketing Plan & How to Create One [with Examples]

What is a Marketing Plan & How to Create One [with Examples]

Written by: Sara McGuire Oct 26, 2023

A marketing plan is a blueprint that outlines your strategies to attract and convert your ideal customers as a part of your customer acquisition strategy. It’s a comprehensive document that details your:

• Target audience:  Who you’re trying to reach
• Marketing goals:  What you want to achieve
• Strategies and tactics:  How you’ll reach your goals
• Budget:  Resources you’ll allocate
• Metrics:  How you’ll measure success

In this article, I’ll explain everything you need to know about creating a marketing plan . If you need a little extra help, there are professionally designed marketing plan templates that’ll make the process much easier. So, let’s ditch the confusion and get started!

Click to jump ahead:

What is a marketing plan?

How to write a marketing plan , 9 marketing plan examples to inspire your growth strategy.

• Marketing plan v.s. business plan
• Types of marketing plans

Marketing plan FAQs

A marketing plan is a report that outlines your marketing strategy for your products or services, which could be applicable for the coming year, quarter or month.  

Watch this quick, 13-minute video for more details on what a marketing plan is and how to make one yourself:

Typically, a marketing plan includes:

• An overview of your business’s marketing and advertising goals
• A description of your business’s current marketing position
• A timeline of when tasks within your strategy will be completed
• Key performance indicators (KPIs) you will be tracking
• A description of your business’s target market and customer needs
• A description of how you will measure marketing plan performance

For example, this marketing plan template provides a high-level overview of the business and competitors before diving deep into specific goals, KPIs and tactics:

Learning how to write a marketing plan forces you to think through the important steps that lead to an effective marketing strategy . And a well-defined plan will help you stay focused on your high-level marketing goals.

With Venngage’s extensive catalog of marketing plan templates, creating your marketing plan isn’t going to be hard or tedious. In fact, Venngage has plenty of helpful communications and design resources for marketers. If you’re ready to get started, sign up for  Venngage for Marketers   now. It’s free to register and start designing.

Whether you’re a team trying to set smarter marketing goals, a consultant trying to set your client in the right direction, or a one-person team hustling it out, Venngage for Marketers helps you get things done.

As mentioned above, the scope of your marketing plan varies depending on its purpose or the type of organization it’s for.

For example, you could look for performance marketing agency to create a marketing plan that provides an overview of a company’s entire marketing strategy:

A typical outline of a marketing plan includes:

• Executive summary
• Goals and objectives
• User personas
• Competitor analysis/SWOT analysis
• Baseline metrics
• Marketing strategy
• Tracking guidelines

Below you will see in details how to write each section as well as some examples of how you can design each section in a marketing plan.

Let’s look at how to create a successful marketing plan (click to jump ahead):

• Write a simple executive summary
• Set metric-driven marketing goals
• Outline your user personas
• Research all of your competitors
• Set accurate key baselines & metrics
• Create an actionable marketing strategy
• Set tracking or reporting guidelines

1. Write a simple executive summary

Starting your marketing plan off on the right foot is important. You want to pull people into your amazing plan for marketing domination. Not bore them to tears.

One of the best ways to get people excited to read your marketing plan is with a well-written executive summary. An executive summary introduces readers to your company goals, marketing triumphs, future plans, and other important contextual facts.

Basically, you can use the Executive Summary as a primer for the rest of your marketing plan.

Include things like:

• Simple marketing goals
• High-level metrics
• Important company milestones
• Facts about your brand
• Employee anecdotes
• Future goals & plans

Try to keep your executive summary rather brief and to the point. You aren’t writing a novel, so try to keep it under three to four paragraphs.

Take a look at the executive summary in the marketing plan example below:

The executive summary is only two paragraphs long — short but effective.

The executive summary tells readers about the company’s growth, and how they are about to overtake one of their competitors. But there’s no mention of specific metrics or figures. That will be highlighted in the next section of the marketing plan.

An effective executive summary should have enough information to pique the reader’s interest, but not bog them down with specifics yet. That’s what the rest of your marketing plan is for!

The executive summary also sets the tone for your marketing plan. Think about what tone will fit your brand ? Friendly and humorous? Professional and reliable? Inspiring and visionary?

2. Set metric-driven marketing goals

After you perfect your executive summary, it’s time to outline your marketing goals.

(If you’ve never set data-driven goals like this before, it would be worth reading this growth strategy guide ).

This is one of the most important parts of the entire marketing plan, so be sure to take your time and be as clear as possible. Moreover, optimizing your marketing funnel is key. Employing effective funnel software , along with CRO tools , can simplify operations and provide valuable customer insights. It facilitates lead tracking, conversion rate analysis, and efficient marketing optimization .

As a rule of thumb, be as specific as possible. The folks over at  VoyMedia  advise that you should set goals that impact website traffic, conversions, and customer success — and to use real numbers. Complement your goals with website optimization tools (e.g., A/B testing speed with Nostra – check Nostra AI review to learn more) to further improve conversions.

Avoid outlining vague goals like:

• Get more Twitter followers
• Write more articles
• Create more YouTube videos (like educational or Explainer videos )
• Increase retention rate
• Decrease bounce rate

Instead, identify  key performance metrics  (KPI) you want to impact and the percentage you want to increase them by.

Take a look at the goals page in the marketing plan example below:

They not only identify a specific metric in each of their goals, but they also set a timeline for when they will be increased.

The same vague goals listed earlier become much clearer when specific numbers and timelines are applied to them:

• Get 100 new Twitter followers per month
• Write 5 more articles per week
• Create 10 YouTube videos each year
• Increase retention rate by 15% by 2020
• Decrease bounce rate by 5% by Q1
• Create an online course  and get 1,000 new leads
• Focus more on local SEO strategies
• Conduct a monthly social media report to track progress

You can dive even deeper into your marketing goals if you want (generally, the more specific, the better). Here’s a marketing plan example that shows how to outline your growth goals:

3. Outline your user personas

Now, this may not seem like the most important part of your marketing plan, but I think it holds a ton of value.

Outlining your user personas is an important part of a marketing plan that should not be overlooked.

You should be asking not just how you can get the most visitors to your business, but how you can get the right visitors.

Who are your ideal customers? What are their goals? What are their biggest problems? How does your business solve customer problems?

Answering these questions will take lots of research, but it’s essential information to get.

Some ways to conduct user research are:

• Interviewing your users (either in person or on the phone)
• Conducting focus groups
• Researching other businesses in the same industry
• Surveying your audience

Then, you will need to compile your user data into a user persona  guide.

Take a look at how detailed this user persona template is below:

Taking the time to identify specific demographic traits, habits and goals will make it easier for you to cater your marketing plan to them.

Here’s how you can create a user persona guide:

The first thing you should add is a profile picture or icon for each user persona. It can help to put a face to your personas, so they seem more real.

Next, list demographic information like:

• Identifiers
• Activities/Hobbies

The user persona example above uses sliding scales to identify personality traits like introversion vs. extroversion and thinking vs. feeling. Identifying what type of personality your target users tend to have an influence on the messaging you use in your marketing content.

Meanwhile, this user persona guide identifies specific challenges the user faces each day:

But if you don’t want to go into such precise detail, you can stick to basic information, like in this marketing plan example:

Most businesses will have a few different types of target users. That’s why it’s pertinent to identify and create several different user personas . That way, you can better segment your marketing campaigns and set separate goals, if necessary.

