over 3 years ago

Creating a marketing plan may sound like a tough task for anybody who is new in the field of marketing. It’s not as hard as it seems. Depending on your current resources, you can choose the detail level for your first marketing plan. You may have to do a bare-bones marketing plan if you don’t have that much funds or staff available. Your marketing plan would need to be much more detailed if you have enough staff and a website whose validity needs to be supported.

The Simplest Details First

The beginning of your plan should start with a summary. This is akin to most other business reports you are used to making. One suggested starting point is with an executive summary. The report can further be boosted with a table of figures in a separate page. The table can make it easier to refer back to your plan. With the help of your one-page table, you can easily refer to any detail about your marketing plan, from objectives to financial stats. Since change is inevitable, the table can make these changes to your plan easier.

Include why you had decided to go with such a plan. You need to justify why certain objectives or strategies were decided on and included in the plan. If someone cross-examines your plan to app promotion, this would be helpful. It also helps in the general decision-making process.

Who are your ideal customers? You can streamline your advertising strategy this way.

Are there any areas for improvement? Analyze the competition and market trends to come up with supporting numbers.

Set budget targets and deadlines for all your action plans.

What to Include For Your Advanced Content

Your marketing plan can also benefit from additional information – mostly details to back up the reasons behind your plan.

The SWOT analysis is a popular marketing tool that details your business or website’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Show an explanation of how your business stacks up online. How do your online competitors do business? Add helpful information on your customers’ online habits – how they use your site, other sites, and the Internet. What alternatives are there for your customers?

Include an explanation of industry trends for both online and offline business. How does your business stack up in the future?

Make an extensive financial analysis. Include your site’s BEP (Break Even Point) analysis, as well as that for other tactics in your plan. If you are using examples or theoretical situations, explain them. Be specific in discussing how your plan can make business even better.

You can also include a calendar that includes any successes or projected successes for your plan.

When creating a marketing plan, you are the boss, and the business situation is there to guide you. Your marketing plan, at the end of the day, will always be evolving. A marketing plan will always be a dynamic report, to sum it all up.