Marketing plan of a company: everything you need to know

What is a marketing plan?

A Marketing Plan is a document that informs us about the market situation and in it we must indicate the objectives that we want to achieve and the methods or strategies that we are going to use to do so. A good Marketing plan will help us to have a clear vision of our company, and this will help us to prevent unforeseen events that may arise throughout the entire process.

How to make a Marketing plan?

To create a Marketing plan that works we must take into account several present aspects and follow some basic steps:

1. Know the current situation in detail

The first step is an objective analysis both internal, in which we must take into account the resources we have, the staff, their motivation in the project …, and external, taking into account the social and political situation in which it is involved. the company. In this way, it will help us to know our strengths and disadvantages and to make decisions to differentiate ourselves from our competitors. A SWOT analysis (Weaknesses, Threats, Strengths and Opportunities) is the most recommended for this first step, since it is a way to systematize the process and not forget any of the aforementioned aspects.

For a Marketing Plan of a complete company it is advisable to carry out an analysis of our target or target audience, which is known as a “buyer person” analysis . In order for our announcements and messages to reach our audience more effectively and to be able to fully connect with them, this analysis must answer a couple of basic aspects:

Know the general profile. Who is our buyer persona? To identify it we must take into account both demographic data and identifiers. Age, profession, and your online behavior will help us determine a specific personality. Some of the questions we can ask ourselves to adjust our search and have a clear idea are: What is your social class and income? What is your job? Has family? What content do you consume in your free time? What time do you connect the most?

Know your goals, motivations and needs. What is the main objective of our buyer persona? In this way we will know the best way to connect with him and how our company can help him solve pain points , that is, those problems that lead them to carry out a specific search, the words he uses for it, etc. Knowing the challenges you face will help us define our strategy. What do you need in your day to day? By asking ourselves questions like this, we can better define how we can help you or which of our products might fit your needs.

Complaints and concerns. What concerns the customer? Knowing what the customer thinks about their objectives can help us to know what they will think about our product and the objections they would raise. Anticipating doubts and answering appropriately will reassure indecisive or concerned customers.

2. Set our goals.

Set long-term goals and, above all, short-term, since this will help us (and it is important) to be realistic and not only think about where we want to go, but take into account where we can go. In order not to fall into “wishful thinking” we can resort to the well-known acronym SMART , which refers to Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound. It is an important step since later we must establish the techniques that we want to develop or carry out, and if our objectives are very ambitious or unrealistic, the results that we will obtain will not be as expected. That, in addition, can harm and demotivate the staff of our company that is involved in the project.

3. Set the strategies to follow.

The process and the techniques to follow must be clear to everyone, since, otherwise, we will not achieve those objectives that we have set ourselves. The ideal is to first mark the most general strategies and actions and then specify and add more and more specific or concrete ones.

Carrying out an analysis following the ” 4Ps of Marketing” is a way of ensuring a clear order, although with the digital age they have expanded, and are now 7Ps :

Product: innovate or improve the products or services we offer, either with special editions, the renewal of packaging, etc., or expand the selection of these.
Price: a market study of the competition will help us fill in those gaps that the competition does not cover. We must take into account the characteristics of our products, their manufacturing cost, as well as keep in mind the strategies of promotion, discounts and offers, especially in seasonal campaigns such as summer or Christmas.
Promotion: actions to publicize our products or services and our brand in order to reach new customers. The options for this are endless, as both traditional and digital marketing are constantly evolving and advancing. As we explained in this article, we are in an unstable sector and knowing new trends and innovations can make a big difference in our results, so this is one of the most important points or sections in terms of updates, always thinking about the type audience we are addressing.
Plaza: propose where the customer can buy our product, both online and physically. Having an online catalog with details of our products or services is an interesting proposal, since potential customers can access it at any time.
People: the way of communication and the personal brand of the employees will benefit the company to enhance its services. We can enhance this with complementary training or weekly meetings.
Physical Evidence or Physical Evidence: it is what the client perceives at a sensory level, that is, the image that the company gives. This always affects the user experience, both positively and negatively.
Process: refers to the procedures of a service and how it affects quality. Waiting times in customer service or the provision of a service are elements to take into account so that the user does not have a bad experience.

4. Review the plan

Being in a changing environment we will have to make modifications and updates in our Marketing Plan of a company. Our goal is to continue meeting the needs of the company and our clients.

At this point we must see the results of the measures that we have carried out and that we are executing to make a balance sheet.and check if the established objectives and strategies are working or need changes to give the expected results. With this we can re-establish objectives (in case they were not very realistic or too ambitious), see the deviations of the measures taken, consider changes in the plan to adapt to the deviations, assess the operation of the strategies, the budget of the that we have, if it has been used efficiently or effectively … In addition, it is advisable to hold meetings on a regular or weekly basis, since in this way, our company’s team will be able to participate in the progress of their work and the process in general. Receiving feedback is something that can help them to be motivated when it comes to work.