Here’s a marketing plan example with a segmented user persona guide:

The important thing is for your team or client to have a clear picture of who their target user is and how they can appeal to their specific problems.

Start creating robust user personas using Venngage’s user persona guide .

4. Conduct an extensive competitor analysis

Next, on the marketing plan checklist, we have the competitor research section. This section will help you identify who your competitors are, what they’re doing, and how you could carve yourself a place alongside them in your niche — and ideally, surpass them. It’s something you can learn to do with rank tracking software .

Competitor research is also incredibly important if you are starting a blog .

Typically, your competitor research should include:

• Who their marketing team is
• Who their leadership team is
• What their marketing strategy and strategic marketing plan are (this will probably revolve some reverse-engineering)
• What their sales strategy is (same deal)
• Social Media strategy (are they using discounting strategies such as coupon marketing to get conversions)
• Their market cap/financials
• Their yearly growth (you will probably need to use a marketing tool like Ahrefs to do this)
• The number of customers they have & their user personas

Also, take as deep a dive as you can into the strategies they use across their:

• Blog/Content marketing
• Social media marketing
• SEO Marketing
• Video marketing
• And any other marketing tactics they use

Research their strengths and weaknesses in all parts of their company, and you will find some great opportunities. Bookmark has a great guide to different marketing strategies for small businesses if you need some more information there.

You can use this simple SWOT analysis worksheet to quickly work through all parts of their strategy as well:

Click the template above to create a SWOT chart . Customize the template to your liking — no design know-how needed.

Since you have already done all the research beforehand, adding this information to your marketing plan shouldn’t be that hard.

In this marketing plan example, some high-level research is outlined for 3 competing brands:

But you could take a deeper dive into different facets of your competitors’ strategies. This marketing plan example analyses a competitor’s inbound marketing strategy :

It can also be helpful to divide your competitors into Primary and Secondary groups. For example, Apple’s primary competitor may be Dell for computers, but its secondary competitor could be a company that makes tablets.

Your most dangerous competitors may not even be in the same industry as you. Like the CEO of Netflix said, “Sleep is our competition.”

5. Set accurate key baselines & metrics

It’s pretty hard to plan for the future if you don’t know where your business stands right now.

Before we do anything at Venngage, we find the baselines so we can compare future results to something. We do it so much it’s almost like second nature now!

Setting baselines will allow you to more accurately track your progress. You will also be able to better analyze what worked and what didn’t work, so you can build a stronger strategy. It will definitely help them clearly understand your goals and strategy as well.

Here’s a marketing plan example where the baselines are visualized:

Another way to include baselines in your plan is with a simple chart, like in the marketing plan example below:

Because data can be intimidating to a lot of people, visualizing your data using charts and infographics will help demystify the information.

6. Create an actionable marketing strategy

After pulling all the contextual information and relevant metrics into your marketing plan, it’s time to break down your marketing strategy.

Once again, it’s easier to communicate your information to your team or clients using visuals .

Mind maps are an effective way to show how a strategy with many moving parts ties together. For example, this mind map shows how the four main components of a marketing strategy interact together:

You can also use a flow chart to map out your strategy by objectives:

However you choose to visualize your strategy, your team should know exactly what they need to do. This is not the time to keep your cards close to your chest.

Your strategy section may need to take up a few pages to explain, like in the marketing plan example below:

With all of this information, even someone from the development team will understand what the marketing team is working on.

This minimalistic marketing plan example uses color blocks to make the different parts of the strategy easy to scan:

Breaking your strategy down into tasks will make it easier to tackle.

Another important way to visualize your marketing strategy is to create a project roadmap. A project roadmap visualizes the timeline of your product with individual tasks. Our roadmap maker can help you with this.

For example, this project roadmap shows how tasks on both the marketing and web design side run parallel to each other:

A simple timeline can also be used in your marketing plan:

Or a mind map, if you want to include a ton of information in a more organized way:

Even a simple “Next, Now, Later” chart can help visualize your strategy:

7. Set tracking or reporting guidelines

Close your marketing plan with a brief explanation of how you plan to track or measure your results. This will save you a lot of frustration down the line by standardizing how you track results across your team.

Like the other sections of your marketing plan, you can choose how in-depth you want to go. But there need to be some clear guidelines on how to measure the progress and results of your marketing plan.

At the bare minimum, your results tracking guidelines should specify:

• What you plan to track
• How you plan to track results
• How often you plan to measure

But you can more add tracking guidelines to your marketing plan if you see the need to. You may also want to include a template that your team or client can follow,  for  client reporting ,  ensure that the right metrics are being tracked.

The marketing plan example below dedicates a whole page to tracking criteria:

Use a task tracker to track tasks and marketing results, and a checklist maker to note down tasks, important life events, or tracking your daily life.

Similarly, the marketing plan example below talks about tracking content marketing instead:

Marketing plan vs. marketing strategy

Although often used interchangeably, the terms “marketing plan” and “marketing strategy” do have some differences.

Simply speaking, a marketing strategy presents what the business will do in order to reach a certain goal. A marketing plan outlines the specific daily, weekly, monthly or yearly activities that the marketing strategy calls for. As a business, you can create a marketing proposal for the marketing strategies defined in your company’s marketing plan. There are various marketing proposal examples that you can look at to help with this.

A company’s extended marketing strategy can be like this:

Notice how it’s more general and doesn’t include the actual activities required to complete each strategy or the timeframe those marketing activities will take place. That kind of information is included in a marketing plan, like this marketing plan template which talks about the content strategy in detail:

1. Nonprofit marketing plan

Here’s a free nonprofit marketing plan example that is ideal for organizations with a comprehensive vision to share. It’s a simple plan that is incredibly effective. Not only does the plan outline the core values of the company, it also shares the ideal buyer persona.

Note how the branding is consistent throughout this example so there is no doubt which company is presenting this plan. The content plan is an added incentive for anyone viewing the document to go ahead and give the team the green light.

2. Social media marketing plan

Two-page marketing plan samples aren’t very common, but this free template proves how effective they are. There’s a dedicated section for business goals as well as for project planning.

The milestones for the marketing campaign are clearly laid out, which is a great way to show how organized this business strategy is.

3. Small business marketing plan

This marketing plan template is perfect for small businesses who set out to develop an overarching marketing strategy for the whole year:

Notice how this aligns pretty well with the marketing plan outline we discussed in previous sections.

In terms of specific tactics for the company’s marketing strategy, the template only discusses SEO strategy, but you can certainly expand on that section to discuss any other strategies — such as link building , that you would like to build out a complete marketing plan for.

4. Orange simple marketing proposal template

Marketing plans, like the sample below, are a great way to highlight what your business strategy and the proposal you wan to put forward to win potential customers.

5. One-page marketing plan

This one-page marketing plan example is great for showcasing marketing efforts in a persuasive presentation or to print out for an in-person meeting.

Note how the fact sheet breaks down the marketing budget as well as the key metrics for the organization. You can win over clients and partners with a plan like this.

6. Light company business fact sheet template

This one-page sample marketing plan clearly outlines the marketing objectives for the organization. It’s a simple but effective way to share a large amount of information in a short amount of time.

What really works with this example is that includes a mission statement, key contact information alongside all the key metrics.

7. Marketing media press kit template

This press kit marketing plan template is bright and unmistakable as belonging to the Cloud Nine marketing agency . The way the brand colors are used also helps diversify the layouts for each page, making the plan easier to read.

