What’s the bottom line benefit of a marketing plan?
by Denise B. Hearden
What will you get in return for spending the appropriate amount of time and resources on developing and employing a marketing plan?
Simply put, your business will realize its sales and marketing goals faster, more economically and with less hassle/red tape/resistance. Yes, I said “sales and marketing goals.” That means a marketing plan must actually define what those goals are … specifically.
This task is easier than you might think. Start with sales. What were your sales last year? What should they have been? What sales volume would result in success this year? How can this sales volume be defined? Actual revenue? Number of orders? Size of orders? All of these details are going to be included in your marketing plan.
Documenting your sales objectives is a no brainer, right? And, these are numbers your organization can track and measure very easily. However, there may be other goals just as important, but not as easy to quantify. For example, “awareness” can be difficult to measure with hard data. Your marketing plan will need to describe its awareness objectives, strategies to boost awareness, the tactics necessary to execute these strategies, and the metrics you’ll use to track and measure your efforts.
No matter what your objectives are, they should be clear and quantifiable (e.g., 22% sales revenue increase; $10 average order size; 30% boost in product X awareness among target audience; 50% increase in qualified sales leads; increase credibility in the marketplace with 6 company expert bylined article placements). Further, they should be attainable within the plan’s timeframe (e.g., 12 months).
While setting the objectives for your marketing plan is uber-critical, keep in mind that the remainder of your plan must be constructed with these goals firmly in its crosshairs. These components, including SWOTs, competitor analysis, market research, strategies, tactics, and budget allocations, must support and result in successes that will result in your business getting closer and closer to achieving its goals every step of the way.
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Denise B. Hearden
Be Heard Marketing
denise@beheardmarketing.com
