How to Develop an Effective Marketing Plan

Take the first steps toward building an effective marketing plan by developing an outline covering the key components. Here is an overview that can be adapted to your business and customer base.

1) Clearly state your objectives – what you need to accomplish

• Generate more sales leads
• Build relationships with your audiences, leading to trust
• Improve market penetration, sales and growth goals
• Create awareness, interest, desire and action

2) Define your target audiences and their needs

• B2B, B2C or both
• Demographics including age, income, gender, education, household income
• Territories/locations – current and potential customers
• Interests and activities

3) Outline strategies/opportunities

• Start with research to best define the types of media your target audiences are most likely to consume.
• Outline the best channels to reach them and when they are most receptive to your messages.
• Look at the most cost-effective strategies to accomplish your goals – public relations, social media, print, digital and/or broadcast media for consumers.
• Establish a budget based on the selected media channels working together. You are better off using a combination of advertising methods to reach your audiences vs. just one channel.

4) Develop a strong positioning platform

• How is your company and product/service perceived by your target audiences?
• Make sure to have a clear positioning statement and unique selling proposition to differentiate your product/service.
• Two-way communication is continuing to expand with people seeking more personalized messages to address their specific needs.

5) Implement the plan

• Audience reach and frequency of messages are key components to success.
• Make sure your advertising messages have a consistent format and look for branding.
• Prepare a schedule that fits within your marketing budget, track results from the media and also for the creative/messages, then continue testing and adjusting to improve results.

This is just a brief outline with many more details needed to develop a comprehensive plan, but you need to start somewhere. Identify where your company is today, where you want to take it next year, and how to achieve your goals. Developing an effective plan will take time, but will be worth it in the long run. Our team is here to help with 25 years of creating and implementing cost-effective and impactful marketing campaigns.