We like the way the marketing department has outlined the important facts about the organization. The bold and large numbers draw the eye and look impressive.

8. Professional marketing proposal template

Start your marketing campaign on a promising note with this marketing plan template. It’s short, sharp and to the point. The table of contents sets out the agenda, and there’s a page for the company overview and mission statement.

9. Social media marketing proposal template

A complete marketing plan example, like the one below, not only breaks down the business goals to be achieved but a whole lot more. Note how the terms and conditions and payment schedule are included, which makes this one of the most comprehensive marketing plans on our list.

Marketing plan vs. business plan

While both marketing plans and business plans are crucial documents for businesses, they serve distinct purposes and have different scopes. Here’s a breakdown of the key differences:

Business plan is a comprehensive document that outlines all aspects of your business, including:

• Mission and vision
• Products or services
• Target market
• Competition
• Management team
• Financial projections
• Marketing strategy (including a marketing plan)
• Operations plan

Marketing plan on the other hand, dives deep into the specific strategies and tactics related to your marketing efforts. It expands on the marketing section of a business plan by detailing:

• Specific marketing goals (e.g., brand awareness, lead generation, sales)
• Target audience analysis (detailed understanding of their needs and behaviors)
• Product:  Features, benefits, positioning
• Price:  Pricing strategy, discounts
• Place:  Distribution channels (online, offline)
• Promotion:  Advertising, social media, content marketing, public relations
• Budget allocation for different marketing activities
• Metrics and measurement to track progress and success

In short, business plans paint the entire business picture, while marketing plans zoom in on the specific strategies used to reach your target audience and achieve marketing goals.

Types of marketing plans that can transform your business strategy

Let’s take a look at several types of marketing plans you can create, along with specific examples for each.

1. General marketing strategic plan / Annual marketing plan

This is a good example of a marketing plan that covers the overarching annual marketing strategy for a company:

Another good example would be this Starbucks marketing plan:

This one-page marketing plan example from coffee chain Starbucks has everything at a glance. The bold headers and subheadings make it easier to segment the sections so readers can focus on the area most relevant to them.

What we like about this example is how much it covers. From the ideal buyer persona to actional activities, as well as positioning and metrics, this marketing plan has it all.

Another marketing plan example that caught our eye is this one from Cengage. Although a bit text-heavy and traditional, it explains the various sections well. The clean layout makes this plan easy to read and absorb.

The last marketing plan example we would like to feature in this section is this one from Lush cosmetics.

It is a long one but it’s also very detailed. The plan outlines numerous areas, including the company mission, SWOT analysis , brand positioning, packaging, geographical criteria, and much more.

2. Content marketing plan

A content marketing plan highlights different strategies , campaigns or tactics you can use for your content to help your business reach its goals.

This one-page marketing plan example from Contently outlines a content strategy and workflow using simple colors and blocks. The bullet points detail more information but this plan can easily be understood at a glance, which makes it so effective.

For a more detailed content marketing plan example, take a look at this template which features an editorial calendar you can share with the whole team:

3. SEO marketing plan

Your SEO marketing plan highlights what you plan to do for your SEO marketing strategy . This could include tactics for website on-page optimization , off-page optimization using AI SEO , and link building using an SEO PowerSuite backlink API for quick backlink profile checks. Additionally, incorporating a rank tracker can help monitor keyword performance and track the impact of your optimization efforts.

This SEO marketing plan example discusses in detail the target audience of the business and the SEO plan laid out in different stages:

4. Social media marketing plan

Your social media marketing plan presents what you’ll do to reach your marketing goal through social media. This could include tactics specific to each social media channel that you own, recommendations on developing a new channel, specific campaigns you want to run, and so on, like how B2B channels use Linkedin to generate leads with automation tools and expand their customer base; or like making use of Twitter walls that could display live Twitter feeds from Twitter in real-time on digital screens.

For B2C brands, you can target Facebook and Instagram. Gain Instagram likes to build trust for your brand’s profile and post engaging content on both platforms. Leverage AI social media tools to automate and scale your content plan..

Edit this social media marketing plan example easily with Venngage’s drag-and-drop editor:

5. Demand generation marketing plan

This could cover your paid marketing strategy (which can include search ads, paid social media ads, traditional advertisements, etc.), email marketing strategy and more. Here’s an example:

What should marketing plans include?

Marketing plans should include:

• A detailed analysis of the target market and customer segments.
• Clear and achievable marketing objectives and goals.
• Strategies and tactics for product promotion and distribution.
• Budget allocation for various marketing activities.
• Timelines and milestones for the implementation of marketing strategies.
• Evaluation metrics and methods for tracking the success of the marketing plan.

What is an executive summary in a marketing plan and what is its main goal?

An executive summary in a marketing plan is a brief overview of the entire document, summarizing the key points, goals, and strategies. Its main goal is to provide readers with a quick understanding of the plan’s purpose and to entice them to read further.

What are the results when a marketing plan is effective?

When a marketing plan is effective, businesses can experience increased brand visibility, higher customer engagement , improved sales and revenue, and strengthened customer loyalty.

What is the first section of a marketing plan?

The first section of a marketing plan is typically the “Executive Summary,” which provides a concise overview of the entire plan, including the business’s goals and the strategies to achieve them.

Now that you have the basics for designing your own marketing plan, it’s time to get started:

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The importance of your marketing plan

Your marketing plan should be at the top of your ‘to do’ list.

Whilst a business plan helps define the direction for your company, a marketing plan will help your business understand how to get there and sets out how you are going to put your marketing strategy into practice.

When you’ve got a marketing plan you have a framework for how to put your best foot forward. It’s a starting point, a ‘line in the sand.’

You also have a really useful means to discipline yourself. For example, when somebody tries to sell you something like an advertising or promotional opportunity which sounds like an amazing price – you go back to your marketing plan and check whether this ‘great deal’ fits in with your objectives and priorities.

Marketing plans also help us as advisors to our clients; they provide a deeper understanding of the marketplace, business offering and positioning, enabling more thorough and confident recommendations and planning.

Each marketing plan that we carry out may look similar in terms of headings and approach, however each one is tailored specifically to the needs and characteristics of the business and its marketplace.

It can be hard to write your marketing plan

Building a marketing plan involves a lot of knowledge and understanding of an individual business, so it is tempting to think that the person best placed to write it would be the business owner. In reality there are several reasons why it’s hard to make a marketing plan for your own business. First and foremost it’s always hard to set aside the time – there always seems to be something more urgent to be done “in” the business as opposed to “on” or “about” it.

Secondly, it is important to have a real understanding of marketing, of what needs to be considered and how. Often there is so much to consider that it can be hard for a business owner to ‘see the wood for the trees’ and know where to focus.

A marketing background and training together with hands on experience in researching, analysing and writing marketing plans is really important – practice does start to make perfect! And because we deal work with businesses of all shapes, sizes and industry sectors we become practised too at borrowing good practice from one situation and bringing it to bear in another.

And thirdly, it helps to have a degree of impartiality and objectivity about this process. When it’s your own business it can be quite hard to have to face up to having maybe missed warning signs (even though you know exactly why that was) or simply having got buried in the ‘day-to-day’.

Your marketing plan provides a new insight

Making a marketing plan is an opportunity for a “new” day and is a very positive process, but it can be a little close for comfort and in some ways it’s much easier to see the plan in its positive light, when viewed from a distance.

It’s worth remembering that every successful marketing plan is actually a planning process, not just a plan. It entails regular review and revision.

