Marketing planning aims all types of business, big or small. Many smaller businesses don’t place enough importance on marketing. They often see it as something that requires a lot of money and fancy advertising campaigns. However, marketing is about more than advertising, promotion and sales. And without customers, your business would not survive. In order to attract and retain customers, your business needs to understand the value of marketing.
A marketing plan helps to:
- keep your marketing efforts aligned with corporate goals and objectives;
- identify your target market and understand how your product or service meets their needs;
- identify your competitors and what your target customers think about your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses;
- get your whole organization on the same page and motivate the employees;
- become better at using strategy to build brand awareness;
- address and identify potential problems;
- measure your efforts;
- keep sight of the big picture;
- evaluate and take advantage of new opportunities.
Furthermore, marketing planning gives you control of your business. When you develop your plan, you’ll set targets and milestones which help you to allocate resources and budget and manage the performance.
The marketing plan can also pave the road to succes. With a marketing plan, the organization knows which direction to follow in order to reach the set objectives.
A marketing plan is not a document you create once and store in your bottom drawer. It’s a living guide that you should develop as your business grows and changes. Set yourself a reminder to review your marketing plan regularly. It’s important to keep it up to date according to your new goals and the changes in your business environment.
