Why a marketing plan is critical to success

By definition a marketing plan is an operational document that outlines an organisation's marketing strategy and details a plan to use communication channels and advertising to target specific markets.

Every business should have a marketing plan! It doesn't matter if you are a sole trader, small business or a major corporation. Marketing in one form or another is what drives sales, without sales you wont stay in business for very long.

Running a business without a marketing plan is like sailing without navigation, you will end up wherever the wind blows. This may be ok for a while but eventually it will stop.

With so many marketing choices these days you really need to be selective where you put your resources. Luckily online marketing gives us exact figures on customer actions that can be referenced to create very specific marketing outcomes and budgets.

Your marketing plan is the blueprint for how your strategies should be implemented, it will help you to:

Identify and understand your competitors.
Identify the best activities and channels to market to.
Identify how you can attract new customers.
Encourage your existing customers to continue purchasing your products or services.
Plan and manage your resources effectively.
Set goals and time frames.
Ensure consistency.
Set budgets for marketing activities and channel advertising.
Map out strategies to reach your target audience.
Track and analyse outcomes and calculate ROI.
And more…

Ultimately all the actions within your marketing strategy should be designed to generate a positive return on investment from your total marketing spend.

For example if one area of your marketing strategy is to increase online sales by increasing your website’s traffic through SEO (search engine optimisation). It is easy to compare the cost of SEO vs increase in online sales by analysing the organic traffic to your website.

A marketing plan is a base document that can be referred to and adjusted over time. Allowing a business owner to see what has, or hasn’t worked in the past. We understand building a marketing plan can involve a lot of time, marketing knowledge and understanding of the individual business.

To make things easier, we've put together an easy to use Marketing Plan Template for our clients. This is a great resource to track all your future marketing activities. Just fill it out and keep it on file.

Marketing Plan Download

Simply fill out and submit the form below, an email with the download link will then be sent to your inbox.

Our team is also more than happy to assist. Get in touch with an expert now.