Knowing how to create a marketing plan is necessary for companies in all sectors regardless of size. However, there are still many companies that start advertising online without having a clear marketing strategy or with a non-specific plan.
Specifically, is a guide that helps the company when determining the steps to follow at all times.
With this document, which contains a good investigation, a sample of its economic viability, the delimitation of short and long-term objectives, the timing of actions to be carried out, etc., the company will know the best way to attract customers and what KPIs to measure. Equally, the marketing plan must be valid for one year.
So, if you already have a good idea of the type of business you are going to create or are already prepared to know how to create a marketing plan step by step, keep reading all the information that we will provide below.
How to create a marketing plan
Step 1 of marketing plan:
Analysis of the situation (external and internal)
The first thing to do in a marketing plan is the analysis of the current situation. The idea is to obtain an analysis of the external and internal aspects of the company.
External aspects include the competition, the primary interest market, current customers, and buyer personas.
Likewise, the ideal client profiles (buyer personas) will be used later in many moments within the marketing plan and the definition of tactics and their implementation.
On the other hand, the internal aspects refer to the structure of the company, its economic and human resources, the objectives, etc.
To carry out this first step, it is essential to prepare a SWOT, a study that helps us discover: The strengths and weaknesses that we have concerning the company, product, or services and the opportunities or threats that we have externally.
Step 2 of marketing plan:
Definition of objectives
To define the objectives that help the success of our marketing strategy, these must be SMART:
- Specific: They must be specific.
- Measurable: They must be quantifiable so that we can measure their scope. If the objectives are not measurable, these will be purposes and/or wishes, but not strategic objectives.
- Achievable: They must be achievable, achievable and, for this, it is important to take the results of the SWOT as a basis.
- Relevant: They must be appropriate for your business. In line with the previous point (achievable), you cannot set objectives outside of the general objectives of our business.
- Limited in time: You must establish the time in which the objective must be achieved.
Step 3 of marketing plan:
Definition of strategies
At this point in how to create a marketing plan, we must mark the strategy based on our objectives, which can also be used to correct and enhance the data that we have extracted with our SWOT analysis.
Step 4 of marketing plan:
Definition of tactics and actions
After having defined the strategies; we must establish the tactics to execute, and within these, the list of actions to be carried out to achieve the objectives. In the same way, within each tactic, we must establish a specific list of actions that we can later set on our calendar to establish the order and the moment to be carried out.
Step 5 of marketing plan:
Action schedule
Consequently with the previous step; once the important tactics and actions are defined, decisions must be made and the list put on the calendar. It is important to correctly locate in order and at the time each of the actions would help us to meet our objectives.
Step 6 of marketing plan:
Budget
The next step is to prepare a budget that establishes the human and financial resources necessary to be able to comply with our marketing strategy.
Step 7 of marketing plan:
Control system
The control system is the last step. As has been said in the definition of the objectives; they must be measurable so that we can control their fulfillment.
Keeping this control during the implementation of our marketing plan will allow us to detect possible failures and deviations; as well as to be able to react in time to apply corrective measures that ensure the achievement of the objectives and the maximization of the ROI.
Therefore, we must establish control mechanisms for each objective and in partial realizations; not only for its scope at the end of the process. To carry out this control we must define our measurement system, develop a scorecard; and define our KPIs and relevant metrics.
