Steps To Create A Successful

Marketing Plan

All too often business leaders with thebest of intentions to grow theirbusiness fall short when it comes tounderstanding the function of astrategic marketing plan A wellcraftedstrategic marketing plan provides anorganization with the focus anddirection to pursue growthopportunities

There are five essential steps you needto build an effective strategic marketingplan

Step 1

Determine your marketing philosophy

Companies that are successfullybuilding brand awareness driving moreleads and securing new business as aresult of their marketing efforts allshare a common philosophy — theyview marketing as an investment notan expense Once you have determinedthat marketing is vital to yourcompany’s growth plan your next stepis to define some measurable goals

Step 2

Determine goals and objectives

To help you determine the right goalsspend meaningful time with your teamevaluating your growth levels to dateand your current position in yourmarket space After making your list ofmarketing goals prioritize the list andthen select the top three to fivefocusing on the ones that will mostmeaningfully move your businessforward Make sure the goals you setare measurable Setting measurablegoals also brings with it accountabilitywhich is an essential part to ensuringthat your plan is actually executed

Step 3

Set marketing strategies

Many companies skip strategydevelopment in favor of tactics buttactics without strategy are about aseffective as a car without a steeringwheel If your goals dictate where youwant the company to be the strategyis the route you need to take to getthere For example sample strategiescould be

√ Increase brand awareness

√ Increase overall sales volume

Step 4

Determining tactics

Strategies establish a broad outline ofhow you want to achieve yourgoalsobjectives and tactics are thespecific actions or activities that needto be properly executed in order toachieve them If a goal is to increaseand enhance your company’s brandawareness a sound strategy would beto increase the number of brandtouches among potential customersTactics for implementing that strategywould be blogging about issues that arerelevant to your target audiencecreating and promoting an ebook withhelpful tips or sponsoring an event

Step 5

Determine your marketing budget

Your marketing budget should bedirected by your company’s goals andobjectives for the future by how fastyou want to grow and by how readyyou are to grow it But your marketingbudget can’t be solely focused on justdollars It also must consider time andresources Before you submit yourbudget you must also determine howmany manpower hours will be requiredto manage and execute the plan

While all five of these steps are criticalto marketing success once the plan iscompleted it should not be put awayon a shelf Ideally it should bereviewed monthly with your team tocheck progress and adjust as

appropriateMarketing works best whenthe dedication is there so buy in andaccountability from your team willultimately determine success