Tools for Creating a Successful Marketing Plan

Some entrepreneurs may claim to have a successful business without creating a marketing plan, but those people are more likely wasting money without a real idea of how to maximize their budget for the best results. Your business, like everyone else's, needs to have a plan to reach prospective customers if you want to be successful.

Contrary to popular belief, it is quite possible to create an effective marketing plan that's also very simple by imbedding your marketing activities into your daily routine, allowing you to reach your goals sooner than expected.

Before you decide where you want to go with your marketing plan, first figure out where you are with it at the moment. Write a summary of your business, its philosophy, and its strengths and weaknesses. At this point it doesn't need to be organized, as long as you have everything written down.

Now that you know where you are, you can see where to go. Is your goal to increase sales, customer traffic to your store or website, or establish a positive perspective of your business? Outline each goal and try to be as specific as you can. Being optimistic is good, but being realistic is more important. Even the best marketing plan ever created won't increase sales unless it's under certain conditions, like the introduction of a new product or the store of your competition shutting down. Prioritize your goals so you can create a well-grounded plan to attain them.

Next, figure out who your target demographic is. Not even Wal-Mart markets their products to everyone. They narrow their target down into one or several "niche audiences", and tailor their marketing tactics to reach each one. This means you need to find your own "niche audience" and figure out a way to reach them. If the audience turns out to be a business, determine what type of business it is-what industry are they reaching, how much are they making, where are they located, and so forth. If you're going to target consumers, figure out what their age, gender, employment/marital status and income level is. You may find that you have several niche audiences, but you need to prioritize them.

To start off your research, check with trade associations and journals, especially when dealing with businesses. If you're looking more for information about consumer audiences, look to your state's Department of Economic Development. As soon as you have all this information, sit down and write a detailed profile of your niche audience(s), including the demographic information you've collected.

For every goal you have, you need a strategy to help you attain that goal. Think about what message you want to send to your audience, and figure out what the best options for doing it would be. Depending on your situation, you may find that ads in newspapers, magazines, or on TV would be most effective, or more direct-marketing methods like flyers and newsletters. You might even save money by pairing up with related (but non-competing) businesses promotions or other marketing methods. If your business is online, you may want to try creating a website or sending information about your company to a message board or newsgroup.

For each strategy you come up with, write down what message you're sending by utilizing the strategy, and what devices you'll employ. This will help you avoid getting mired in costly, unnecessary promotions that won't help you get where you want to go. Also, make sure that your promotions are projecting the image you intended, i.e. don't go the conservative route if your audience is edgy, and vice versa.

As far as budgeting goes, consider the amount of money you'll need to spend on marketing. It's important to make certain you don't spend more than you need to, but you need to designate enough of your funds to ensure your marketing efforts are actually reaching your audience. Remember prioritizing your target demographics earlier? This is why: if you find yourself short on funds for marketing, narrow your focus to satisfy the audience(s) with the highest priority.

Having finished all the steps above, you should now have enough information to help you reach your niche audience based on research and skill rather than a blind guess. This doesn't mean you look at it once and put it in your filing cabinet forever; you need to periodically look it over again and see if it needs any revisions. If you find your business becoming very successful, you may want to expand your marketing focus. Likewise, if something doesn't seem to be working, you have a document you can go back to for reference. This is a strategy well worth coming back to again and again for creating a successful marketing campaign.