A marketing plan is an important tool for your business. It helps you figure out who your customers are, what they want, and how to reach them. Having a plan keeps you focused and helps you spend your money wisely, so you can grow your business and make more sales. The focus of your marketing plan is to communicate who you are, what you do and how you help your potential, existing and even past customers.
So what goes into a good marketing plan?
Effective marketing strategies are often built on a foundation of insightful questions and strategic answers. A well-structured marketing plan begins with a series of insightful questions and is shaped by the right answers
What questions should your marketing plan ask and answer?
A simple yet effective marketing plan should answer the following questions:
- What is your promise to your customers that you will fulfil each and every time they deal with you? This is also known as you Value Proposition Statement (VPS) or Unique Selling Proposition Statement (UPS).
- What are the specific goals and objectives for your business over the next 3, 6 or 12 months? While long term is good. You should always review your marketing plan every 4 to 6 weeks to make sure they align with your business goals.
- What products and services do you offer? Who are your customers? What are the pain points or problems they have?
- Who are your customers and why will they want to buy your products and services? What are the main pain point they have that you can help them solve?
- Who are your competitors? And what are their weaknesses? Look for gaps in their offers and service that you can do better.
- What makes your business different? What is your point of difference?
- How will you sell your products and services? How will you promote? What are your going to do to aid the sales process? What is your point of sale process look like?
- How will your potential customers find out about you? What are your marketing and promotion channels?
- What is your marketing budget? Unfortunately, you can’t just rely on organic online marketing like Facebook posts. You will need to spend some money to raise and maintain awareness.
- What is your action plan? What will you do and how are you going to implement your marketing plan including deadlines
- How will your measure your success? How will you know your marketing is working?
By asking the right questions and developing a strategic approach, you can effectively reach your target audience, generate leads, and drive sales. Remember, a marketing plan is a living document that should be regularly reviewed and adjusted as needed. So, start asking the right questions today and watch your business thrive.