Marketing Plan Outline

By Lanee' Blunt

A marketing plan lets you break down your market for your small business. It makes you come up with a strategy for getting more customers and anticipate changes. Writing a marketing plan will help you market your  business and serve as a guide for achieving business goals.

Situation Analysis

This is the analysis section of the marketing plan. This step of the plan is a review of all your marketing activities. Your business performance versus prior plan objectives, here you will evaluate all of marketing activities.  For example, you will review all ads, brochures, and flyers assess what was successful and which were unsuccessful.

Overview

The second section of the marketing plan is the overview. The market overview is a summary of the strategy you used and your forecasted results. For example, summarize if you were successful in your sales strategy.

Competitor Analysis

The third part in the marketing plan is the competitor analysis section where you look at your business from the customers’ viewpoint. What are the similarities in your business and what are the differences from your competitors. Is there a service that no other company offers but yours? For example, your competitive edge may be that you may go the extra mile and offer your clients, the range of services like a school bus that picks up children for your day care.

Strengths

The fourth part in the marketing plan is the strength section. What do you see as your company’s strengths? What do you see as your company’s weaknesses? For example, is there a problem with customer service, or returned products?

Goals

Analyze your strength by asking yourself what does your company do well? What are your sales goals? For example, you may have a goal of twenty more new sales a month. Are you on target with your goals or can you do better? What are the strategies that you can use to better meet the goals that you are trying to meet?

Financial Summary

The sixth part is the cost information section. Your budget information that you have set aside for marketing your business will be included here. Are your prices for your product or service set at a competitive rate? For example, price your product or service at a higher rate than your fixed or variable cost. Evaluate the process of your marketing plans effectiveness by measuring your results against the standards that you set when you made or set your goals.

Reference:

AAFP; Nine Steps to a Strategic Marketing Plan; Rebecca Anwar, PhD and Judy Capko; 2001

Concept Marketing Group: 10 Steps to an Effective Marketing Plan; Barbara K. Mednick

Posted in: Marketing