If you think your business could do with a little “refresh” right now, especially if you’ve got to make decisions about spending money and want to make sure you’re not going to be wasting it, do get in touch with us at Bartley Marketing for a no obligation chat.

We can assist you in your marketing planning process and also write your marketing plan for you.

A relatively small amount spent now on a marketing plan could save you a lot in the future.

Get in touch for a no obligation chat about your marketing plan requirements .

Importance of the Strategic Marketing Planning Report (Assessment)

Strategic planning, marketing mix analysis, management and control, value proposition.

For the last decade, hardware and software have converged toward portable devices such as the iPhone or iPad, and an increasing number of facets of our lives can be controlled through those retina displays. With the ability to collect and store data while also executing dynamic permutations in any real-time setting, wearable technology has quickly made its way into the healthcare domain. It is now recognized as a valuable tool to help patient evaluation, treatment, and management (Godfrey et al. , 2018). As such, wearable devices have seen a significant rise in popularity within the technology industry over the past few years. As a result, product differentiation takes precedence over targeting. By segmenting their audience, they can more precisely target how and where to send products and what to do with their latest design. The Fitbit Surge is unique and differs from other kinds of wearable technology in several ways. Fitbit’s Surge and Charge HR wearable fitness trackers are examples of a current-generation system that uses reflective photo-plethysmography to calculate heart rate (Jo & Dolezal 2016).

Additionally, the precision of the physiological data based on activities such as running, jogging, and cycling they provide becomes increasingly important (Jo & Dolezal 2016). Users can be inspired to become more involved through real-time information shown on their smartphones, and they can work with the data in a variety of linked apps. The Fitbit app presents all of the data in an easy-to-understand graphical interface. The surge has a color display and allows you to adjust the watch’s face with reduced alternatives, receive notifications and text messages from your linked smartphone, and monitor audio playback on your computer. Furthermore, it is less expensive than similar health activity detectors from other brands.

As such, customers should be encouraged to purchase this product since on the market today, and the best Fitbit a consumer can acquire is the Fitbit Charge 4. This accrues to the fact that it bridges the gap between workout bands and entire activity trackers. It’s easy and inoffensive enough to wear every day, but it’s also equipped with all the features you’ll need to keep track of your workouts.

To grow digital presence – the current market has been diversified, and there has been a shift in the way business people and institutions promote their commodities and services. The major shift is from the physical sale and promotion of goods and services to online marketing strategies. These platforms include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat.

To shorten the sales cycle – by creating and maintaining demand and preference for the commodity. Longer supply chains have been affected by increasing the production costs of a commodity and consequently higher-good prices. In using the online marketing strategies, the roles of intermediaries are eliminated, thus reducing the costs of payments that would have been made to them.

Product and Price Strategy

Black and Veloutsou (2017) enumerate that the series of distinct brand associations that producers aim to create or maintain is referred to as brand identity and the symbols they employ to help people recognize the brand. As such, resources with symbolic value are given and appropriated to become part of the receiver’s identity. Elsewhere, brand equity is a collection of brand assets and liabilities associated with a brand, logo, and emblem that contribute to or detract from the value a product or service provides to a business and its customers (Sallam 2016).

The most crucial stage in the product management strategy is positioning. Fayvishenko (2018) states that growth guidance for new products, market development, communication, pricing, and distribution channel selection are among the positions that have been carefully considered according to the company. The act of cultivating a company’s logo, distinguishing characteristics, favorable connections, and customers’ perceptions of values to build a long-term strategy of a commodity’s image and ensure customer loyalty towards this product. Articulated by squeezing from the literature the various pricing techniques as discussed below;

• Cost-based pricing – It is the most basic pricing technique. The price is set using this technique by applying a mark-up to the product’s cost. This approach is successful if the firm’s costs are not too high in comparison to the competition.
• Break-even Pricing – Break-even Point Pricing is a pricing technique that is based on expense. Companies decide the amount they will recover or earn from production and marketing costs.
• Customer-value-based pricing – Items are priced based on the commodity’s discernible worth regarding this type of product pricing. The customers’ viewpoint of the importance of rivals’ products and the value of the company’s product must be determined. It isn’t easy to measure perceived value, and if costs are higher than the perceived value, profits will suffer.
• Competition-based Pricing – This type of product pricing occurs when a business sets prices based on the competition. Those of rivals primarily influence prices.

Place and Promotion Strategy

Thabit and Raewf (2018) elaborate that among the significant features of the Market Mix is promotion. Sales marketing events include things like publicity, public relations, fairs, and exhibits. It is the role and sole responsibility of the marketing manager to determine how much money should be spent on the promotion of the product. Promotional acts are used to supplement personal selling, advertising, and publicity. Promotion would be used by both the salesperson and brokers to successfully present customers with the commodity and convince them to purchase it. Promotion encompasses many different components that work together to help a company achieve its marketing objectives. The promotion combination determines the product’s position inside the business segment of interest. It is worth considering it an investment; therefore, it should be factored into the cost of the product.

The distribution strategies of a commodity may take different forms depending on the prevailing market conditions. As such, a product may take the following distribution strategies;

• Intensive distribution – involves obtaining the largest number of available sources within the market. The primary objective of intensive distribution is to capture as much market share as possible.
• Distribution with Preference – This term refers to the distribution of outlets in particular areas. This is always the case determined by how well a commodity fits a shop interior. As a result, retailers can select a price point specific to consumers’ market demand, leading to a customized shopping experience. The frequency of sites in a given area is constrained by selective distribution.
• Restricted distribution – in this kind of strategy, few channels are available due to distribution restrictions. It can include anything from high-end brands to a minimal quantity set found in selected stores or regions. This procedure aids in defense of a brand’s name and the exclusivity of its products. Companies that conduct distribution exclusivity include high-end designers such as Chanel and automobile manufacturers such as Ferrari.

All elements of an organization’s marketing mix that promote exchanges by targeting the brand to a specific community of consumers, positioning the brand as distinct from competitors, and communicating the brand’s context and distinctive distinctions with the product’s target audience are referred to as marketing communication. Marketing contact is an important part of a company’s overall marketing mission and a key factor in its market performance (Chitty et al. , 2017). As such, in introducing a new product, the company should consider an IMC framework with the following.

• Situation Assessment – involves customers or prospects, a competition analysis, environmental variables, competition, and an overview of the industry.
• Strategic Goals and Strategy – This includes reaching out to your target market(s), product placement, brand recognition, and IMC and communication.
• Integrated marketing communications program – some marketing strategies to be used are advertising, direct marketing, internet marketing, product promotion, public relations, and personal selling are all examples of marketing strategies. Setting goals, crafting a message, and devising a media strategy are all crucial steps to take.
• Creating a Budget that fits and takes into consideration each marketing tool.
• Implementation timeline.
• Evaluation of a program’s success.

Isosuo (2016) states that advertisers today use online platforms that include Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter, among others. He emphasizes that social media is such an important part of everyday life these days and that all is done online. The younger generation sets the tone in the world of social media. They are better at picking up new channels and traditions as compared to the older generation. He further adds that social networking provides an opportunity for a business to set the tone, have a story to share, enable brand strengthening, and make a lasting impression. To be successful on social media, customers want businesses to listen to them, be genuine, and participate in the discussion. Perhaps the most important part of social media for a company is getting it closer to its customers. Power has moved away from corporations and customers, and social media acts as a two-way communication channel.

