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Elements of a Good Marketing Plan
By Renea Myers, president of Renea
Myers Marketing
I am often asked to help take the mystery out of
developing a marketing plan. I believe a marketing
plan should be a relatively brief, straightforward
and easy to follow guide for your business to follow
over a specific period of time.
Here is a template for a generic marketing plan to
help your business get moving in 2009.
| I. Executive Summary |
-Brief summary of goals and overall recommendations
(write this last)
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II. Business Description (it’s a good idea
to refresh the team on the basics of the
business) |
-One sentence description of services/products
provided
-30-second commercial
-Points of Difference/Benefits
-Your Unique Positioning Statement
-SWOT analysis outcomes
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III. Environmental Scan |
-Overview of current market situation (product,
pricing, distribution), competition, challenges,
trends
-Services required by customers
-Changes in customer demands
-What marketing activities are the most successful
currently, what’s not working
-Overview of past year’s performance, ROI, profit
margin etc.
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IV. Target Market |
-Profile of primary and secondary target markets
-Consider geography, industry, size, accessibility,
decision-makers, service gaps, underserved markets
-Segment your market by common characteristics
-What’s most important to customers?
-Does your market niche need to be more specific?
Broader?
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V. Goals |
-What do you wish to achieve in your business?
Example: Increase sales in a division by a certain
percentage
-Be specific about when and what
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VI. Marketing Strategies |
-Outline marketing programs and strategies to reach
each of your goals
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VII. Tactics |
-Outline the tasks required to implement and monitor
each strategy
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VIII. Budget (expenses and revenue forecast)
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IX. Evaluation (when to determine success, how to
evaluate, what needs to be changed, etc) |
If you don’t already have a marketing plan, this is
the year to make it a priority. With our current
economy, don’t lose sight of the importance of
marketing. It is a proven fact that companies that
continue to focus on marketing during down times
come out ahead of the competition when things get
better.
---Source: Renea Myers is the owner of Renea Myers
Marketing, a Greensboro firm offering businesses a
complete outsourced marketing department
specializing in strategic marketing. For more
information, visit
www.rmyersmarketing.com. If you have additional
questions, contact Renea at (336) 856-0081 or
renea@rmyersmarketing.com
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