Tips in Creating an Effective Business Marketing Plan

A marketing plan is an essential part of a business plan. It helps you set clear goals to build a successful brand.

This article highlights nine tips on how you can formulate an effective business marketing plan for your brand.

What is a Marketing Plan

A marketing plan gives details of a business’s marketing and advertising strategies. It also enlists the business activities involved in the achievement of particular marketing goals.

What is a Business Plan

A business plan typically guides an organization in planning, sets goals and objectives, and explains how to accomplish them.

Nine Tips to Create an Effective Business Marketing Plan

1. Write your business vision statement and mission statement
According to Wikipedia, “A vision statement is a declaration of an organization’s objectives, intended to guide its internal decision-making.”

“A mission statement is a short statement of why an organization exists, what its overall goal is, identifying the goal of its operations: what kind of product or service it provides, its primary customers or market, and its geographical region of operation.”

2. Write your executive summary
The executive summary is a brief description of the business marketing plan and should be written succinctly but draws the readers’ attention.

3. Identify your market segmentation and targeting
Determine your target audience—once you’re able to do this, work on creating value for your target audience.

4. Know your competition and environment
Are your products and services competitively priced? Are you ahead of your competition in providing value to your target audience? Evaluate your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and use this information to compare with your rivals. Make adjustments accordingly.

5. Provide your offer
Prioritize your customers’ needs. Besides, consumers need to know about your products and services, so make sure that you have a concise description. Also, identify your pricing strategy and do validity testing.

6. Determine your market positioning and strategy
Create the image of your brand— show who you are, what you have to offer and how you can deliver value; determine the marketing strategies for your company in the best way that will help you stand out. Look at the main barriers; alternative approaches and decide what the critical factors are for your success.

7. Establish your marketing and sales model
A plethora of advertising and promotion strategies are available on the market. Target your customers and decide which approach is right for your brand. You may need to compare your strategy with that of your competitor and adjust over time to see which one works best.

8. Launch your product or service
Set a timeline and goal once you’re ready to launch your product or service, identify potential threats or bottlenecks, review key success factors, and review your marketing action plan.

9. Monitor, evaluate and review results
It is crucial to track, assess and review your marketing activities to decide whether they achieve the desired results for your brand—does your investment yield a profit or have you acquired new clients? Review your findings and make adjustments as appropriate. You can track your results by using analytics.

Your efforts determine the success of your business marketing plan, irresistible as you’d like it to be—create, execute, and move with the wave.