How to write a marketing plan

When promoting a product or service, it is crucial that you have a marketing plan in place. Through your marketing strategy you can plan, measure and evaluate any marketing that you do, see what works for you, and decide what to invest in in the future.

It is important for a marketing plan to:

set transparent, realistic and measurable targets that are connected to your sales targets
include deadlines for meeting targets
provide a budget for each part of the marketing strategy
identify who is responsible for each activity

Think about what is best for your business

When writing your marketing plan, think about what is best for your business. For example, if you are putting campaigns in place for lead generation to secure new clients within a specific sector, are you sure that this a reasonably balanced sector that is not going to threaten the future of your business?

Identify the strengths of your company, and play to those. Assess your target markets, what they look for in a supplier and how you can outshine your competitors.

Think long-term. A marketing plan that focuses only on short-term ‘wins’ may put your company under threat further down the line.

Find the most relevant marketing methods

Think about the best marketing methods for your target market. Within the world of direct marketing, there are countless ways to make contact. Make sure your marketing plan looks at each of your target markets to decide on the best course of action.

Make it happen

By simply writing a marketing plan, you will not magically see your sales increase. Make sure that when you develop your marketing strategy, you also plan how each of the activities will be supported. For instance, if you are going to run a telemarketing campaign for 12 months, you need to ensure that the telemarketing team has sufficient data to call, a clear telemarketing plan, and marketing collateral to send if prospects wish to have more information. Without this support, each activity will only go someway of realising its full potential within your marketing strategy.

Make sure that it is clear who in your company is responsible for each part of your marketing plan, so you know that someone is monitoring progress and flagging up any parts of the marketing strategy that aren’t working. By doing this, you will be able to make decisions further into your strategy based on past activities based on facts, rather than hunches.