During this busy holiday season, many companies are focused on Christmas sales or getting things cleaned up before going home for the holidays. Do you have your 2013 marketing plan done? Successful companies know that a marketing plan helps create, guide and coordinate your marketing efforts.
Think of a marketing plan as a road map to assist in setting and realizing goals and keeping you on course. The marketing plan is a crucial element of a business plan. It consists of information about your company – its products or services, marketing activities, objectives and strategies, and your method for measuring success. Typically, it outlines the marketing activities you’ll perform during a designated time period (generally six months or one year). In it, you’ll document the costs of your planned marketing activities as well as the measurements to determine success.
Before you sit down to create your marketing plan, make sure you have a clear idea of the following:
- your products or services and their benefits and features
- your target market and its buying habits
- competing products or services
- the problem, need or desire your product or service solves
Savvy business people know that marketing objectives should lead to sales. They should be distinct, measurable, and have a time limit for accomplishment. If you have multiple objectives, ensure that they are consistent and don’t conflict with each other. Also, be sure that all parts of your marketing plan – from strategy to budget – support these objectives.
This is our last email for 2012. Thank you for being a subscriber of the Kiers Marketing Group bi-weekly marketing tip. We wish you a happy and healthy Christmas season and wish you much success in 2013.