How To Develop a Marketing Plan for your Business

Developing a good marketing plan doesn't have to be complicated. A simple plan can be just as easily implemented. The following are the steps use to create an effective marketing plan that will produce positive results for any product or offered service:

Step I: Analysis

Define what you are starting out with today. This should also be useful in the maintenance and redefinition of your plans for the future. Write a brief description of the product or service you are offering. Research the advantages and adverse effects of marketing your product. This information will come in handy for future planning and pricing. Find out what the competition is offering the product for and study their marketing strategies. Be aware of the laws for distributing the product.
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Step II: Audience

Compile a descriptive list of the audience that the product would appeal to. This will be your target audience. Consider using bullets to accentuate the importance of this list. Research your audience profile based on demographics, age, gender and any other characteristics you may deem important.

Step III: Goals

List your organization's marketing goals for the year. Make your goals realistic so that you can evaluate performance of the marketing plan and make changes where necessary. Maybe you would like to increase the revenue for organization. Make a goal to increase revenue by 10% for the next year. This goal would be attainable.

Section IV: Strategies

Assemble a list of your marketing strategies. Again, bullets should be used here. Every strategy listed should be countered with a tactic that will be used to implement it. Offer special promotions to special customers, for example. Tactics are used to keep track of the steps you use to implement your advertising, mailings, and promotions. Use a calendar or a spreadsheet to keep track of the dates of implementation. Stick to the schedule and complete all steps for your marketing plan to be successful.

Step V: Budget

Finally, the plan should include a breakdown of the cost you allocated to each tactic. Let's say you are planning to issue flyers as your first tactic, your budget should reflect the price of flyers you plan to distribute; printing and mailing costs. The budget will need to be calculated with an eye on the amount you set for start-up so there is no deviation from your marketing plan.

As your business expands, this plan can be revamped to keep you on the road to success. Most importantly, keep an eye on what the competition is doing.