By:
Sarah Seals
www.tscpa.org
STEP 1:
Conduct A Situational Analysis
Before putting a marketing plan
implementation into effect, you need to clearly establish
your business’s current position in the marketplace. This analysis
should describe your current products or services and include a
competitive analysis. Your competitive analysis should then identify
the competencies that define your organization and can lead to
competitive advantages.
STEP 2:
Build Your Brand
Determine what distinguishes your company from others in the field. If
you’re unsure, conduct a survey of the marketing base you are trying
to reach. Finding out what they value will assist you with branding.
While building the brand, be sure to communicate your unique firm
attributes consistently and comprehensively.
STEP 3:
Identify Your Target Audience
Knowing who your customers are, what they want or need, and what
motivates them to buy are the keys to effective marketing. If you’re
marketing to consumers, define your audience profile based on
demographics, including age, gender, marital status, income level,
education, and other relevant characteristics.
Business-to-business marketers should list their target audiences by
category, such as physicians practicing a specific specialty or
consultants who work with legal practices. Precisely defining your
target audience will make it easier for you to implement your branding
program.
STEP 4:
Set Marketing Objectives
Now that you have a sense of where you stand and who your customers
are, you must elaborate on your branding program by determining how
you want to position your business to get the results you want and
incorporate this information into clear marketing objectives.
For example, do
you want to increase sales? Build awareness? Launch a new product or
enter a new market?
Your objectives
define the basis of your marketing plan implementation. If one of your objectives is
to increase sales, be sure to be specific and make the objectives
measurable and realistic with a stated time frame for achievement. For
example, an objective might be to increase sales by 10 percent in the
next 12 months by introducing a new product.
STEP 5:
Determine Marketing Strategies And Tactics
Now that you’ve outlined your objectives, it’s time to determine the
best strategy to achieve them. This is essentially the heart of your
marketing plan implementation. For each objective identified, create a tactical
strategy to help you accomplish it.
For example, if your goal is to increase sales of a new snack food
among teens, a strategy might be to give out free samples at a local
concert. The tactics show all the actionable steps you must take to
carry out the strategy and become your “to do” list.
STEP 6:
Establish A Budget
In the final section of the plan, document the costs of everything
needed to fund it. If, for example, your strategy for increasing
awareness calls for an exhibit at two trade shows during the coming
year, estimate the costs involved for renting exhibit space, designing
a booth, staffing it, and stocking it with marketing materials.
Once all costs are
documented, take a realistic look at how much money is available for
marketing. From there, beef up or pare down the plan, depending on
your financial situation. Keep in mind that while overextending
yourself is inadvisable, it’s critical to allot adequate funds to
reach your markets.
Refer To
And Update Your Plan Frequently
CPAs say a marketing plan implementation is only as good as the work
put into the plan itself and
how useful it is. Refer to the plan often, judge how well you’re
meeting objectives, and update as necessary.
