The purpose of a marketing plan is laying out how a company will achieve its stated business goals, and providing a framework to ensure that activities stay true to the vision and mission of the company. When starting the process of developing a marketing plan, there are five critical areas for consideration – positioning, objectives, strategy, tactics and execution.
Positioning
Positioning is determining the market space your product or service occupies and the benefits to the that market. The exercise of determining positioning typically results in developing a positioning statement. Your next question may be – what is a positioning statement?
A statement or set of statements specifically used to create an image in the mind of your customers. It is how you want them to visualize your product in relation to the market and competition.
To contribute effectively to the marketing plan, take the time to dig deep, challenge and define the benefits and uniqueness of your offering. Really hone those competitive differentiators and your positioning by brainstorming on the specific target audience, what the product/service is specifically, and why it’s important. Then put a child’s thinking hat on, and keep asking “Why?” and “So?” to get to the heart of what your product or service truly offers the market.
Objective
With the product or service offering and market space defined, what do you want to accomplish with the product or service? Defining the company objective requires deliberate thought that can often produce lofty objectives and goals. We have all heard – shoot for the moon, so you land in the stars. While sound advice to stretch your team, it may not be convincing enough to spend hard dollars.
Look at what you want to achieve, make sure it is Specific and Measurable. “ABC Company will achieve 50% market share in the first year of business.” Definitely measurable, but is it Attainable? Maybe, but available resources will determine the amount of market share attainable. Beyond resources, is the objective Reasonable? Now you need to think about the total available market and market maturity. And, finely is this objective Timely? Is it achievable within the time frame of the plan?
A huge objective often inspires a company to greatness – just make sure it is S.M.A.R.T.
Strategy
Now, it is time to think in general terms about how the company will achieve its objectives. Is it through cornering a certain part of an untouched market segment? Do you challenge the existing market with new products? Capture market share with a loss-leader product? Consider weighing the pros and cons of what each strategy provides the company.
Strategy is an evolution, and not something typically decided in an hour’s time. However, taking the time to think through some possible strategic directions will certainly aid in the creation of the marketing plan. Whichever strategy chosen to achieve the objective certainly affects the necessary budget and the tactics available to execute the strategy.
What should the budget be? That depends on both the objective and dollars available. The chart below can provide an estimate of what is typical for size of company and percentage of gross revenue.
Tactics/Planning
The detail of the tactics and the planning will take place in the Marketing Communication Activity Plan. In terms of developing the marcom plan, consider what directions might be a good fit. A word of caution – be open to all possibilities and be realistic. If the total marketing budget is $100,000 – planning a full page, full color ad in your industry’s leading publication 12x a year might not provide the best ROI for those dollars. Maybe that spend can produce better results by redesigning the company’s website and investing in search engine marketing.
So, how do you determine what provides the best return for the marketing dollars? Collaborating with a team with marketing expertise can help stretch the budget and invest in activities that produce positive, measurable results.
Sample ideas for Marketing Communications Activity:
Sample short-term marcom activity plan
Sample long-term marcom activity plan
Execution
It is in execution where the most beautifully laid plans hit a brick wall. Though execution is last on this list of things to consider, it most definitely is not least. Having the right people, tools and processes to carry out the planned activities to support the strategy and achieve the objective is critical. In fact, this is a necessary thought to carry in the background during plan and strategy development. You need strategists, but without people who can Just do it (as Nike would say…) your plan is just that – a plan.
Now there is plenty on your plate to consider before developing your next marketing plan. Curious about next steps? Contact TREW Marketing or visit our Marketing Planning page where you can find additional related blog posts as well as case studies of our work in this area.