Tuten (2020) stresses that the internet has been the foundation of our culture in the modern era. The widespread availability of connected devices such as personal computers, digital video cameras, smartphones, and wearables such as smartwatches enables consumers to create and distribute content from virtually any location on Earth. Any substantive study of consumer communication and its efficacy needs feedback. As such, noise may be a great barrier since it will not allow accurate information about the product either to the customer or feedback to the producers. And with no feedback, products fail because either party will not be aware of the product’s uncertainties.

First, with the high number of people having access to social media platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter, the product received many inquiries from customers. As such, its introduction only proved to be a success to the business. It had attributed to the fact that online strategies have taken center stage in the marketing and promotion of products and services. Further, there was product performance brought about by the promotion of the product using the online strategies. Another metric was sales growth which arose as a result of the better product performance. Sales growth will enable the company to calculate its financial success by tracking down its sales revenue. It is the profit gained by selling goods after subtracting the expense of returned items and undeliverable. Furthermore, it can be seen through an increased purchase of the product, which translates to higher revenues and profit margin.

Secondly, there will be an increased demand that occurs majorly because the supply chain is reduced drastically. Marketing through social media means that there are no other parties involved in the supply chain except for the customer and the producer of the goods and services. Increased demand will translate to mass production, which translates to higher profit margins, customer satisfaction in terms of product availability, and favorable competition among its competitors. Lastly, reduced distribution costs, less handling of the product, and boost sustainability are realized when a shorter supply chain is used. All these will only work towards the success of the product in a new and or existing market. The shortened supply chain has been a business trend that came about with the accessibility of smartphones and the introduction of online social media platforms. It is important to have proper marketing strategies, among other basic issues, for the growth and development of a product in whichever kind of environment.

A strategic marketing plan assists a company in determining the direction in which they want to take their business. It entails setting clear, measurable objectives for the company. It establishes a sound basis for the organization’s objectives. Moreover, with the diverse changing needs of the market and society, planning by a business organization or company should recognize these needs. These needs include; communication, market diversification, and supply chain used in the distribution of the intended product. For instance, the relevance of effective communication, online promotion, and shorter supply chains between the company and consumers in marketing should not be taken lightly. They will define the fate of the company’s product in the market and consumers’ response towards it. As shown in this essay, strategic marketing planning enables the elimination of ineffective strategies. It increases emphasis on critical factors and the optimal distribution of resources, both of which contribute to increased efficiency. Thus, the critical nature of a strategic marketing strategy cannot be overstated in any company. As stated previously, it is the cornerstone of business sustainability.

Black, I., & Veloutsou, C. (2017). ‘Working consumers: Co-creation of brand identity, consumer identity and brand community identity.’ Journal of Business Research, 70 , 416-429. Web.

Chitty, B. et al. (2017) Integrated Marketing Communications with Online Study Tools 12 Months . Cengage AU.

Fayvishenko, D., 2018. ‘Formation of brand positioning strategy.’ Baltic Journal of Economic Studies , 4(2), pp.245-248. Web.

Godfrey, A. et al. (2018) From A to Z: ‘Wearable technology explained.’ Maturitas , 113 , pp.40-47. Web.

Isosuo, H., 2016. Social media influencer marketing . Bachelor’s Thesis, JAMK University of Applied Sciences.

Jo, E. and Dolezal, B.A., 2016. Validation of the FitbitŽ Surge™ and Charge HR™ Fitness Trackers.

Kayode, O., 2017. Marketing communication . Bookboon

Sallam, M.A., 2016. ‘The impact of brand image and corporate branding on consumer’s choice: The role of brand equity.’ International Journal of Marketing Studies , 8 (1), pp.98-106. Web.

Thabit, T. and Raewf, M., 2018. ‘The evaluation of marketing mix elements: A case study.’ International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies , 4(4). Web.

Tuten, T. L. (2020). Social media marketing . Web.

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The Importance of Marketing Plan

A marketing plan is a business-related document that gives precise details of the marketing tactics and strategy. In most cases, the marketing plan is meant to last for a specific time and also covers various marketing-related aspects such as goals, costs, and action steps. Unlike the business plan, the plan of streamlining the marketing strategy is not a static document. As the business grows, the marketing plan also changes and thus the business owner finds it necessary to change the marketing strategy that suits the new marketing trends. A marketing plan acts as the roadmap that assists the investors and business owners to keep track of the direction that would enable them to achieve their business objectives. Sometimes, marketing plans are incorporated into the business plan, but if an individual wants to have a robust and detailed marketing plan, they can make the document stand out on its own as a separate entity (Cohen, 2005).

The Current Situation

            The company intends to expand the sale of non-alcoholic beverages such as cola drinks to the immediate neighborhood covering an area that has a radius of 25 miles. The current location of the business is in San Francisco in the United States. The current sales margins of the cola drinks are low. There is a need to raise the number of sales made in a day if the business has to stay competitive in the market. The business is also set to benefit and take advantage of the recently passed tax reforms by the U.S legislature that will lower the corporate and small businesses tax from 35% to 21% (McKay, 2017). Therefore, a robust marketing plan will expand the outreach of customers and improve the cola drinks visibility.

Target Market

            Broad knowledge of the market such as market segmentation helps the business owner to formulate specific messages and place them in strategic places where the target customers will quickly see them for greater effectiveness. The target market for this case varies according to age, educational level, ethnic group, gender, income among many more categories. As a cola supplying company, it’s necessary always to strive to satisfy the needs of the different groups of people residing and working where the business is situated in San Francisco. The business has a considerable number of customers who are classifiable according to age as young children. Therefore, with the high demand for Disney hundred Acre Woods among the children, the company has moved with speed and started consideration of supplying and selling this fruit juice that is meant for children within the age group of 3 to 10. Furthermore, the business has diversified the sale of the fruit juice to the children by offering various flavors such as banana, apple, cherry and many more.

            Another target group that is projected to form a more significant percentage of the target market are the teens and young adults whose number is steadily rising in San Francisco on a daily basis. The company intends to sell Minute Maid because of the convenience of carrying it and how its packaged. School going teenagers and young adults are fond of carrying beverage drinks while going to school and sports events. Since the Minute maid drink comes in different flavors such as apple, lemonade, orange and cranberry, the drink will offer varied tastes that will not make it become monotonous and lose appeal from the customers. Furthermore, the minute maid is specifically meant for the young people because a majority of them would be looking for a great taste as well as a healthy beverage. Another added advantage that will endear the teenagers from all the neighboring schools to the Minute maid drink is the fact that it received a health check from the heart and stroke foundation declaring it fit for consumption.

            Furthermore, the beverage selling outlet targets another significant demographic segment of the society who are in the age group of 30-35 years. Majority of the people within this age bracket start being conscious of their health and the drinks they consume. Therefore, Coca-cola zero targets this group of adults who do not want to consume drinks that have a high concentration of calories like other beverages (De Wulf, Odekerken-Schröder, Goedertier, & Van Ossel, 2005). Thus, this beverage company is targeting such significant portion of the population with the intended sale of coca cola zero and coca cola diet that are sugarless and do not have calories.

