How to Create a Successful Marketing Plan

By Emily Pribanic - Last Updated on March 20, 2018
How to Create a Successful Marketing Plan

Successful marketing plans create successful marketing campaigns.

Creating a successful marketing plan is the best way to guarantee a marketing team is creating a comprehensive campaign that will achieve the goals and objectives the company needs to be accomplished.

A successful marketing plan is the best way for a marketing manager to guarantee their marketing strategies are accomplishing the tasks and objectives the company wants. With a marketing plan in place, marketing managers can verify their marketing efforts are not wasted. A well-devised marketing plan will promote the business successfully.

How to Create a Marketing Plan

  • Know the Business
  • Determine the Target Market
  • Analyze the Competitors
  • Set Goals
  • Outline Strategies
  • Set a Budget
  • Put Plan into Action

Knowing the business is the first place to start when creating a marketing plan. Without knowing the business, a marketer has nowhere to start to create a successful marketing plan. This step should describe the general business operations, as well as, the internal and external environment of the business.

A SWOT analysis is an excellent tool to use for this step as it defines the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the business. Without knowing the target market, marketing teams will not know what strategies will be effective to implement. To define the target market, the marketing team needs to know the basic demographic information of the audience they wish to target. This step requires marketing teams to list anything and everything they know about the audience they wish to reach. When a company knows what their competitors are doing and the strategies they are using, they are able to stand out from them better. The best strategy to do here is to start with the product or service in question, then outline the benefits it has compared to competitors offering the same thing.

Steps in the Marketing Planning Process

  • Identify the Mission
  • Analyze the Situation
  • Create Marketing Objectives
  • Develop a Strategy
  • Evaluate the Plan

There are five simple steps to create a strategic marketing plan. The very first step is to identify the mission the plan should accomplish. Identifying a clear mission for the marketing plan to achieve is the best way to ensure the plan is working the way it should. The next step in the marketing process is to analyze the situation and create a SWOT. The SWOT analysis helps marketing managers understand the resources they can build on and the challenges they may face.

Marketing objectives are clear, measurable goals that give decision makers a basis for the choices they make and the way they assess progress. Developing a strategy involves choosing a target market and implementing effective ways to use the marketing mix tools that includes product, promotion, price, and distribution to reach and influence buyers. For a marketing manager to guarantee their marketing plan is effective, they must evaluate the plan after it has been put into motion to ensure it is achieving the goals set for the plan to accomplish. This is where data is essential for marketing managers.

12 Ways to Make Your Marketing Plan Better

  • Create a Table of Contents
  • Make an Executive Summary
  • Add a Mission Statement
  • Create Goals
  • Add Performance Standards
  • Develop Core Competencies
  • Create a SWOT Analysis
  • Connect the Message with the Target Market
  • Create an Audience Persona
  • Apply the Four Ps of Marketing
  • Develop an Ongoing Marketing Plan
  • Budget, Budget, Budget

Creating goals, objectives and performance standards is one of the best marketing strategies a marketing team can follow. Creating goals and objectives to accomplish helps marketing teams stay on track with their plan and performance standards are excellent to follow to ensure the plan is accomplishing the right objectives in the best way. Creating a SWOT analysis is another marketing strategy that helps marketing teams create the most concise plan that will deliver the best results. The most important aspect of a good marketing plan is creating a budget to follow. Without a budget, marketing managers will not know where to spend money or what to do when they encounter gaps.

Creating a marketing plan is the first thing marketing teams need to do before they can put an effective marketing campaign into action. The most successful marketing plans include a SWOT analysis, the four Ps of marketing and a budget that is consistently followed. A good marketing plan is the best way for a marketing manager to ensure the marketing campaigns they create will be successful and achieve the goals the company needs to accomplish. Without a strategic marketing plan, marketing managers will not achieve their objectives.

Emily Pribanic | Emily is a graduate of the University of North Texas. She has her B.A. in Advertising with a concentration in Copywriting. Emily has been writing since she was young and has a creative imagination. She lives in Dallas, Texas with her family and two cats.

Emily Pribanic |Emily is a graduate of the University of North Texas. She has her B.A. in Advertising with a concentration in Copywriting. Emily has been writing since she was young and has a creative imagination. She lives in Dallas, Texas with her family and two cats.

Related Posts