What’s the (Marketing) Plan, Stan?

Busy selling. No formal marketing function

If this is you, so far, so good. You haven’t had to think about marketing. Your product is strong and your network has ensured success to date. But you’re becoming more aware of your competition – your customers mention them and margins are eroding. It’s time to put a structure in place to keep you in your lead position. You need a marketing plan.

A strategic marketing plan is effectively a road-map to reaching your goals and brings clarity on what you want to achieve and how you want to achieve it. The questions that your marketing plan should address are:

1. Who are our most likely customers?
2. How should we let them know about our product or service?
3. Who are our competitors?
4. What are our goals for the next year?
5. What is our marketing budget?
6. Failing to develop a marketing plan can result in budget problems, low customer volume and, in a worst-case scenario, the closure of a business.

Without it, your company will lack the focus needed to achieve corporate goals and to develop plans that will bring the company forward in the right direction. A lack of marketing objectives means that your company does not have a specific set of tasks it is competent in and it has no vision for the future. Objectives are used to develop long-term growth and productivity plans that are essential for the sustained success of your business.