How to Build the Ultimate Marketing Plan – A Roadmap to Marketing Success
Not every business has a marketing plan. Every successful business does. Discover the key elements of a powerful marketing plan and the steps you can take to get explosive marketing results
Marketing is the bedrock of all businesses. Having a solid marketing plan and roadmap is the precursor to achieving phenomenal marketing success.
It was Benjamin Franklin – one of the Founding Fathers of the United States who was supposed to have said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”
Professionals Have A Marketing Plan
CEO’s have a management plan, Airline pilots have a flight plan and Medical Doctors have a treatment plan.
As a business owner, having a marketing plan will help remind you of what you want to accomplish and the goals you’ve set. Having one will increase comfort and grows confidence because it provides a course of action to help you achieve the end result in the most straightforward way.
A plan acts as a roadmap to guide you to the destination of business success.
A marketing plan outlines why you are in business, what your target market is, who your ideal clients are, what makes you different or better (USP or Unique Selling Proposition), your core messages and the strategies and campaigns behind each that you will use to reach your target audience, grow your client base and convert them into raving fans, with high-lifetime value.
With that in mind, I get blown away when I find that so many businesses actually don’t have a Marketing Plan?
It’s widely known that if you change your marketing, you change your business. That means improving current performance and future proofing it from circumstances beyond ones control – be it, recession, depression or even pandemic.
Do it right and it will create multiple freedoms for you– mental, time and financial freedom.
But before great marketing can happen there must be a Marketing Plan…..…
Reasons Why Some Don’t Have A Plan
Most the time, the importance of a putting together a marketing plan is underestimated.
In some cases plans are created but exclude many of the essential elements to help deliver a desired end result.
Occasionally, road blocks pop up and stop people from progressing with their plan.
Some of those commons barriers include;
- Not knowing where to start
- Unsure what to include
- No clear direction of lay out
- Unsure of the specific, measurable and attainable marketing goals to set
- General fear of wasting time by not doing it right
Don’t Copy, When You Can Steal
Steve Jobs famously said in 1996: “Picasso had a saying — ‘good artists copy; great artists steal’ — and he went on to say that Apple have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.”
Like all great things there is a recipe or formula attached to making great things happen.
The same applies to developing a powerful marketing plan. Instead of copying others, why not steal a formula that works and adapt it to your own business. With a tried and tested recipe to follow you know the ingredients, the order to add them for the best possible outcome.
This is the easy and fun way of putting together a marketing plan that works.
It becomes kinda like a roadmap. One that will you test, refine and scale out successful marketing campaigns and help navigate your business through the competitive waters of your market.
Steps To Building A Powerful Marketing Plan
Crafting a plan you can use can be broken down into a few key steps…
- Starts by conducting a Situational Analysis – both internal and external to your business
- Set Goals – what do you want to accomplish from your marketing efforts?
- Define your Marketing Strategy – your core message, target market & main media channels
- Outline the campaigns you will run
- Set up to Monitor and Measure Performance
A plan is not meant to be a war and peace novel. It must be a live document you can amend and work from on a daily basis.
If you put time and effort into building a plan, then it’s fair to demand a return on your investment, whether that’s time, energy or hard-earned capital.
To help you craft a powerful marketing plan click the following link to download a FREE COPY of the PDF – ‘HOW TO BUILD THE ULTIMATE MARKETING PLAN – A CHECKLIST OF 24 COMPULSORY ELEMENTS’
Here’s to your success;
Anthony Boyatzis
Level 10 Digital Marketing – Founder & Lead Strategist
‘Your Virtual Digital Marketing Manager’