What’s the point of a marketing plan?

Everyone is a marketer if you think that posting on social media is marketing. But it’s not. Marketing is a strategic discipline for any organisation, no matter how small, that wants to achieve long term commercial success. Good business management requires a marketing mindset and a robust marketing plan. A marketing plan provides strategic direction and informs every single marketing action from the colour of a logo, the usability of a website to the tone of a press article.

“Maybe I’m a little biased, but a solid marketing plan is critical to success”

 Originally regarded as a creative profession, marketing is now considered a science due to making use of research and insights, data and mathematics, behavioural psychology, anthropology and neuroscience. The practice of marketing spans market research, product design, branding, communications, advertising, relationship management and customer satisfaction surveys.

 As such, marketing science has developed a process that can be followed to create a marketing plan.  Creating a marketing plan is standard practice for any organisation that wants to see measured success.  Get the formula right and marketing should pay for itself. 

Seven areas to consider in a successful marketing plan

Situation Analysis  

• What problem does your product or service solve for a potential customer?

• What solutions to you provide?

• What is the current state of the industry you operate in?

• Who are the different types of customer you appeal to?

• Who are your main competitors and what are their strengths and weaknesses?

• Who are your business partners and how do they benefit your business?

• Marketing models such as a SWOT analysis & PESTLE can be useful tools

  Goals & Objectives

• What do you wish to achieve in a given period of time?

• What are the specific, detailed measurable objectives?

• Are the objectives attainable, relevant and timely?

Strategy & Branding

•  What is the company vision?

• What is the purpose of the organisation (above simply making a profit)?

• How will goals and objectives be met?

• Who are the key target audiences and how are they best reached?

• What does the business sell, how is this done and why?

• How do you wish your brand to be perceived?

• What is the compelling, unique value proposition?

Marketing Tactics

• What traditional and digital marketing activities will be implemented?

• What is the communications strategy (which marketing channels will be used)?

• Will you use an automated CRM system to nurture prospects?

• Are the sales, marketing and customer success teams aligned?

Budget

• Determine a marketing budget that best allows marketing objectives to be achieved

Measurement

• How will effectiveness of your marketing plan be measured to determine success?

• What are the key performance metrics/what will be tracked? 

• What tools will be used to measure campaign success?

  Continuous Improvement

• It is crucial to recognise that a marketing plan evolves and outcomes can be improved over time, so a marketing plan needs to be reviewed and updated at regular intervals.

Not only does a marketing plan give structure to marketing activity, it can also help a business achieve its growth objectives, help a trust serve its stakeholders or a club fulfil its obligations to its members and the wider community.

Maybe I’m a little biased, but a solid, evolving marketing plan is critical to success.  Without one, you may as well just be shouting into the wind.

Image credit Joshua Earle on Unsplash