How to Develop a Marketing Plan

Any potential lender or investor will want to see a marketing plan for your new product before making a commitment. Developing a marketing plan also gives you the opportunity to organize your thoughts and discover any trouble spots in your strategy.

Difficulty: Moderately challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Marketing Book
• Plan-idea Books
• Computers
• Business Plan Software
• Database Software
• Spreadsheet Softwares

1. Describe your product in detail. What are its most significant features? Is the product still in development, or is it ready to roll?

2. Identify your target market. Who will this product appeal to most? Include all market research, including historical figures for sales of your type of product.

3. Size up the competition. Who are your major competitors? How does your product compare to theirs? How strong of a foothold do they have in the market? Look at the methods they use to market their products.

4. Detail your marketing strategy. How will you advertise and market your product? Which features of the product will you focus on? What will be the product's price and why?

5. Describe your operations. Include your plan for customer service, proposed credit and sales terms, qualifications and achievements of your management team, and the physical location of your business.

6. Prepare financial statements based on projections of sales, operating costs and expenses. Include cash flow projections, profit and loss reports and income statements for at least three years.

Tips & Warnings

• Divide the plan into sections based on the above topics. Begin with a summary that gives an overall picture of your product and its winning features.
• In each section of the plan, always try to show how your product and strategy beats the competition.
• Marketing plans can be just a few pages or as lengthy as novels. But keep in mind that the more thorough you are in supporting your plan with research, detailed information and financial projections, the more likely you will be to gain support from investors or lenders.
• Have an accountant review your financial projections for accuracy.
• Have the plan copy edited and proofread by a reliable source. Sometimes, too much "jargon" can turn off prospective lenders.

Who Can Help:

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[Joanna-SW-Mktg]

on 7/30/2008 Before you even start on a marketing plan, you must have identified a clear, concise Value Proposition that resolves a top Pain Point for your target customer. If you can't describe that in 30 seconds... you're not ready to commit a marketing plan to paper. Of course, going through the marketing plan exercise could help you refine your value proposition and the pain point you are addressing, but keep those in mind first.

[Joanna-SW-Mktg]

on 7/30/2008 Before you even start on a marketing plan, you must have identified a clear, concise Value Proposition that resolves a top Pain Point for your target customer. If you can't describe that in 30 seconds... you're not ready to commit a marketing plan to paper. Of course, going through the marketing plan exercise could help you refine your value proposition and the pain point you are addressing, but keep those in mind first.

[MktgSuccess]

on 12/11/2007 In our practice at www.marketingactionprogram.com we have found that The best way to build a message strategy is to model a tough sales conversation and derive your messages from your strongest responses.

on 6/30/2006 Marketing by mimicking the competition is a short path to failure. If you look and act just like them, you're offering no compelling reason for a potential customer to choose you over anyone else. With that strategy, the only competitive advantage you can create is by outspending them on advertising. And advertising, for companies large and small, almost always costs more than it returns.

The best strategy is to clearly identify a target market then customize your product/service to meet their needs better than anyone else. If you do this well, you'll stake out a market where there is effectively no competition and generate word-of-mouth marketing.

on 1/19/2006 If there is no competition, there is probably no market for your product or service in that area. Always assume that someone thought of your idea before you did. See what similar businesses are doing in that area and find out what differences they have. If they are successful, it's because they altered themselves to meet special demands of their market. After you've done your research, an old marketing axiom kicks in: 'Use The User'. Do what other successful, similar businesses are doing and wade in for a piece of that market. Established business tend to become complacent. Better service from you will give you an edge.