How to Develop a Marketing Plan Template Learn the secrets to developing your very own marketing plan template! When you purchase this e-book, you will be provided with the contents needed for your marketing plan template, including how to fill out each section.
A marketing plan isn’t just about what you’re going to say. Marketing is about making people aware that your company does business, creates products or services that fit their needs, and that they can buy from you directly or through resellers. The marketing plan template should help you focus not only on creating awareness but also on the actual products and services your company offers.
Why you need a marketing plan
Having a marketing plan can help you to:
- identify your target market and how your product or service can benefit it
- identify how you might attract new customers
- encourage your existing customers to continue purchasing your product or service
- set goals and time frames for your marketing activities
- map out a strategy to reach your target audience, including the messages, channels and tools you’ll use
- evaluate your marketing activities
- provide a marketing budget and see your return on investment.
Develop your marketing plan
Our template steps you through the process of developing a succession plan with links to extra information if you need it.
Analyse your market
Market research can help you to understand your strengths, weaknesses and the opportunities that you can take advantage of. Analysing your own business and your competition can help you identify where you’re positioned in the market.
It’s important to analyse your competition to identify their strengths and weaknesses. This can help you refine your marketing strategy and what’s unique about your business.
A strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis can help you determine where your business fits within the market and your unique selling point. Use it to help identify what your business is doing well and how you can improve.
Identifying and understanding your customers is an essential part of your marketing plan. Not everyone is your potential buyer, so it’s important to have a clear understanding of your target market early on.
Conduct market research
It’s time to find out how much interest there could be for your new product. There are many ways to conduct market research, but you don’t need to go super-specific on the first go.
You will need to start with some assumptions. For example, if you are selling hair gel for men you could identify how many men there are in the area where you sell, find sales statistics from bigger companies who sell similar products and try to play them out in your numbers.
If you are looking to introduce a new product, you might interview a set number of people to see how they react to your proposition.
To analyze existing needs on the market we could use some tools on the internet. Let’s see what tools we could use to find out more about the potential market size on the internet.
When researching, keep these 3 things in mind: potential market size, market trend, and seasonality.
It’s time to find out how much interest there could be for your new product. There are many ways to conduct market research, but you don’t need to go super-specific on the first go.
You will need to start with some assumptions. For example, if you are selling hair gel for men you could identify how many men there are in the area where you sell, find sales statistics from bigger companies who sell similar products and try to play them out in your numbers.
If you are looking to introduce a new product, you might interview a set number of people to see how they react to your proposition.
To analyze existing needs on the market we could use some tools on the internet. Let’s see what tools we could use to find out more about the potential market size on the internet.
When researching, keep these 3 things in mind: potential market size, market trend, and seasonality.
Set your goals and objectives
Once you’re clear about your business and its positioning, you can start thinking about what you want to achieve. Think about your main business goals, whether it’s the size of your business, expansion plans or desired sales. Set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound (SMART) goals to increase your chances of success in achieving them.
Outline your marketing strategies
Once you’ve set some goals, consider what marketing activity, process or price will help you achieve them.
Try and choose marketing activities that suit your business and your customers. For example, if you want to target young adults, newspaper advertising may not be as effective as a social media campaign.
Choosing multiple activities that complement each other is a good way to help you get your message across. For example, if you’re trying to establish a new product in the market, you may choose to advertise on the local radio, as well as setting up social media channels and introducing a low-cost pricing strategy for first-time buyers. When used together, these strategies complement each other and help you reach a broader market.
Define your audience
Now that you know the properties of your product inside-out, it’s time to find out if there’s a good market for it and if so, where.
Let’s start by determining the perfect audiences for your product. Without knowing your audiences, it will be difficult to assess the potential market size.
What is a target audience?
Let’s start by defining what a target audience is.
A target audience is a group of people who share similar behaviors, interests and/or specific demographics. Target audiences are crucial for making marketing strategies, allocating budget, attracting new customers and developing your product.
For example, if you know that your product is mostly used by females, you could try to develop it in a way that is more appealing to women. This is an over-simplification – in reality, you can go much deeper into this topic.
Conclusion
Use this template to develop your own marketing plan. It’s a simple spreadsheet that will help you answer critical questions about marketing, including: What is your target market? Who are you trying to reach? How much money should you budget for marketing, and how should it be allocated across various channels?You may want to check our tips below before you start.