How to create and write a marketing plan. A step-by-step guide, assessment tool and case study.

The video for this article is on YouTube.

So, you need a marketing plan, or you need to revise the one you have as the current version is just not good enough. What do you put in the plan? How do you structure it? I’m going to cover the 6 elements that make up the basic contents of a best-in-class marketing plan

1) In this article I’m going to show you the 6 minimum elements that make up a great marketing plan, and why you need each one.

2) I’m going to show you a simple tool to evaluate where you against these topics.

3) Finally, I’m going to let you know about a free case study that shows what is possible if you execute these 6 things correctly.

The 6 topics that make up the marketing plan

Understand your Customers

  • This critical starting point is your first step towards an effective marketing plan, as it helps you to make decisions about what to do – based on what your customer’s needs are and fulfilling those needs in order to create a successful business.
  • This is the foundation – Understand your customer, using techniques like “customer journey” to know who the target customer is and gain insight into what they do and why they do it.

Analyse your Market and Business Situation

  • Analyse market information, competitor, and your own company data to identify opportunities for growth.
  • With thorough analysis, using a structured process, you will achieve a deep and objective understanding of the key information on the market, competitors, and customers to enable you to distill insights, identifying issues and opportunities for your business.

Identify Issues and Opportunities

  • Based on external and internal insights, connect multiple information sources to uncover what issues and opportunities there are and what actions are required to achieve business success.
  • By summarising the key issues and opportunities for your customers and market, you can focus your resources on the RIGHT opportunities to maximise growth with minimised risk.

Develop Effective Plans

  • Develop the Annual Marketing Plan – set Objectives, Key Performance Indicators, create the Marketing plans and calendar of activities to drive business growth. Developing the plan is the integration of all elements of the marketing mix including product, brand, pricing, promotions, and channel management to support the strategic focus of the business. End result is tangible action plans and communications that will drive implementation in the market.
  • An effective plan determines where to focus resources to maximise profitable growth and meet business goals over the medium and long term, without a quality plan, you will be stuck in chaos, with no growth.

Implement the Plan

  • “Implement the Plan” is about excellent execution of the plan in the market to deliver an involving and integrated experience across the customer journey to drive growth in line with strategic goals. It is working with customers, influencers & consumers to activate the main Marketing levers effectively:
    Product/portfolio
    2.Pricing
    3.Place/Channel
    4.Promotion
    5. People
  • Without great execution of the plan, a great plan won’t deliver results..

Track, Measure, and Review your Outcomes

  • Monitor the progress and effectiveness of Marketing activities, and adjust where needed.
  • This ensures the Marketing plan delivers maximum value for your customers and delivers the business objectives. It also allows your business to learn and improve for the next iteration of the Marketing plan.

 

Now, a simple tool to evaluate where you against these topics, download free template at this link:

https://marketing.stepstogrowth.com/marketing-assessment-template

Tells you where you are now and what you need to do next.

So, if this has sparked the need to either write your marketing plan or revise what you already have, and you want to see what is possible by doing all these steps properly, I have a free case study with a number of examples, simply go to this link below, (and on screen) or my website at stepstogrowth.com to see the free case study video. It will outline how to get you a marketing plan or improving your marketing plan, as fast as you are able to work it. The link is https://marketing.stepstogrowth.com/free-video

 

 

Introduction to Marketing: What is Marketing?

INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING: WHAT IS MARKETING?

 

Welcome! From all of us at Steps to Growth Ltd.,  we are delighted that you have become involved in Marketing.

This article “Introduction to Marketing: What is Marketing”, is the first in  a series of ten articles that give an overview of what Marketing is and the importance of the Marketing Plan to your business.

The aim through these articles, is that at the end, you:

  • Appreciate what Marketing is, the value it can bring and how you can impact your business with the power of Marketing.
  • Feel comfortable talking about Marketing concepts.
  • Know some of the key tools and terms of Marketing.

SO, WHAT IS MARKETING?

Companies often spend much of their time focused on day to day sales activities.  This is great, but can mean opportunities to grow and develop the business longer term are often neglected.

To ensure a business continues to be successful, it is critical to look at the bigger  picture, finding opportunities to improve the customer offer and grow and plan for  the long term.

Some examples of how you can do this are:

  • Gain insight into your target customer and competitors
  • Identify wider market opportunities
  • Generate new prospects or opportunities
  • Monitor and measure business health and progress, and amend your activity in response to your learnings.

Marketing is often associated with  advertising and visual identity. In the digital world, people often talk about “reach”, “clicks”, “likes” etc. But there’s so much more to it than posters, point of sale and your “presence” online….

With a good understanding of what  customers want, delivered in a creative way,  Marketing can help us all focus on what  really matters to customers and as a result  – deliver business growth.

DEFINITION OF MARKETING

A definition from one of the Greats…

 

My simple definition, that has served me well:

Those companies that do this better than the competition – win!

THE VALUE OF MARKETING

Overall the role of Marketing is to:

  1. Understand your customer, including who they are, what they do, and why they do it. This critical starting point is your first step towards becoming a good marketer, as it helps you to make decisions about what to do.
  2. Develop products, services and experiences that meet your customer’s needs, and then promote them so your customers know that they’re available.

  3. Track progress and adjust your offers appropriately, so they continue to deliver what the customer truly wants. Marketing teams are responsible for the Customer Value Proposition (CVP); from insights, to development to delivery and ultimately providing business growth.

MARKETING IS A PROCESS

Many in the Marketing world, academics and agencies love to make things more complex than they actually are…

The reason for this is they then get to charge you money to explain it to you or do the job for you.

Rather than being some mystical, esoteric “thing”, what most people miss is that Marketing is a PROCESS, based around finding customer needs and filling them.

with an easy to implement, step-by-step framework, anyone can cut through the “woolly jargon” to create a quality Marketing plan that delivers business growth.

We hope you have found this short introduction useful. In the next article, we will cover an important element of Marketing: The Power of Brands.

www.stepstogrowth.com