            Young and sports people are also a critical component of the target market for this non-alcoholic and beverage selling company. Such vital drink for sports people includes the Aquarius and energy drink. An overview of the business location shows that the area has many youths engaged in various sports such as basketball and rugby. The drinks also have added the advantage of being a healthy drink and are known to give the athletes the energy needed to prepare well for the competition without running the risk of being doping agents ((De Wulf et al., 2005). With the seven top professional sports teams in San Francisco, the number of people plying their trade in these teams is estimated to be 2000 players and the coaching staff. The groups also have a massive following with each sports team having a stadium of 25000 people on average. During sports events, the stadia get full. My cola business also targets this significant population of people who go to watch sports on the weekends. Many supporters find cola drinks such as minute maid convenient and thirst quenching when they go to cheer their teams in the sports arena. Some of the sports teams that my business heavily relies on to become their trusted suppliers include Oakland Raiders, Oakland A’s, Golden State Warriors, San Jose Sharks and San Jose Earthquakes.

Goals of the marketing plan

            The business intends to increase the customer’s list by 20 new groups of customers within one year. Attaining that number will enable the business measure its effectiveness and tell whether there is considerable progress or not.

Marketing Tactics

            Since the target market for this business significantly consists of teens, youths and young adults who are engaged in sports or are still in schools and colleges, most of the marketing strategies will be designed to target the areas where most of them frequently hang out. The target market of this business hangs out in the sports arena and partly in school. Furthermore, being a young population, virtually all of them spend a significant amount of time on the internet and social sites such as Facebook and Instagram. Thus, the marketing strategy will factor in a robust online marketing team that will create a Facebook page, create ads to reach out to this target market with the aim of enticing them to check out the business. Investing in Facebook advertising and writing brief articles such as magazines and newsletters will be an efficient way of reaching to the students who are a significant portion of the target market (Lichtenthal & Eliaz, 2003).

            Close Range Marketing (CRM). The business will also harness technology and use Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to send promotional messages of the cola products to the customer’s tablets and smartphones that are within proximity. Again, with the target market being the youth who are much more informed on matters to do with smartphones and tablets, reaching out to them using proximity marketing will yield good returns because of the many customers who will see the promotional messages on their phones.

            Transactional Marketing. Meeting the high sales target of the company will demand that more marketing strategies are used to boost the sales. The business will have to organize for sales events in highly populated or crowded place to promote the cola products they have to the customers. One such location would be near the stadiums during sports events because of a large number of people that attend such events.

Cohen, W. A. (2005). The marketing plan. John Wiley & Sons.

De Wulf, K., Odekerken-Schröder, G., Goedertier, F., & Van Ossel, G. (2005). Consumer             perceptions of store brands versus national brands. Journal of Consumer marketing, 22(4),        223-232.

Lichtenthal, J. D., & Eliaz, S. (2003). Internet integration in business marketing tactics. Industrial         Marketing Management, 32(1), 3-13.

McKay, D. (2017). American politics and society. John Wiley & Sons.

Corporations Marketing

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Home — Essay Samples — Business — Marketing Management — Importance of Marketing for a Successful Business

Importance of Marketing for a Successful Business

• Categories: Business Success Marketing Management Marketing Plan

About this sample

Words: 1596 |

Published: Nov 16, 2018

Words: 1596 | Pages: 4 | 8 min read

Table of contents

Marketing plan and its importance, why customer will going to buy your product, best marketing tools/strategies for automotive dealers, social media management platforms, works cited, situation analysis, target market, marketing strategy, objectives & tactics, sales and budget, reputation of concerning brand.

• To identify all positive and negative aspects of business over the year
• Maintain consistency and accuracy in business activities
• Assessing where in business or marketing activates you are not going on track
• Reviewing and understanding your competitor’s business and marketing strategy
• Monitoring for brand mentions and sentiment
• Working on recommendations to maintain your worth
• Improving your work plan and strategies.

Marketing Automation Software

• 23% of automotive patrons use social media to debate or communicate a recent purchase expertise.
• 38% of shoppers report they’ll consult social media successive time they purchase an automotive.
• 84% of all automotive shoppers square measure on Facebook, with pure gold mistreatment the platform as a resource for the acquisition of their last vehicle. Facebook permits you torealize your datum with targeted promotions and therefore the capability to find supporters from your membership info on the stage. To stay up engagement consistency is vital. Systematically arrange substance and supply recordings, and specially, react to inquiries and remarks after they emerge.

Website Chat

Pay per click advertising.

• Doney, P. M., & Cannon, J. P. (1997). An examination of the nature of trust in buyer-seller relationships. Journal of marketing, 61(2), 35-51.
• Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2010). Principles of marketing. Pearson education.
• Morgan, R. M., & Hunt, S. D. (1994). The commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing. Journal of marketing, 58(3), 20-38.
• Nair, S. K., & White, D. (2013). The role of marketing in the success of a business. Journal of business and management, 12(3), 54-62.
• Phillips, R., & Bagozzi, R. P. (1986). A critical review of construct indicators and measurement model misspecification in marketing and consumer research. Journal of consumer research, 13(2), 159-178.
• Pride, W. M., & Ferrell, O. C. (2011). Marketing. Cengage Learning.
• Ranjbarian, B., Vafaei, S., & Alipour, H. (2013). The effect of marketing mix on customer satisfaction: A case study deriving consensus rankings from benchmarking. International Journal of Business and Management, 8(14), 126.
• Sheth, J. N., & Sisodia, R. S. (2015). Does marketing need reform?: Fresh perspectives on the future. Routledge.
• Wang, C., & Zhang, J. (2012). The effects of marketing mix elements on brand equity. Journal of Business and Management, 1(1), 23-28.
• Webb, D. J. (2018). Automotive Marketing: How to use the Web to Sell More Cars. CRC Press.

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What is the importance of a marketing plan pdf?

A well-crafted marketing plan is one of the most crucial elements for business success, outlining strategies that help companies attract and retain customers. In this article, we delve into the significance of a marketing plan and explain why Alpha Book Publisher is an excellent platform for guest posts and backlinks. Additionally, we highlight how Alpha Book Publisher supports businesses in their marketing efforts, offering valuable resources like marketing plan PDFs and other tools to enhance your marketing strategies.

What Is the Importance of a Marketing Plan?

A marketing plan serves as a roadmap for businesses to follow in their marketing efforts. It outlines the strategies, tactics, and goals that help a company achieve its objectives, such as increasing brand awareness, boosting sales, or entering new markets. Without a marketing plan, businesses may lack direction, making it harder to allocate resources efficiently or measure the success of their marketing activities.

The main importance of a marketing plan lies in its ability to align business goals with marketing strategies. It ensures that every action, from product development to customer outreach, is coordinated and contributes to the company's broader objectives.

What Is the Importance of a Marketing Plan PDF?

A marketing plan PDF serves as a ready-to-use template that businesses can follow when developing their own strategies. It provides a structured outline that includes key sections like market analysis, target audience, marketing goals, and tactics. Having this resource in PDF format ensures that business owners can easily reference and share it with team members, stakeholders, or partners.

Moreover, a PDF format ensures consistency and clarity. It's a flexible document that can be accessed across different devices and platforms, making it ideal for distributed teams. Alpha Book Publisher offers various marketing plan PDFs that businesses can download to guide their efforts.

What Is the Most Important Part of a Marketing Plan?

While every element of a marketing plan plays a significant role, the most important part is often the target market analysis . Understanding who your customers are, their needs, and their behaviors is key to developing effective marketing strategies. Without this understanding, businesses risk wasting resources on marketing campaigns that do not resonate with their audience.

Identifying a target audience allows businesses to craft personalized messages, create relevant content, and choose the most appropriate marketing channels, ultimately increasing engagement and conversions.

