If you want to start a business, one of the main things you need to do is a business plan. A business plan covers the entire business, including strategies, financial plans, target markets, sales, products and services, operational plans, etc. In a few words, a business plan is a master plan covering all the planning of your business.
A marketing plan is part of a business plan that covers the marketing strategies, target markets, marketing mix, messaging, market and sales programs, campaigns, KPIs to measure and monitor the plan, etc. The marketing plan will tell you how to achieve the goals laid out in the business plan.
A good marketing plan includes all the strategies to target your ideal customer or your right audience, reduce the costs of marketing efforts and increase the chances of converting leads into sales.
There are two types of marketing plan
- Strategic. It is a long-term marketing plan that outlines the marketing goals you are trying to achieve. This plan is a strategic roadmap to achieve long-term goals and objectives; it defines the target audience for the business’s products or services.
- Tactical. It is a short-term marketing plan that outlines how you will achieve your marketing goals. This plan breaks down the marketing goals into objectives, then details the marketing tactics to achieve those objectives and goals.
Parts of a marketing plan
Executive Summary. This part provides a brief overview of the marketing plan, describe the organization, business mission and vision, objectives, goals, and what is the value proposition or summary of why a customer would choose your product or service.
- Market Research. This part provides the data you gathered about your target audience. This includes a SWOT Analysis or Analysis of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of the business. Also, describes the industry or business area landscape, and competitors analysis, and identify your business persona or the consumers you are targeting.
- Strategy. In this part, you will define and describe how you plan to achieve your marketing objectives and goals. Here you also describe your SMART goals, your objectives, your tactics and your KPIs
- Budget. This is the financial part of the marketing plan, here, you define the investment you are planning to develop to accomplish your goals and your projected results, all the financial information should be outlined here.
- Execution. This part is where you are going to describe how you will be implementing your marketing strategies. Here you can describe an execution calendar, where you will establish your priorities to accomplish each campaigns and different tactics to achieve your marketing goals.
- Analytics. This part is dedicated to using data to evaluate the effectiveness and success of the marketing plan. Here you can analyze the return on the investment (ROI), the breakeven, market share metrics, customer lifetime value, and any other particular KPIs you have set for the plan.
A marketing plan is a living document that can be adjusted based on the results and metrics you are getting when implementing your campaigns
