Marketing Plan Development

The difference between ineffective marketing and the kind of marketing that moves the needle usually comes down to strategy. In other words, how well do you know your customers, your competitors, and even your own self? And did you create a comprehensive plan to communicate your most attractive features and benefits to your precise target market?

The SBDC helps you do just that by working with you to develop a strategic marketing plan. Here’s how the process typically works:

Meeting #1 – Marketing Plan Prep

• Discuss your business concept and your short and long-term goals for the company
• Go over your company’s mission statement, vision statement, and core values
• Develop a customized marketing plan template specific for your type of business
• Briefly review each of the sections of the marketing plan and prepare you for your first “homework” assignments

Meeting #2 – Situation (5 Cs) Analysis Review

• Discuss your company’s strengths and weaknesses, your goals and objectives, your success to date, your company culture, your brand position, and what resources you have at your disposal
• Understand who your customers are, how you might segment your target market, how big the market is and whether it’s growing, what motivates your customers, etc.
• Analyze your competitors by looking at their products, market share, how they are positioned in the market, and what their strengths and weaknesses are
• Review your main collaborators, which could include suppliers, distributors, partners, or other agencies
• Get a picture of the climate in which you’ll be operating, including what government regulations, economic factors, consumer trends, and technological changes affect your business

Meeting #3 – Marketing Strategy Formulation

• Identify a variety of ways you can segment your market and develop customer profiles for each of those segments
• Evaluate the attractiveness of the market segments and select one or more to focus on as your target market(s)
• Determine how you will position  your product or service to provide value to and best appeal to the target market(s) you serve
• Discuss your overall branding strategy (what do you want people to think of when they think of your company?)
• Develop your marketing objectives/goals
• Establish a budget for marketing expenses

Meeting #4 – Marketing Mix Development

• Develop a unique marketing mix for each of the target markets that have been identified in the strategic marketing plan to include:
  • Your product strategy
  • Your pricing strategy
  • Your place (distribution) strategy
  • Your promotion strategy

Meeting #5 – Implementation Plan

• Create a summarized timeline of all marketing campaigns
• Develop detailed action plans for each of the marketing objectives
• Determine the key performance indicators that will provide evidence of whether you are achieving your marketing objectives

Annual Strategic Marketing Plan Reviews

It’s usually a good idea to meet with your SBDC business coach once a year to review your progress on the strategic marketing plan and adjust the plan wherever it may be necessary.