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Marketing Plan Sample

Building marketing Strategies - with Marketing Plan Sample.

Starting a homebusiness requires research into the market you want to penetrate. If you’re already in business, it doesn’t mean you should stop thinking about who and where your market is, especially since markets can and do change over time. Researching this includes finding out whether the product you are manufacturing already exists or should be produced; if it’s a service – is it new? Also ascertain if there is a demand or gap in the market for your product or service; what consumers think about competitors’ products or services and what they think of your products or services.

Once you’re done your homework, you should summarize the specifications of your market here and move onto the following sections below.

Customer Profile

Detail who your target customers are: their spending habits (what they like spending on, how much they spend), age, gender, where they are likely to live and what trends they are likely to be influenced by.

Marketing Plan Sample - Strategy

You know your market and your target customers, so it’s time to think about what strategy you’ll use to penetrate that market, or the part of the market that you want. For instance, to use the example of CBD tailor you might want to target the high-earning, opinion-leading business people at the surrounding banks, insurance companies, consultancies and stock exchange. By focusing on them you would be attracting people with disposable income who enjoy fine clothing and appreciate a good suit in the latest European styles. They could then, by word-of-mouth, become important advocates of your products and refer their colleagues to you.

The strategy for attracting the customer you want should flow from this – what do you attract them with? Quality European fabrics, your experience in up-market fashion, use of styles from brand names which they are likely to be familiar with, competitive pricing and excellent service may apply to the CBD tailor. It may be un-wise for the tailor to create their own styles since business clothing is often bound by fairly conservative ideas – instead they could offer clients the Giorgio Armani style suit they would otherwise never buy or be able to afford more than one of.

Marketing Plan Sample - Key Factors influencing market

Details the trends, growth and set-backs that may affect your markets ability to engage your products and services. You should use information you’ve gained from your research. For instance if you want to open a computer store, it would be useful to know how many households in your area or country have computer, how rapidly this rate has grown, how much is spent on computers, how often they are bought by the same people and what factors make people want to purchase computers.

Marketing Plan Sample - Pricing Policy

Your pricing policy should be formed out of the market’s needs and profile as well as what you want to achieve. A bookshop may want to position itself for impulse buyers, so the prices should be competitive or even discounted depending on the style and location of the bookshop. On the other hand, you may be a bookshop close to a large University which prides itself on carrying all the latest overseas texts and has price tags to go with it because professors and students need the books and can’t get them elsewhere.

Marketing Plan samples - Competition

Take note of your main competitors. There is no need to list all details of each and every one however knowing at least 3 to 5 main competitors, what they do or sell, and how they do it is a good way to know you can make your business unique, or improve in aspects they fall down in. Outlining these competitors in point form is a good idea.

Marketing Plan samples - Advertising and Promotion

Advertising and promotion is the key to start a business – you need to get known and build your reputation or brand in order to reach the customers you are targeting. Outline what means of advertising and promotion you’ll be doing. It could be anything from having an opening sale, advertising in local newspaper or specific journals, distributing flyers or brochures, using direct mail techniques, starting a web site with all your products on it, using publicity techniques and networking to get written about in newspapers or magazines and so on.

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Marketing Plan Samples - Sales and Distribution

In this section you should detail your sales strategy and means of distribution.

Sales related closely with your promotion strategy, since making a sale is the end-goal you are trying to achieve. For instance, if part of your promotional activities in a new swim suit store will be to hold regular sales you should outline when they would be held, how you would encourage buying (such as through point of sale giveaways), and how your staff will implement the sales strategy. Will they know the products well and be able to advice on fit, fabric, shape and durability so as to help the customer purchase the best product for them? These are the kinds of issues to consider for your sales strategy.
Your means of distribution is closely related to your sales and you should include that information in this section. Perhaps you have a number of stores, are starting up, are part of a franchise, or sell your products using catalogues, call centers or Internet.

The Essential Contents of a Marketing Plan

Excerpt from On Target: The Book on Marketing Plans by Tim Berry and Doug Wilson.

Every marketing plan has to fit the needs and situation. Even so, there are standard components you just can't do without. Marketing plan samples should always have a situation analysis, marketing strategy, sales forecast, and expense budget.

Situation Analysis: Normally this will include a market analysis, a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats), and a competitive analysis. The market analysis will include market forecast, segmentation, customer information, and market needs analysis.

Marketing Strategy: This should include at least a mission statement, objectives, and focused strategy including market segment focus and product positioning.

Sales Forecast: This would include enough detail to track sales month by month and follow up on plan-vs.-actual analysis. Normally a plan will also include specific sales by product, by region or market segment, by channels, by manager responsibilities, and other elements. The forecast alone is a bare minimum.

Expense Budget: This ought to include enough detail to track expenses month by month and follow up on plan-vs.-actual analysis. Normally a plan will also include specific sales tactics, programs, management responsibilities, promotion, and other elements. The expense budget is a bare minimum.

Are They Enough?
These minimum requirements above are not the ideal, just the minimum. In most cases you'll begin a marketing plan with an Executive Summary, and you'll also follow those essentials just described with a review of organizational impact, risks and contingencies, and pending issues.
Include a Specific Action Plan
You should also remember that planning is about the results, not the plan itself. A marketing plan must be measured by the results it produces. The implementation of your plan is much more important than its brilliant ideas or massive market research. You can influence implementation by building a plan full of specific, measurable and concrete plans that can be tracked and followed up. Plan-vs.-actual analysis is critical to the eventual results, and you should build it into your plan.

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