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Create a Marketing Plan - Useful Tips For The Growing Business
Create a Marketing Plan
Marketing Checklist – Growing
A Marketing plan is essential for any business, as it attempts to compete and build market share. A marketing plan requires you to look into your business and evaluate your core competencies and your business goals and performance. You must also analyse the competitive environment, know your customers and develop strategies for building a sustainable competitive advantage. A marketing plan must be aligned to the business goals and support the business plan.
This checklist is designed to assist you in creating your marketing plan, setting your foundation for growth.
Begin with analysing the market
This is the obvious starting place for a marketing plan. Without a detailed understanding of the market you are planning to compete in, your marketing decisions will not be informed and the results could be costly. In this initial research, you should be looking at the market from a broader perspective. It is important to conduct research periodically, as today’s markets are dynamic.
1. What is the size and the potential of your market? What economic, political, technical and social trends will have a positive or negative impact on your business? 2. Are there any new market segments both domestically and overseas that you could enter. 3. Can your market be segmented, based on different needs and usage habits? What are the characteristics of these segments? 4. What is the rate of market growth? What are the trends and developments in your industry? |
The marketing environment
The marketing environment is the playing field in which your products and services will be delivered. There are many forces at work and you need to understand these trends and have a view on future direction. There are two levels of analysis that you need to conduct; 1) a holistic market view, where you assess key trends such as social, technological, economic, political and demographic change that may impact your business, and 2) a micro view of your direct competitive environment.
1. In which markets do you currently compete? 2. How do you differentiate your business? 3. What external factors impact your business? Consider market structure, pricing, barriers to entry and costs to promote your business. 4. Look into your industry but also other industries that serve the same target market. How do you evaluate their marketing activities? |
Know your customer
The customer is the entity that puts your product or service to use. Your customers are motivated to buy within their decision making process. You need to align your activities and brand promise to appeal to their criteria. To do that, you need to build a detailed profile of your target market.
1. Do the needs of our target market match our core competencies? Are we leveraging our main assets. 2. What are the purchasing habits of your customers and what is important in their decision making process? 3. How do your existing customers view your current product/s and service quality? 4. What are the media consumption habits of your customers? Start to evaluate the most effective channels to reach your audience. |
Conduct a Situation Analysis (SWOT)
“Where are we now” and “where do we want to be”. The answers to these two questions, you may arrive at through doing a SWOT analysis. A scan of the internal and external environment is an important part of the marketing plan process. A SWOT analysis considers your businesses Strengths and Weaknesses and evaluates market Opportunities and Threats. This analysis is useful as it matches your businesses resources and competencies to the environment in which you operate.
Here are some ideas for completing your SWOT analysis;
- Strengths – brand image, patent or proprietary know-how, access to resources, strong reputation amongst existing customers, established distribution networks.
- Weaknesses – lack of IP protection, poor service levels, high cost structures, high staff turnover.
- Opportunities – an unfulfilled customer need, new technologies, changing political or economic policy.
- Threats – new regulations, increase trade protection, changing customer preferences, new technologies, substitute products.
1. Have you evaluated the current strengths and weaknesses within your organisation and used a matrix to plot market opportunities and threats. 2. How do you perceive your competitors are positioned within this quadrant? 3. Where are the “white spaces” that represent a market gap? |
Competitor Analysis
In order to capture market share from your competitors, you need to anticipate their strategies and reactions to your marketing programs. Remember, your competitors are always working to take market share from your business. Direct competitors will be selling the same service or product into your target market now. However, potential competitors may have a core competency and an opportunity to enter your market.
1. On what levels do you compete and how successful are you eg. price, performance, service, quality or brand. 2. What is your market share and that of your competitors? 3. What marketing strategies and tactics does the competition use and have they been successful? |
Set Marketing Objectives
You need to constantly assess your marketing performance. Each tactical campaign should be different to the last, taking into account previous learning’s. Marketing is a key expenditure in your business and you should assess how effective it has been in delivering a measurable outcome (ROI). Marketing objectives generally are divided into: market share or sales, improving customer lifetime value and brand equity.
1. Are my marketing objectives measurable, realistic and aligned to the resource plan of the business? 2. Am I prepared to conduct a post-campaign evaluation? |
Create Marketing Initiatives to deliver to your Strategy
Once you have a marketing strategy in place, you can begin to develop tactical campaigns and activities. It is from these that the budgets, resource requirements and timelines of the marketing plan can be defined. This part of the marketing plan will require co-ordination and involvement from other parts of your business.
As a business owner you have many options for executing marketing initiatives. Do you focus on the product, distribution, pricing or promotional activities? This is often referred to as the Marketing Mix. You can have both an internal product development/process view or focus on how you position yourself externally in the market. Your previous research will be beneficial in defining these options and where you can maximise your return on investment.
Important - Read This: This information is intended to provide general information only which may not be applicable to your particular circumstances. You agree to access this information at your own risk and that First Point Media Pty Ltd is not liable to you for the content of the information or any reliance by you on this information.
