How to create a plan!

A good marketing plan should define how you are going to market your products or services.  It should also include your aims and objectives and how you are going to implement them.

However, a marketing plancan be very wide-ranging and can include anything from a 10-year vision to how to increase sales in one product or service over the next two years.

With that in mind, here’s our guide to help you start your very own marketing plan.

What should your marketing plan achieve?

Your plan will rest on where you want your business to go and forms part of your overall business aims and here’s some examples of what these might be and strategies you could use:

• Increase sales
• Bring in new customers
• Get existing customers to buy more
• Introduce new products or services
• Further establish your brand
• Launch a PR campaign
• Retain existing profitable customers
• Offer existing customers exclusive offers

Here’s our step-by-step tips:

Research

Carry out detailed analysis of your company, your market, and your competitors.

Identify your target customers and segment them by splitting into groups such as existing and target customers.

Examine your products or services with the objective of how you are going to market them such as:

• USPs – what can your products or services offer than no other competitor can?
• Benefits – arising from determining your USPs what benefits your customer?

Finally, how you are going to communicate the benefits of buying your products or service to your target customers?

Whatever your marketing plan, you should write it down:

• Everything should be simple to understand, representative, and with a clear path of action
• Be ready to adapt your marketing strategy as and when necessary – there are an endless number of influences that could require a change.  Remember, it is flexibility that will keep you ahead of your competition.

We hope our tips have given you some ideas for your 2018 plan?  However, if you would like further information about how we can help support your future business plans, please contact us.

By Ann Davies, Director and Erran Taylor, Digital Marketing Manager