5 Key Reasons a Marketing Plan Is Essential

Guides Strategic Decision-Making : A marketing plan helps businesses make informed decisions by providing a clear understanding of market opportunities and challenges.

Improves Resource Allocation : It allows businesses to allocate their resources, such as time and budget, to the most effective marketing strategies.

Facilitates Goal Setting : A marketing plan defines measurable objectives, making it easier to track progress and success over time.

Enhances Customer Focus : By analyzing customer needs, a marketing plan ensures that marketing efforts are customer-centric, increasing satisfaction and loyalty.

Boosts Market Competitiveness : A comprehensive marketing plan helps businesses stay ahead of competitors by identifying trends and opportunities in the marketplace.

At Alpha Book Publisher, we offer resources like marketing plan PDFs to ensure your business can create and execute a well-defined plan that incorporates these critical elements.

10 Importance of a Marketing Plan for Business Success

Establishes Clear Marketing Goals : A marketing plan sets clear goals, whether it's increasing sales, entering new markets, or building brand awareness.

Provides Market Insight : Research included in a marketing plan offers a deep understanding of the market landscape, including customer needs and competitor activities.

Defines Brand Identity : It helps businesses establish a unique brand identity, distinguishing them from competitors.

Optimizes Marketing Budget : With a plan in place, businesses can allocate funds to the most impactful activities and avoid overspending.

Tracks Performance : Marketing plans come with KPIs that allow businesses to track their progress and make adjustments as needed.

Improves Communication : It ensures all departments and stakeholders are aligned with the company’s marketing efforts, fostering better collaboration.

Supports Risk Management : By identifying potential risks and opportunities, businesses can prepare for contingencies, minimizing potential losses.

Increases Customer Retention : With a customer-focused strategy, businesses can build stronger relationships with their customers, leading to better retention.

Ensures Consistency : A well-structured plan ensures that marketing efforts are consistent across all channels, improving brand recognition.

Encourages Innovation : A marketing plan encourages businesses to stay updated with trends and continuously improve their marketing approaches.

What Is the Importance of a Marketing Plan in a Business?

The importance of a marketing plan in business cannot be overstated. It acts as a blueprint that integrates all marketing activities, ensuring that they contribute to the overall success of the company.

From guiding the launch of new products to maintaining customer relationships, a marketing plan is essential for:

Organizational Alignment : It ensures that all departments, from sales to customer service, work toward the same goals.

Strategic Resource Management : It helps allocate marketing resources to the most effective strategies and channels.

Sustained Growth : With a marketing plan, businesses can track their progress and make adjustments, ensuring long-term growth and sustainability.

At Alpha Book Publisher, we emphasize the importance of having a solid marketing plan in place. Whether you’re a first-time author or an entrepreneur, our platform provides resources, including guest posts and backlinks, that can enhance your marketing efforts and contribute to business success.

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Importance of a Marketing Plan Essay

A marketing plan essay typically discusses the various reasons a well-constructed plan is vital for business success. Such essays often highlight how marketing plans provide direction, focus resources, and foster innovation within companies. Whether you're preparing a business report or an academic essay, Alpha Book Publisher can serve as a valuable resource for insights and practical examples on why a marketing plan is indispensable.

Why Alpha Book Publisher Is an Excellent Platform for Guest Posts and Backlinks

Guest posts and backlinks are essential components of a successful digital marketing strategy. Alpha Book Publisher offers a reputable platform for authors, entrepreneurs, and marketers to contribute guest posts and earn valuable backlinks, which are crucial for search engine optimization (SEO).

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Additionally, the platform provides extensive marketing resources, including guides and PDFs that can support your business marketing efforts. Whether you're looking to develop a marketing plan or enhance your digital presence, Alpha Book Publisher is a powerful tool for reaching your goals.

Final Thoughts

The importance of a marketing plan cannot be underestimated in today’s fast-paced business environment. Whether you're drafting an essay, developing a business strategy, or seeking to improve your digital marketing efforts, a well-defined marketing plan serves as a vital guide. Alpha Book Publisher provides the resources, such as marketing plan PDFs, guest post opportunities, and backlinks, that businesses need to thrive in the competitive marketplace. Take advantage of these tools to develop a strategic marketing approach that drives success.

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What is a Marketing Plan & How to Write One [+ Examples]

Updated: August 07, 2024

Published: June 12, 2018

One of my favorite ways to break through writer’s block, whether the assignment is a marketing plan or a short story, is simply reading more examples. (I also recommend taking a long walk; you’d be surprised.)

I can’t take you on a walk, but I can give you some examples, some inspiration, and some guidelines to get your creativity humming.

If you don’t know where to start, we’ve curated lists of marketing plans and marketing strategies to help you write a concrete plan that will produce results.

Let’s start by understanding the differences between the two.

Featured Resource:   Free Marketing Plan Template

Looking to develop a marketing plan for your business?   Click here to download HubSpot's free Marketing Plan Template to get started .

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Marketing Strategy Examples

What is a marketing plan, marketing plan vs. business plan, how to write a marketing plan, types of marketing plans, marketing plan examples, marketing plan faqs, sample marketing plan.

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A marketing plan is a strategic road map that businesses use to organize, execute, and track their marketing strategy over a given period. Marketing plans can include different marketing strategies for various marketing teams across the company, all working toward the same business goals.

The purpose of a marketing plan is to write down strategies in an organized manner. This will help keep you on track and measure the success of your campaigns.

Your marketing plan lays out each campaign‘s mission, buyer personas, budget, tactics, and deliverables. With all this information in one place, you’ll have an easier time staying on track with a campaign, and you can figure out what works and what doesn’t.

To learn more about creating your marketing plan, keep reading or jump to the relevant section:

A marketing plan is a strategic document that outlines marketing objectives, strategies, and tactics.

A business plan is also a strategic document. But this plan covers all aspects of a company's operations, including finance, operations, and more. It can also help your business decide how to distribute resources and make decisions as your business grows.

A marketing plan is a subset of a business plan; it shows how marketing strategies and objectives can support overall business goals. And if you need an assist executing a marketing plan, might I recommend HubSpot’s marketing hub ?

Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan

A marketing strategy is the part of your marketing plan that describes how a business will accomplish a particular goal or mission.

This includes which campaigns, content, channels, and marketing software you’ll use to execute that mission and track its success.

A marketing plan contains one or more marketing strategies. It's the framework from which all your marketing strategies are created, and it helps you connect each strategy to a larger marketing operation and business goal.

For example, suppose your company is launching a new software product, and it wants customers to sign up. The marketing department needs to develop a marketing plan that'll help introduce this product to the industry and drive the desired sign-ups.

The department decides to launch a topical blog, debut a YouTube series to establish expertise, and create new X and Instagram accounts to join the conversation around this subject. All this serves to attract an audience and convert this audience into software users.

To summarize, a business' marketing plan is dedicated to introducing a new software product to the marketplace and driving sign-ups for that product. The business will execute that plan with three marketing strategies : a new industry blog, a YouTube video series, and an X account.

Of course, the business might consider these three things as one giant marketing strategy, each with its own specific content strategies. How granular you want your marketing plan to get is up to you. Nonetheless, every marketing plan goes through a particular set of steps in its creation.

• State your business' mission.
• Determine the KPIs for this mission.
• Identify your buyer personas.
• Describe your content initiatives and strategies.
• Clearly define your plan's omissions.
• Define your marketing budget.
• Identify your competition.
• Outline your plan's contributors and their responsibilities.

