Better Marketing Plan - 5 Questions & One Table

Marketing Plan - As a Roadmap

I found myself several times in the position of formalization of the marketing plan that I think last forever. Writing a better marketing plan from my experience is not a good document with charts and graphs, but simple roadmap to achieve overall marketing objectives. I write more about this in Dangers When Planning Your Business Plan. Good marketing plan is based on overall business object transformed in marketing strategy not on the titles and stories in that titles.

1. What is Your Target Market?

Start by searching specifications within the areas you wish to market your business. Each market has different areas that can be divided as segments. When I talk about the area I don’t think about the area as a geometrical surface, but area as some indicator that differentiate one part of the market from another one. And yes, the question is: What is your target market?

My target market is the area where exist problems that my business can solve it.
My target market is the area with potential customers that will want to buy my products or services.
My target market is the area with people willing to pay for my products and services.
My target market is the area big enough to support existence and development of my business.

This is the 4 answers that you must to answer before you choose your target market. It’s the:

Problem
Desire
Willingness
Capacity and maybe the most important
Yes I can.

This means that the target market must have problems big enough to desire solutions that our business can provide it for the price that they are willing to pay, and with enough capacity to support our business growth plans.

2. What is Your Marketing Objectives?

Now, when we know what is our target market, we must formulate our marketing object. What we want to achieve with our marketing activities? This is specific three to four sentences that will describe what we want to achieve. If you put the more objects you will lose your focus and will be harder to accomplish.

Set measurable objectives because the implementation depends on being able to track progress and measure results. If your object is general without tangible goals, try to find a way to make them specific. For example:

30% market share on our target market in the first year of the plan and 45% in the second year.
Increased conversion rate from 5% to 10% in the first year and to 15% in the second year.
Increased entrance into the sales funnel for 10% in the first year and 20% in second year.

3. What Will be Your Marketing Strategies?

Now, we know our target market, we know the marketing objectives, and it’s time to develop strategies that will support achievement of the objectives as a part of our marketing plan.

Strategy is a plan of actions for achieving the set of goals that our business has, and in this case it is marketing goals. You must answer the questions:

How can we achieve the marketing objectives?
What we must to undertake in general terms to make that objectives to become reality?

For example, if we take the first marketing objective in our marketing plan we will have something like this:

30% market share
- Strategy 1: Perception Improvement.
- Strategy 2: Marketing Campaigns Strengthening
- Strategy 3: Adding More Value in Our Offer.

4. What Will be Marketing Tactics?

Strategies need tactics for their implementation purpose. The tactics will be the set of actions that must be accomplished in order to effectively implementation of the strategy. For example, if we continue with the Strategy 1 we will have something like this:

Strategy 1: Perception Improvement:

Tactic 1: Increasing online presence of the business.
Tactic 2: Development and implementation the new customer service policy.
Tactic 3: Staff training about a customer care system.

5. What Will be Marketing Activities?

Each tactic is implemented through real action, or activities from the business staff. Now when your marketing plan has target market, marketing objectives, strategies and tactics it is time to convert that tactics into tangible activities. For example, if we continue with the first tactic we will have something like this:

Tactic 1: Increasing online presence of the business: