This post on How to craft a short but powerful marketing plan was last updated on 11/14/2022
Knowing how to craft a short but powerful marketing plan can be the missing “ingredient” for success in your business. As a brand or business, especially startups; more than 80% of your success is will depend on marketing. Without a good marketing plan, even your best product or service will fail to entice potential customers.
You can start a business and fold your hands, expecting customers to troop in and patronize you. Every successful entrepreneur or business owner understands the importance of having a great marketing plan to promote their business. However, it is always daunting to craft a short but powerful marketing plan that will pass the intended message. Meanwhile, we know that it is not as challenging as you might think it is. We have compiled an effective guide on how to craft a short but powerful marketing plan for your business.
Before we go further into it, let us understand the concept of a marketing plan.
What Is A Marketing Plan?
Before you learn how to craft a short but powerful marketing plan, you need to know what a marketing plan is. You cannot create what you don’t know. As the name implies, a marketing plan is the detail of everything you need to promote your business successfully. Your marketing plan doesn’t have to be hundreds of pages for it to be effective.
You can have a single-page document as your marketing plan, and yet you achieve the desired objective in the end. Your marketing plan should span at least a year. Having a marketing plan with at least one year span gives you enough time to actualize those long-term goals. The time is also short enough for you to remain flexible when your goals change over time.
Formats for Marketing Plans / What to Include in a Marketing Plan
The formats for marketing plans vary depending on the company, but these are some key components to include:
- Company or brand overview
- Consumer analysis
- Competitor analysis
- Marketing objectives
- Marketing budget
- Marketing strategy
- Implementation timeline
- Evaluation and metrics
Let’s take a look at them in details.
1. Company or brand overview
This is where you provide an overview of your company or brand, including its history, products/services, and target market.
2. Consumer analysis
In order to create a Marketing Plan that resonates with your consumers, you need to first understand them. This means conducting research and creating buyer personas.
3. Competitor analysis
Take a close look at your competition and what they’re doing well (and not so well). This will help you create a Marketing Plan that differentiates you from the rest.
4. Marketing objectives
What are your marketing goals? Be specific and realistic in your objectives, and make sure they align with your overall business goals.
5. Marketing budget
How much are you willing to spend on marketing? This will depend on a number of factors, including your business goals and the size of your target market.
6. Marketing strategy
This is where you lay out your marketing mix (i.e. the 4Ps of Marketing: product, price, place, and promotion).
7. Implementation timeline
When will you execute each element of your Marketing Plan? This is important to consider in order to stay on track and meet your goals.
8. Evaluation and metrics
Finally, you need to have a way to measure the success of your Marketing Plan. This will involve setting up KPIs (key performance indicators) and tracking your progress over time.
The Marketing Plan is a vital tool for any business – make sure you know what to include in yours!
What are the 7 Elements of a Marketing Plan?
The Marketing mix is often referred to as the 7Ps of Marketing. This mix includes:
- Product
- Price
- Place (distribution),
- Promotion,
- Physical evidence (at point of sale),
- People (customer service) and
- Processes (order fulfillment).
Marketing plans need to take all 7Ps into account in order to be effective.
Now that you have a basic understanding of a marketing plan let us proceed to learn how to craft a good marketing plan.
Guides On How To Craft A Short But Powerful Marketing Plan
Step1: Identify You Market Niche
Begin with a big market, something like Health industry or Marketing and define it to your own niche market.
Example: Marketing-> internet marketing-> SEO
Example: wealth industry -> weight loss -> Losing weight without exercise
The more specific you are in your market; the better people will find your website and turn into customers. Of course, this is not the only thing that matters but this will be the fundamental of why costumers come to visit you instead of going to the competition.
Your website will be way more effective if you choose a specific niche. Go in depth instead of width. On the internet people are looking for specific products, specialists or services that can solve their specific problem or frustration.
Step 2: Know your target audience
I don’t know latterly who your targeted audience is, but what I do know is one thing… It isn’t everybody. If you think your product is for everybody, you are going to sell it to nobody. The reason why we say everyone is our targeted audience, is because we don’t know who our targeted audience is.
Sell or make a product that only your targeted audience can use. That way it would be more effective to the problem the product solves.
If you are in the health industry and you sell a weight loss program… Don’t sell a weight loss program, but sell a weight loss program for woman above 40 with children that got no time to go to the gym to exercise
One of the reasons why most people don’t sell is because they want to sell to everybody instead of somebody. Keep this in mind… Everybody is nobody in the marketing world.
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Step 3: What are the needs of your targeted audience?
When you know your niche market and your targeted audience, you can search for the needs of your targeted audience. The needs are the results of the outcome of a product or service. If you know what they want you can use it in your sales page, e-mail marketing and even in your blog posts.
I will give you the needs of someone who wants to lose weight for example.
– The person wants more confidence
– Maybe he wants to be more attractive
– He/she wants to be more athletic
When you are going to figure out what the needs are think about Tony Robbins six human needs; grow, certainty, variety, significance, connection and love and contribution
Step 4: What is the fear of your target audience?
This is the opposite of the need. This is what they don’t want to happen. In step 3 I gave you the example of someone who wants to lose weight. The things that he/she doesn’t want to happen are things like: Losing the attention of partner, gaining a lot of weight, not being able to do a sport or something like that.
A solution to a fear is more powerful than a solution to a need. Most people rather buy aspirins, then they will buy vitamin.
I don’t say everyone is like this but most people rather avoid the pain of lose then enjoy the feeling of win.
Step 5: Study your competition
It is important to know what your competitors are doing and how to position better your marketing plan to outwit them. You are not operating your business in a vacuum, hence the need to analyze the approach of your rivals in the market. It might not be in your best interest to craft a short but powerful marketing strategy that doesn’t put into consideration, the strategy of your competitors.
Undoubtedly, some companies and businesses offer the same product or services as you. Therefore, you need to know how to be better than them in the eyes of your customers. Know what sets you apart from them, and leverage it to market your business to your customers and potential customers.
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Step 6: Spell out your marketing goals.
When learning how to craft a short but powerful marketing plan, it is crucial to outline the goal you hope to achieve. Without spelling out your marketing goals, you will not know if the marketing plan is working or not. These goals will be the yardstick upon which you measure the success or failure of your marketing plan. It is good to have goals that motivate and encourage you, but not the ones that are difficult and discouraging.
Step 7: Outline your strategies.
In the previous step, you outlined the goals you want to achieve through your marketing plan. Now is the time to detail the strategies needed to achieve those your marketing goals. It will be better to take each goal separately and list the required actions needed to actualize each of these goals. This is a great way to determine if the goal is realistic or not. Know what you want, and then determine the ways to get it done.
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Step 8: Set your budget
You cannot execute your marketing plan without money. Therefore, it is important to have a stipulated budget to execute whatever marketing plan you have designed for your business. While mapping out your budget, you need to stay focused on marketing related activities. How much will the promotion and other essential activities cost you? Do you have that amount of money to spend? If the answer is no, then you have to readjust your goals and strategy to align with your marketing budget.
Other Tips for Writing an Effective Marketing Plan
1. Keep it simple
Marketing Plans can get complex quickly, so try to keep yours as straightforward as possible.
2. Be realistic
Don’t set unrealistic goals or expectations for your Marketing Plan – this will only lead to disappointment.
3. Do your research
Conduct both primary and secondary research to gain insights into your consumers and competition.
4. Have a clear strategy
Without a well-defined strategy, your Marketing Plan will lack direction and focus.
5. Create a timeline
This will help you stay on track and ensure that your Marketing Plan is executed effectively.
6. Measure your success
The only way to know if your Marketing Plan is working is to track your progress and measure your results against your objectives.
Conclusion
Now you have your guide on how to craft a short but powerful marketing plan; it is time to get to work. There will not be any change without action, therefore get up and put these steps into action. Whether you end with a page document or hundreds of pages, these steps will get you started effectively.
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