We are a month into the new year, and by now our new year goals should be shaping up into plans ready to be executed. Do you want more customers, more income, and more profitability? Then, you probably need an excellent marketing strategy. But a strategy without a plan does not bring you the success that you want. So, you will also need an excellent marketing plan.
As a startup, 90% of your success is going to depend on your marketing, regardless of whether you are running big campaigns or not. The number of users you can attract determines the pricing of your product and the revenue you can raise—both are results of marketing.
While the terms “marketing plan” and “marketing strategy” are commonly used interchangeably, they are actually two different concepts. Marketing strategy is your approach to achieving a competitive advantage. A marketing plan, on the other hand, contains the activities that will get you there. Simply put, marketing strategy is the Why behind the work, and the marketing plan is the when and what that describes the work.
A marketing plan outlines the specific actions you want to take to build interest in potential customers in your products or services and to persuade them to buy.
Plan it
Customarily, businesses should begin developing their marketing plan by October 1 and finalize it no later than December 1. This gives room for adequate research and planning and plenty of time to get valuable input from various sources.
Nevertheless, due to the current economic uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, “the sooner the better” is key as you develop your 2021 marketing plan. This is the year to speed up your planning cycle, which will allow you to analyze, adjust, and easily navigate impending market changes.
Marketing practices in 2021 should reflect recent changes. The focus should be on providing digital solutions, recognizing the economic fallout, and offering genuine expressions of empathy and responsiveness to customers and prospects.
Let us get started by gifting you a FREE Digital Marketing Plan for 2021!
For a strategic marketing plan, businesses should set SMART goals. Your marketing plan does not have to be a huge 100-page manual or be super complicated. It can be one page or five pages, in PowerPoint, Excel, or Word—it doesn’t matter. The format, design, and length of your marketing plan do not matter. The only thing that matters is that you have a clear and actionable plan that allows you to grow your business.
Marketing is all about goals. Businesses that write down their goals and objectives are more likely to make them a reality. The data is hard to ignore. According to CoSchedule research, “Businesses that set goals are 376% more likely to report success than those who don’t. And 70% of those businesses set goals to achieve them.”
Build it
To figure out a realistic plan for your business, there are several factors you need to consider. Below are core steps that work for any type of business:
i. Determine revenue goals: to arrive at a realistic and under-control target for sales, you need to consider revenues from the previous year(s).
ii. Ascertain specific purchases required: identify how many customers are required to attain that sales goal.
iii. Determine the number of potential customers (leads): they can be recognized when they show interest in your product or website content and engage with you or your website/social media page for a certain amount of time.
iv. Set a target for visitors/leads to your website or social media page: you can attract people by ensuring that the content on your landing page is high-quality and easy to navigate.
v. Executive Summary: summarize each of the other sections of your marketing plan. Your Executive Summary will help give yourself and other stakeholders, such as investors, an overview of your plan.
vi. Set goals for other key elements: identify other key factors that play an integral role in realizing your business goals, such as increasing customer retention, creating a sense of satisfaction, pricing, etc.
vii. Divide your goals into stages: you probably don’t have the resources to achieve your marketing goals in one day. So, break them into stages, and identify the marketing needed to reach each stage on the journey.
Implement it
Implementation is a vital step for every plan. Your marketing plan is effective only if you can implement it. Do you really need a plan if you don’t want to implement it?
You must implement every step in your plan if you want your marketing activities to be successful. When you implement the activities, you will know what to exclude next year and what new activities to add.
To properly implement your marketing plan, here are a few things you should do:
i. Identify your target customers: this includes their demographics, gender, and precise wants and needs as they relate to the products and/or services you offer. This will enable you to have more targeted advertising.
ii. Unique Selling Proposition (USP): your USP is crucial because it distinguishes you from your competitors. Having a strong USP is of critical importance. The hallmark of several great startups, such as Amazon and Uber, is their USP.
iii. Pricing: your pricing must align with your business strategy. For instance, if you want your business to be known as a luxury brand, pricing too low might dissuade potential customers.
iv. Specify the distribution plan: how and where your customers will purchase your product should be clear-cut. Explore different efficient distribution plans.
v. Special offers: deals such as free trials, discount offers, and money-back guarantees will generally grow your customer base.
vi. Online marketing strategy: adopt the right online marketing strategy that can help you secure new customers and gain a competitive advantage. This should include keyword strategy, SEO, SEM, Google Ads, Instagram and Facebook Ads, YouTube, Twitter Ads, etc.
vii. Form partnerships: partnerships with other businesses help reach new customers or better monetize existing ones. For example, a partnership between a makeup artist and an event planner will broaden their customer base.
viii. Encourage referrals: an effective customer referral program could revolutionize your success and expand your marketing reach. Determine how best to reward customers for referrals.
ix. Retention strategy: your marketing efforts should include strategies to retain customers. By using tactics such as a monthly newsletter or loyalty program, you can increase revenues and profits by encouraging repeat purchases.
x. Develop a budget: create a budget detailing the expenditures that are part of your marketing plan. While projections won’t be 100% accurate, use them to identify which expenses and strategies will yield the highest return on investment. A good rule of thumb is to keep your marketing budget at about 25% of projected sales.
xi. Monitor your performance: successful entrepreneurs monitor performance carefully. For example, they use web analytics software such as Adobe SiteCatalyst, Google Analytics, or FireStats to measure website traffic. Others use tracking apps to measure performance. Analyzing your marketing data helps you understand which channels perform best, guides future marketing plans, and ensures that your budget is spent efficiently.
You can Achieve it!
It takes time to plan, build, and implement a marketing plan—it is real work! However, once your plan is complete, it will be worth it, as your sales and profits should soar.
You can never afford to stop marketing. When you stop marketing, you stop having a business. If Apple and Coca-Cola are still doing it with all of their billions and market share, then you had better invest in marketing.
You can listen to the Marketing School Podcast for free insights into smarter marketing execution. You can also sign up for a FREE online Marketing Planning course!