1. State your business' mission.

Your first step in writing a marketing plan is to state your mission. Although this mission is specific to your marketing department, it should serve as your business' main mission statement.

In my experience, you want to be specific, but not too specific. You have plenty of space left in this marketing plan to elaborate on how you'll acquire new customers and accomplish this mission.

For those of you running startups or small businesses, HubSpot’s starter bundle is a great all-in-one solution — it can help you find and win customers, execute content marketing plans, and more.

If your business' mission is “to make booking travel a delightful experience,” your marketing mission might be “to attract an audience of travelers, educate them on the tourism industry, and convert them into users of our bookings platform.”

Need help building your mission statement? Download this guide for examples and templates and write the ideal mission statement.

2. Determine the KPIs for this mission.

Every good marketing plan describes how the department will track its mission‘s progress. To do so, you need to decide on your key performance indicators (KPIs) .

KPIs are individual metrics that measure the various elements of a marketing campaign. These units help you establish short-term goals within your mission and communicate your progress to business leaders.

Let's take our example of a marketing mission from the above step. If part of our mission is “to attract an audience of travelers,” we might track website visits using organic page views. In this case, “organic page views” is one KPI, and we can see our number of page views grow over time.

Also, make sure to check whether your current reporting software facilitates the KPIs you need. Some reporting tools can only measure a set of pre-defined metrics, which can cause massive headaches in particular marketing campaigns.

However, other tools, like HubSpot’s analytics software , can offer full flexibility over the KPIs you wish to track.

You can generate custom reports that reveal average website engagement rates, page visits, email, social media traffic, and more.

These KPIs will come into the conversation again in step 4.

3. Identify your buyer personas.

A buyer persona is a description of who you want to attract. This can include age, sex, location, family size, and job title.

Each buyer persona should directly reflect your business' current and potential customers. All business leaders must agree on your buyer personas.

4. Describe your content initiatives and strategies.

Here‘s where you’ll include the main points of your marketing and content strategy.

Because there‘s a laundry list of content types and channels available today, you must choose wisely and explain how you’ll use your content and channels in this section of your marketing plan.

When I write this section, I like to stipulate:

• What types of content I'll create. These might include blog posts, YouTube videos, infographics, and ebooks.
• How much I'll create. I typically describe content volume in daily, weekly, monthly, or even quarterly intervals. It all depends on my workflow and the short-term goals for my content.
• The goals (and KPIs) I'll use to track each type. KPIs can include organic traffic, social media traffic, email traffic, and referral traffic. Your goals should also include which pages you want to drive that traffic to, such as product pages, blog pages, or landing pages.
• The channels on which I'll distribute my content. Popular channels include Facebook, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram.
• Any paid advertising that will take place on these channels.

5. Clearly define your plan's omissions.

A marketing plan explains the marketing team's focus. It also explains what the marketing team will not focus on.

If there are other aspects of your business that you aren‘t serving in this particular plan, include them in this section. These omissions help to justify your mission, buyer personas, KPIs, and content.

You can’t please everyone in a single marketing campaign, and if your team isn’t on the hook for something, you need to make it known.

In my experience, this section is particularly important for stakeholders to help them understand why certain decisions were made.

6. Define your marketing budget.

Whether it's freelance fees, sponsorships, or a new full-time marketing hire, use these costs to develop a marketing budget and outline each expense in this section of your marketing plan.

You can establish your marketing budget with these 8 free marketing budget templates .

7. Identify your competition.

Part of marketing is knowing your competition. Research the key players in your industry and consider profiling each one.

Keep in mind that not every competitor will pose the same challenges to your business. For example, while one competitor might rank highly on search engines for keywords that you’re also chasing, another competitor might have a heavy footprint on a social network where you plan to launch an account.

Easily track and analyze your competitors with this collection of 10 free competitive analysis templates .

8. Outline your plan's contributors and their responsibilities.

With your marketing plan fully fleshed out, it‘s time to explain who’s doing what.

I don’t like to delve too deeply into my employees’ day-to-day projects, but I know which teams and team leaders are in charge of specific content types, channels, KPIs, and more.

Now that you know why you need to build an effective marketing plan, it’s time to get to work.

Starting a plan from scratch can be overwhelming if you haven't done it before.

That’s why there are many helpful resources that can support your first steps. We’ll share some of the best guides and templates to help you build effective results-driven plans for your marketing strategies.

Ready to make your own marketing plan? Get started with this free template.

The kind of marketing plan you create will depend on your company, your industry, and your business goals. We compiled different samples to suit your needs:

1. Quarterly or Annual Marketing Plans

This marketing plan by Visit Oxnard, a convention and visitors bureau, is packed with information: target markets, key performance indicators, selling points, personas, marketing tactics by channel, and much more.

It also articulates the organization’s strategic plans for the upcoming fiscal year, especially as it grapples with the aftereffects of the pandemic.

Lastly, it has impeccable visual appeal, with color-coded sections and strong branding elements.

• It states clear and actionable goals for the coming year.
• It includes data and other research that shows how the team made its decisions.
• It outlines how the team will measure the plan’s success.

4. Safe Haven Family Shelter

This marketing plan by a nonprofit organization is an excellent example to follow if your plan will be presented to internal stakeholders at all levels of your organization.

It includes SMART marketing goals , deadlines, action steps, long-term objectives, target audiences, core marketing messages , and metrics.

The plan is detailed yet scannable. By the end of it, one can walk away with a strong understanding of the organization’s strategic direction for its upcoming marketing efforts.

• It confirms ongoing marketing strategies and objectives while introducing new initiatives.
• It uses colors, fonts, and formatting to emphasize key parts.
• It closes with long-term goals, key themes, and other overarching topics to set the stage for the future.

5. Wright County Economic Development

• “Going viral” isn’t a goal; it’s an outcome.
• Be surprising. Subvert expectations.
• Be weird and niche if you want to be weird and niche, but establishing a shared cultural understanding might result in a bigger audience.

Pridemore Properties’ Instagram smash hit is unexpected, to say the least. You think you’re getting a home tour that takes your figurative breath away; you get a home tour that takes the agent’s literal breath away.

Verizon’s toe-tapping, hip-shaking Totalmente (aka Total by Verizon, a contractless phone plan) ad debuted during Univision’s Spanish-language broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII. The ad reinvents the 1998 Elvis Crespo song “Suavemente,” an earworm if I’ve ever heard one, replacing the lyrics with Total by Verizon features.

Verizon Value’s CMO and VP of Marketing, Cheryl Gresham, has admitted that she didn’t know much about marketing to a majority-Latinx audience.

In an interview with Campaign Live , she said she didn’t think the idea would have gotten off the ground “if it had just been me and a lot of other people that had a background like myself in that room.”

CampaignLive wrote, “Gresham says the team opted for a creative concept that spoke to all the Latinos in the room — despite Gresham herself not understanding the connection.”

Gresham’s marketing strategy hinged on knowing her audience and, just as importantly, trusting her fellow marketers who knew how to reach that audience.

Strategic Takeaways for Demographic Marketing

• Know what you don’t know.
• Foster diversity in marketing leadership and staff.
• Know your audience.

The catchy tune and the great storytelling certainly don’t hurt.

But more than that, Ogilvy and Verizon dug deep into Latinx culture — more than 25 years deep — to craft an ad that doesn’t feel like it’s just responding to the latest trend. They also tapped Venezuelan American comedian, musician, and producer Fred Armisen to direct the spot.

6. Chappell Roan

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