Steps To Create Marketing Plan [Complete Guide]

Sohini Mazumder October 28, 2020January 16, 2023 0 Comments

Complete Step-Wise Guide to Create Marketing Plan.

What is Marketing Plan:

Marketing Plan can be defined as a detailed strategy and plan that a company is about to use so that their products and services reach the customers. The marketing plan involves identifying the targeted customers, brand or the product value and also methods used to calculate and understand the marketing effectiveness. The marketing plan should be adjustable enough to yield the current conditions.

The Marketing Strategy can also be used for Marketing Plan as strategies are undertaken to derive a proper and effective Marketing Plan. A plan sketches the marketing activities of an organization for a month, quarter, or maybe on yearly basis whereas, the marketing strategy sets the overall value proposition of the organization, which means it sets the reason why a particular customer would prefer choosing any product or services.

Steps To Create Marketing Plan:

A marketing plan incorporates rational behaviour for making any decisions. The focus oh the marketing needs to be on the creation of the campaign, timing, and placement of the campaign. The effects of the marketing plan should also be checked often.

An effective marketing plan focuses on recognising the targeted market for their product or services. A probable way of gathering knowledge regarding the targeted market is conducting a well-organized Market.

Also Read: How To Write a Business Plan [A Complete Guide]

For a proper and useful Marketing plan to be initiated, there are few steps which are needed to be considered.

Stated below are the steps To Create Marketing Plan:

1. CONDUCTING MARKETING SURVEY

To answers questions like, whether to start a business in any particular area or how much price to set or to decide ways to attract customers and what are the demands and the requirements and feedback of the customers are, the only way is to interact with them. For a business organization, it is almost impossible for them to have one-to-one interaction with customers, this is where Market Research is applied.

Through this, basic questions relating to the market can be answered by the collection of the data and information.

Information regarding market size, customer satisfaction rate, needs, and requirements of the consumers, level of price-setting can be got from Market Research. This information is very crucial for any business organization to formulate any plan or strategy.

2. DIVIDING THE MARKET

When the market is divided on the basis of Demography which includes age, gender, occupation and etc., Geography which again includes location factor, Behavioural factor that includes factors like rate of consumption, the reaction of the consumers, decision making of the consumers, then this is what Dividing the Market means. Here division is done so that groups are created where people with similar attributes are there.

This simplifies the process of strategy making and planning regarding the Market for the business organization.

3. TARGET MARKET

After dividing the market on the basis of their respective groups, it needs to be evaluated. This evaluation involves how the organization would react to each segregated group. Which group will be their target customers and how they are going to plan?

Targeting the market there are 2 steps.

Market Evaluation: this involves examining and assessing the size of the market, SWOT of the divided market, and how it will impact the organization.
Target Market Selection: here the organization can select anyone from the following strategy:
Single Market Concentration
Full Market Leverage.

Market Specialization.

Product Specialization.
Selective Organization.

From all the above possible ways, organizations can choose whichever they want as per their needs and requirements.

4. MARKET POSITIONING

A process or method by which a business organization introduces and places its product and services to the customers so that they are attracted by their presence and look or maybe features. Increased sales can be seen due to this. Market Positioning includes components like- their pricing strategy, packaging, and packing of the product, what the product looks like, features of the product, ways that are undertaken by the competitors shall also be considered here.

5. INITIATING MARKETING MIX STRATEGY

This step focuses on initiating the Price, Product, Place, and Promotion strategies of the organization.

Price Mix: this is based on the price of the competitor’s product or services, availability if raw materials, cost of production.
Product Mix: here a product has 5 levels; Core Benefit, Basic Product, Expected Product, Augmented Product, Potential Product.
Place Mix: it means by creating various channels and networks the products and services are transported to the customers.
Promotion Mix: this involves spreading awareness among the consumers about their product and services so that Product Positioning. is done properly and effectively.

6. BUDGET

An effective Marketing Planning should also involve complete financing for their entire process of Marketing. The budgeting should be done for monthly, annually, quarterly, as when required. The budget should cover- Market research cost, promotion cost, product cost and etc.

7. REVIEW

The process doesn’t end with implementing them, it should also require reviewing and evaluating it often to check their performance so that the organization can analyse or expect the future result. Market share data, sales figure, feedbacks are some the factors which need to be evaluated.

8. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

It involves summarising the entire process of Marketing planning. So that it can be helpful for any future records.

Thus, this is the entire process of Marketing Research and ideally how the organizations make their Marketing Planning.