The 5 Elements of Marketing – Part 5 – Marketing Plan

Feb 27, 2018 The 5 Elements of Marketing – Part 5 – Marketing Plan

Marketing Plan Results

If you need more customers, or more importantly, more of the right kind of customers, you need a marketing plan.

What is a marketing plan?

It is a specific document that translates the marketing strategy into the actions to be taken to market a single or set of products or services.

What are the components of a marketing plan?

Certainly, it will include the target audience(s), the methods, the resources, the actions, the timeframes, measures of effectiveness, etc.

Why do you need a marketing plan?

You need one because it provides a prioritized roadmap of the actions to take to get more of the right kind of customers.  When well conceived and executed, a good marketing plan will focus the company resources on increasing sales and help achieve the desired result.

How do you create a marketing plan?

When I develop a marketing plan, I follow a five step process that I developed and that has proved very effective for the kinds of small companies that I serve.  These steps are:

1. Map the events that drive a potential customer to consider a purchase to the sources of information or sales channels that they will reach out to
2. Map the sources of information to the ways that these sources can be influenced
3. Rate the sales channels by potential impact on dollar sales volume
4. Prioritize the effectiveness of the sales channels
5. Combine the above and develop the actions steps comprising the actual marketing plan

As a Marketing Consultant I can tell you that having a formal and well thought out marketing plan is essential to getting more of the right kind of customers.

Bryan B Mason

Apollo Consulting Group, Newport, RI