How to Complete Marketing Plan?
The Marketing Plan: everyone will tell you that you absolutely have to have one. Few of the people who say that, however, are able to tell you what exactly a marketing plan consists of. Creating a marketing plan for your small business shouldn’t take you a few hours. Ideally, it should take you at least a few days to do the research and have the necessary discussions — potentially even a few weeks depending on factors like the size of your market and the uniqueness of your product line(s). The following article may help you in developing your marketing plans.
1. The Executive Summary. A high-level summary of the marketing plan as a whole, and a paradox on paper: this is the last section that you should write, but the first section that should be in the finished report. It’s best to keep the Executive Summary as short and sweet as possible — just a couple of sentences to sum everything up. While writing it, imagine that you’re going to present this summary “elevator pitch” style. Once you’ve finished it, read it out loud. If it takes you longer than ten seconds to read it all, it probably needs to be simplified even further.
2. The Challenge. This section should contain a brief description of the product(s) and/or product line(s) that your company offers. With each description, include goals that you want to set for each product and product line (sales figures, strategic and company-wide goals, etc.). Keep the number and complexity of your goals at a maximum of three per product/product line, and remember that they need to be concise, measurable, and moderately easy to achieve.
Situation Analysis. This section contains a snapshot of your company, your customer base, and your market at large. It should be divided into six subsections:
1. Company Analysis:
Long and Short-Term Company-wide goals.
The focus of your company (should fall directly in line with your mission and vision statements).
Analysis of the culture of your company (is your company
1. The Executive Summary. A high-level summary of the marketing plan as a whole, and a paradox on paper: this is the last section that you should write, but the first section that should be in the finished report. It’s best to keep the Executive Summary as short and sweet as possible — just a couple of sentences to sum everything up. While writing it, imagine that you’re going to present this summary “elevator pitch” style. Once you’ve finished it, read it out loud. If it takes you longer than ten seconds to read it all, it probably needs to be simplified even further.
2. The Challenge. This section should contain a brief description of the product(s) and/or product line(s) that your company offers. With each description, include goals that you want to set for each product and product line (sales figures, strategic and company-wide goals, etc.). Keep the number and complexity of your goals at a maximum of three per product/product line, and remember that they need to be concise, measurable, and moderately easy to achieve.
Situation Analysis. This section contains a snapshot of your company, your customer base, and your market at large. It should be divided into six subsections:
1. Company Analysis:
Long and Short-Term Company-wide goals.
The focus of your company (should fall directly in line with your mission and vision statements).
Analysis of the culture of your company (is your company