What is a Marketing Plan and how to make one?

Author: Rachita Bansal

Date: 16th December 2020

Introduction to Marketing Plan:

A marketing plan refers to a business plan or the strategy for running various functions and processes of the organization for the upcoming year or the quarter. Fact: marketing plan deals with the synopsis of your business goals and the explanation of your marketing business position.

Marketing Plan maps all your goals, tasks, and achievements that you need to accomplish in order to grow as an organization. Businesses create this plan to succeed and plan a brighter future.

Tips to create a Succinct marketing plan:

Step 1-Make your goals clear- The first step is to identify, what you want to achieve and the key factors that will help attain the required goals. Set up measurable goals that bring accountability to your work.

Tip: Make a list of marketing goals and select the top 5 goals and prioritize them accordingly.

Step 2- SWOT Analysis to know your business-

Some companies go for the Swot analysis which helps in determining the strength and weakness of an organization and also identify the opportunities and threats that could come your way.

If you want a perfect plan, then don't skip SWOT analysis!

Step 3- Market Research- We all research well before implementing the plan. Research is a key aspect to find out about the pros and cons and minimizes the risks involved in business decisions.

Step 4- Define your Target market- Know about the audience that you want to focus on. For instance: toys will be a target for the children, the Automobile industry targeted people interested in vehicles, whereas cosmetic products would best fit in for the ladies/ females.

Step 5-Make sure that you work on marketing strategies So what are marketing strategies? If your company has certain goals then the strategy is the route, by increasing brand awareness which helps to recall or recognize the company creating key aspects to consumer behavior, advertising management, brand management, and increasing the sales volume.

Step 6- Marketing Tactics- Always remember that you must follow the strategies strictly to shape your goals & tactics that are a prerequisite to implement & achieve the desired goals in less time.

Step 7- Define your marketing budget- Lastly, all of this requires a budget, even if you are not doing the paid Facebook ads or PPC's. You need a predefined budget and create a marketing strategy accordingly. Try keeping it a little bit higher as marketing plays a valuable role in the success of the business in today's times.

Step 8- Finally, good to go! Now you have the marketing plan for your business. You must be thinking, what's next? The next step involves taking a pause, looking at the fault in the marketing plan, and correcting them if any.

You can then begin with the implementation of your marketing plan.