To effectively reach your audience and target market in business, you would need a marketing plan.

A  marketing plan is a drafted document that shows how a business intends to use advertising and other promotional strategies to target a specific market. It can be established separately, but more usually, it is established as part of an overall business plan. This would mean that before you go into business, you should have created a sound marketing plan.

Why do I need a marketing plan?

• It provides you with the opportunity to itemize your business goals and objectives and how to involve your customers to enable you to achieve them.
• It enables you to understand your customers, what they need and what they do not need at a particular point in time.
• It gives a sense of direction to your marketing approach toward your potential customers.
•  It can serve as a sort of checklist which would enable you to keep track of your successes in your marketing setup.

What constitutes a good marketing plan?

Now we have discussed why you need a marketing plan for your business. The next thing you would likely want to know would be what makes up a good marketing plan. These could otherwise be referred to as the elements of a good marketing plan:

1. Your marketing goals and objectives

These are your measurable marketing goals that should cover one year. They should also align with your business plan.

2. Target audience

A good marketing plan would fully describe the characteristics of your potential customers as well as their attitudes towards your product or service.

3. Researched and planned marketing tactics

This is the laid out pattern or channels through which the marketing strategy will be employed to achieve your business goals and objectives.

4. Budget and Timeline

This refers to the timeline set to employ a particular marketing strategy. A good marketing plan would also contain a budget for the marketing costs.

We have seen the elements of a good marketing plan. To achieve an outstanding marketing plan, there are things which we must put in place.

How do I create an outstanding marketing plan?

There are five practical steps to take to create an outstanding marketing plan:

1. Carry out a situation analysis

This is the first step toward building your marketing plan. Here you should gain an understanding of your market. Compare your business to those of your competitors and figure out what you should do to set yourself apart from them.

2. Set out your target audience

This refers to your potential customers. Set out who your product/service is for and obtain relevant information relating to the characteristics of your potential customers. Do they like your type of product a certain way or not?

3. Itemize your business goals and objectives

Your business objectives should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timebound. In other words, they should be SMART.

4. Analyze your marketing tactics and strategy

After itemizing your goals and objectives, you would next need to analyze your intended marketing strategy to see how best it achieves your objectives.

5. Include your budget

Your marketing tactics and strategy would likely be expensive. You would then need to set a budget. This will guide your expenses in implementing your marketing plan.

Conclusion

In your business, whether small or large, it is important and necessary to have a marketing plan. It would help you keep focus and understand your customers better.

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