Maybe you think you don’t need a marketing plan. You might want to just “wing it” and throw some money at a PPC service, thinking anything is better than nothing. Done. Box checked, right? Well, it’s more like you just threw away hard-earned money on some sugary junk that only gave you a belly ache!
There’s a right way to do most things, and we know the right way to market online. We have a proven process to create your marketing plan and execute it. We focus on developing a plan that gives you the best bang for your buck within your budget. With a solid marketing plan, you will know how much you need to spend, how, and when. Without a marketing plan, you are guessing and hoping for the best. Let’s take a look now at how an agency creates a marketing plan:
- Conduct a situation analysis. This includes conducting a SWOT analysis, which will identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The agency will also research your target market, including their demographics, psychographics, and buying behavior.
- Define the target audience. The agency will define your target audience in detail, including their demographics, psychographics, and buying behavior. This will help the agency to develop marketing messages that will resonate with the target audience.
- Write SMART goals. The agency will write SMART goals for the marketing plan, which are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. This will help the agency track the marketing plan’s progress and measure its success.
- Analyze the tactics. The agency will analyze the different marketing tactics that are available to you, and will select the tactics that are most likely to be successful. This includes traditional marketing tactics such as advertising, public relations, and direct mail, as well as digital marketing tactics such as search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and social media marketing.
- Set the budget. The agency will set the budget for the marketing plan, taking into account the cost of the different marketing tactics that have been selected. The budget will also need to take into account your financial resources.
- Implement the plan. The agency will implement the marketing plan, and will track the progress of the plan to ensure that it is on track. The agency will also measure the success of the plan, and will make adjustments to the plan as needed.
A marketing plan is a living document, and can be updated as needed. The agency will work with you to ensure that the marketing plan is aligned with your business goals, and that it is effective in achieving those goals.
If you’re writing your own marketing plan, here are some additional things to consider:
- Be clear and concise. Create a plan and supporting documentation that’s easy to understand and follow later by you and your team.
- Be realistic. It should be based on your budget and resources.
- Be flexible. Your plan needs to be flexible enough so you can adjust to the situation as needed down the road.
- Be measurable. Include metrics that can be used to measure your success. Define goals and decide how they will be measured.
