what are the elements of the marketing planning process?
A marketing plan's elements may vary based on the organization and its industry, but readers still expect to see certain common elements. You have a product people love and you understand who the people are that love it. Now would be a great time to build a marketing plan. The plan will change and evolve over time but having a structure helps to make sure that your marketing spend is aligning with your goals without being completely ad-hoc, spray and pray of the day. The plan shouldn’t be a massive undertaking – it’s a rough guide that documents what you are planning on doing and why you are doing it. Good plans should contain the following:
1. Segmentation – At this stage you should understand what segments love you offering and why. If you don’t, you probably aren’t ready to build a marketing plan yet and you should go back and focus on finding a fit between your offering and a set of markets. This is where you document with as much detail as humanly possible the segments that you are going to target. Who are the groups, what are their characteristics and how do you identify them.
2. Competitive Alternatives – This is a documented list of what your customers would consider alternatives to your product or service. Don’t go crazy on this documenting every little bit of functionality. The purpose of this section is to help you articulate what really differentiates your offering from others in the space. These are generally macro things and not niggly detailed nuances of features.
3. Differentiated Points of Value (by segment) – For each segment, what are the top 3 or 4 differentiators that your offering has versus others. Remember this isn’t just about technology or features. It often includes things like pricing, delivery options, ease of use, time to value, etc.
4. Messaging and Positioning (by segment) – Working from the previous section create a set of messages for each segment. This should be a succinct set of no more than 3/4 messages that
1. Segmentation – At this stage you should understand what segments love you offering and why. If you don’t, you probably aren’t ready to build a marketing plan yet and you should go back and focus on finding a fit between your offering and a set of markets. This is where you document with as much detail as humanly possible the segments that you are going to target. Who are the groups, what are their characteristics and how do you identify them.
2. Competitive Alternatives – This is a documented list of what your customers would consider alternatives to your product or service. Don’t go crazy on this documenting every little bit of functionality. The purpose of this section is to help you articulate what really differentiates your offering from others in the space. These are generally macro things and not niggly detailed nuances of features.
3. Differentiated Points of Value (by segment) – For each segment, what are the top 3 or 4 differentiators that your offering has versus others. Remember this isn’t just about technology or features. It often includes things like pricing, delivery options, ease of use, time to value, etc.
4. Messaging and Positioning (by segment) – Working from the previous section create a set of messages for each segment. This should be a succinct set of no more than 3/4 messages that