Marketing plan - What is it? What is it for? examples, and more

Marketing plan

Written document where sales objectives and action plans are defined.

What is a marketing plan?

A marketing plan is a written document where sales objectives and action plans are defined, which will contribute to achieving the general strategy of the company.

Thus, it is that section of the business plan that answers questions such as: what is the demographic profile of the consumer? What are the psychological characteristics of the client (attitudes, beliefs, needs, and desires)? What marketing programs will be used? Among other.

What is a marketing plan for?

The main benefits of having a marketing plan are the following:

• It allows identifying the size of the market and, within it, the type of target customer. In this way, marketing techniques can be directed to a specific customer target, optimizing the allocation of resources in advertising and promotion.
• Provides a clear vision of the final objective and shows the steps to follow to achieve it, since it informs the current position (sales levels and current segments of customers served), detailing the future stages that must be covered with dates, tasks, and responsible for achieving the proposed goal.
• It forces to identify the competitors, their products, services, sales channels, among others. Seeing how the rest unfolds is important to enhance the differential value proposition that the company will offer.
• It has metrics that facilitate the monitoring and analysis of results. Thus, for example, the effectiveness of advertising actions and promotions aimed at generating more sales and/or new customers can be measured.

How to make a marketing plan?

Marketers go through a series of steps to come up with an effective marketing plan. Although there is no unanimity in its amount, the following actions are part of the majority:

1. Identify the target market: the ideal customer for the product or service offered by the company must be defined, for which their interests, tastes, attitudes, and purchase stimuli must be understood.
2. Quantify market size – Once the customer has been identified, the potential consumer base must be determined.
3. Establish goals and objectives in the short and long term: based on the client and the size of the market, it will be necessary to set the goals and objectives to define where we want to go. For example, the expected level of sales, the number of customers to reach, etc.
4. Define the marketing strategy: at this stage, you have to work on the steps to follow to achieve the goals set in the previous point. A variety of marketing tactics and tools will be used to meet the stated objectives.
5. Selling Propositions – The steps necessary to convert visitors into customers should be laid out. The price of the product or service, advertising, distribution, etc. is determined.
6. Budget: the necessary budget must be stipulated to carry out the actions proposed in the marketing plan.
7. Measure the results: Once the actions are completed, the results must be analyzed to establish their degree of compliance and recognize deviations, so that future strategies can be improved.

 

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