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The marketing plan. Just like with any other plan, a marketing plan is vital to any business be it offline or online. Formulating a good marketing plan is essential to the success of any business because you need to get everyone focused on the same issues and that is what your plan should do. A business’s marketing plan serves as its battle plan or a game plan. Since your marketing plan will serve as a blueprint or guide it should be simple and easy to understand. You need to customize your marketing plan to suit your business and its objectives.

There are some things that should be avoided when putting together your marketing plan. Keep in mind that a good marketing plan is a collaboration of good strategy and tactics, and you cannot do either one effectively without the other.

In formulating a sound marketing plan here are some things that you should at all cost avoid:

1. Relying too much on creativity – I am not saying that being creative is wrong, it is actually okay. However as an aspiring entrepreneur you should not rely too much on this aspect. Sometimes when we write our marketing plan we see too much creativity that we tend to overlook tactics which will of course hurt the business in the long run.
2. Not paying attention to numbers – business in general is all about math and math is about numbers. So in short your marketing plan has something to do with numbers as well as it is part of your business. If you do not know your numbers that well then rest assured the results will not be good. Creating any marketing plan without knowing how much it will cost to acquire your customer, what your average sale needs to be, what is the required profit margin will result to failure. If you are going to invest $500 on advertising alone, how many leads and sales will you have to make in order to cover for the cost of the ad and at the same time profit?
3. Filling your marketing plan with unnecessary stuff – of course unnecessary stuff will just confuse you, so let it go. Generalities are also qualified as “unnecessary stuff.” Stating that your target market is “everybody” or “adults 50- and above” is not explicit enough and will result to problems down the road. Instead of doing this, start thinking of a niche. Narrow it down to “young males 16-plus who play video games and ride skateboards,” instead of stating “everybody.” While writing your marketing plan, keep in mind that marketing is all about buying your customers. Imagine going into a supermarket and buying everything that your heart desires. The question is, “Can you buy everything you see?” Let us face the harsh reality that, your resources would never allow it. In marketing terms, this means buying your ideal customer with the resources you already have. A sound marketing plan should mention exactly how much you are willing to spend to acquire your ideal customer.

A sound marketing plan should adhere to balance, and it is also important to show risks are being acknowledged. Like a business plan, a marketing plan is a vital guide. There are many entrepreneurs who do not understand the value of a marketing plan, and still others are clueless as to exactly what a marketing plan is. Every start-up venture and existing business needs a business plan, yet many entrepreneurs choose to forgo with that hence they throw away possible success. A marketing plan is required if you want your business to become a household name. Your marketing plan provides structure to the marketing efforts of your business.

 

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Tags: formulating a marketing plan, importance of marketing plan, marketing plan, writing a marketing plan

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