Components of a Marketing Plan

Components of a Marketing Plan

Market Research 

Every effective marketing plan begins with research. Market research (also known as industry research) is the process of analyzing market conditions and current products to help you find business opportunities and discover your target audience. If you craft a startup marketing plan, you may discover an unmet need or want in your industry, which then gives you a product idea. 

Marketing opportunities for your existing business. 

• What is the size of our customer base?
• Based on trends, is our customer base growing or shrinking?
• What is our current share of the market?
• What share of the market do we think we can take?
• Are there unmet needs/missed opportunities in the market?

Primary research includes all research that you conduct yourself, such as interviews and focus groups. Secondary research refers to research that has been done by someone else, including industry reports and studies. When you study your products and customer base, primary research is beneficial. On the other hand, secondary research can provide valuable information about your competition and larger industry trends.

Goals and Objectives

A goal is a more general statement, such as, “I want to increase sales.” An objective, on the other hand, adds concrete details to your goal, such as, “I want to increase sales of women’s running shoes by 10% next quarter. Begin with your business goals and objectives, and then use those to create your marketing objectives. 

• Becoming the market leader in your industry 
• Increasing profit 
• Decreasing costs 

Target Market 

As a small business, you have a defined group of ideal potential customers known as your target market. Additionally, every marketing plan for a small business requires a defined target market. 

Your customer base demographics and your marketing plan target audience don’t need to be the same. When you select a target market, there are two strategies — sell to a demographic already in your customer base or expand your customer base to include a new demographic group.

Product

Once you’ve established the target market in your marketing plan for small businesses, it’s time to focus on your product. First, specify which products this marketing plan aims to sell. Once you have a specific product set down, define how your product relates to your target market. 

When you select a product, there are two strategies — sell a current product with little or no modifications or introduce a new product or product line. 

Competitive Analysis

Now you have your target market and your product. It’s time to see how you measure up against your competition. To figure out who your competition is, ask yourself, “What are all the possible alternatives to my product that someone in my target market would consider?”Remember, your competition includes the solutions that your target market currently uses.

Positioning/Unique Selling Proposition

The positioning step is where you define your competitive advantage. After you compare yourself to the competition, you need to summarize your advantage in a statement known as your unique selling proposition (USP).A unique selling proposition (also known as a value proposition) outlines what you offer your target market and how you’re better or different from the competition.

Strategy

Now that you understand what you’re selling, who you’re selling to, and how you compare to the competition, it’s time to talk strategy. The strategy portion of your marketing plan for small business includes the tactics you’ll use to achieve your business objectives. There are four primary areas of marketing strategy, known as the marketing mix . The four Ps of marketing are product, price, promotion, and place. Each area has its tactics and should be covered in your marketing strategy. 

• Product: Changing packaging, releasing limited edition products, adding services to your products
• Price: Offering a discount, implementing a credit policy
• Promotion: Advertising, content marketing, email marketing, social media marketing
• Place: Adding a sales channel, partnering with a distributor

Budget

a business owner, you don’t have an unlimited amount of resources. You need to review your goals and objectives and determine a budget for your marketing strategy. In most cases, you should generate a positive return on investment (ROI). Put simply, you need to make more money than you spend. If your goal is to increase revenue by 20% next quarter, your quarterly marketing budget should be less than the additional income. Consider any additional costs in terms of sales efforts or production when you create your marketing budget.

Key Performance Indicators

Finally, before you put your plan into action, you need to list your key performance indicators. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are the metrics that you’ll measure to determine the success of your marketing plan. Let’s say your goal is to increase sales, and you plan to achieve that by improving your website’s conversion rate. Your KPIs are sales volume and website conversion rate. You can also measure related metrics like website traffic and the average value of each sale to help you understand the different levers that affect your bottom line.