The Do-It-Yourself Marketing Plan
Every business needs to prepare an annual marketing plan. It's a kind of 'roadmap' complete with milestones and directions that help you get where you want to go. There are five areas that need to be covered in any marketing plan. The extent of the coverage really depends on how detailed it needs to be to suit your individual needs. There are no points earned for fancy writing but it does have to be thorough and communicate all the important facts about your business. But it doesn't have to bristle with hard to come by facts and figures. You can put together your own simple marketing plan by documenting things in five simple steps.
Step 1 - Look at where you are now
Describe your present situation; what you're doing, what you're selling, how you're selling it and include an analysis of your competitors and how they are handling these things - this can provide plenty of ideas for improvement in your business. Have a look at what's happening in the market and any indications of new products or directions on the horizon. State the commercial and legal forces that are impacting on your business.
Do a bit of research into what others in your line of business are doing. The internet is handy for this. Look for trends or outstanding successes you can emulate. Include your revenue and profit expectations for this financial year.
Step 2 - Analyze your current customers and think about who might be prospective customers
Perform a simple analysis of your present customer base. Are they businesses or individuals? What do they buy? Why do they buy from you? How do you reach them? List your customers or identify them by groupings as may be appropriate. Analyze each customer or group and their importance to your business, then assess which represent the best opportunities for growth. What can you do for each group that might help you get more purchases from them?
The most difficult part of this analysis is to identify those segments that you don't have as customers now but would like to add to your customer base. Who are they and how can you acquire them? What would it take to get them buying from you?
Step 3 - Decide where you want to go
This is where you list your goals, targets, hopes and dreams for the next twelve months. For this, use the most realistic estimates you can make, not just wishful statements - unit sales, revenues, customer numbers, average sale value and so on. If you can break it down by months or quarters, even better.
If you intend to acquire a particular customer or account put this down too, together with the anticipated value to the business it will bring in.
Step 4 - Plan for how you'll get there
This is the core of your marketing plan. Here's where you summarize your strategies and how you'll manage them. If you plan to advertise you'll put it here, together with the reasons for the advertising you've planned and what you want it to accomplish.
If you plan to use publicity to reach into a certain industry or exhibit at shows to target a particular type of business, list the idea here and include why this particular activity is important to your business.
Put all the elements of your plan into a calendar and see how it looks. If your promotions are too concentrated in one part of the year you'll see it here and redraft your plans. If you're planning a big sale you'll have to correlate your promotions so people know it's on. Relate every activity here to where you want to be at the end of the year.
Step 5 - Set the marketing budget
This is where you put it all down in terms of money. Every marketing activity has a cost and should also make a contribution to your revenues. Express all the plans you've made in a budget and work through it until it looks good on paper. Take the costs of the activities you're planning, and balance those with achievable estimates of what you'll earn. This should be shown at least by quarter and preferably by month.
So now you have a marketing plan. Get it in print and work to it. You know exactly where you are now and where you want to be in twelve months' time. You have a calendar of marketing activities and a budget you've agreed is realistic.
Developing a marketing plan and following it is the best way to assure that your business really will reach its sales target. |
