Steps to Create a Marketing Plan
What is a Marketing Plan?
A marketing plan is a business document outlining your marketing strategy and tactics. Normally, it covers a specific period of time (i.e. a year) and covers a number of elements, such as goals, budget and action steps.
Purpose of a Marketing Plan
Your marketing plan is a road map providing you with the directions required towards reaching your business goals.
A marketing plan is not fixed in stone; it should be adaptable to change and reflect the evolving needs of your business. As your business grows, you can monitor and measure what marketing activity works best for you.
Marketing is critical to the success of your business, therefore, having a comprehensive marketing plan is hugely advantageous. It doesn’t have to be ‘war and peace’, but should show clearly the direction you hope to take your craft business.
Benefits of a Marketing Plan
Marketing is as important as the products you provide. Without marketing, how can your customers find you if they don’t know you exist! Sales and repeat business can only occur, if you can easily be found and that’s the essence of promotion.
A marketing plan:
• Identifies who your market is. If you know who your potential customers are, it’s easier to track them down! You should create a pen portrait of your ideal customers (you may have more than one!): how old are they, where can they be found, are they male / female, what do they like reading, doing, watching etc? The more detailed you can make the pen portrait, the more targeted you can be in attracting them.
• Helps you put together impactful marketing messages that will deliver results. Your messages need to connect with your audience and speak directly to them. Marketing is about knowing what your product can do to help your target audience i.e. what are the benefits or pain points your product solves, or appeal to them i.e. hobbies, or interests?
• Provides focus and direction. There are so many marketing channels and tools you can use to promote your business it can be easy to feel overwhelmed. Your marketing plan helps to focus your attention on the direction you will take to create awareness of your products, generate interest and result in sales.
How to create your Marketing Plan
Typically, a small business marketing plan includes a number of elements, such as a description of competitors, anticipated demand for the product you offer, and strengths and weaknesses from a market standpoint of both the business and its competitors.
As you create your marketing plan, focus on what you need to understand and reach your market. The basics include:
1. An outline of your current business position. What is your product or service? Where have you had successes in generating new customers and what do you perceive are the challenges to attract new clients? You should consider what obstacles you could face over the next year i.e. less working time during school holidays or seasonal fluctuations that might affect how well you do in business.
2. Who are you trying to attract? Who are your perfect customers? You may already have a clear understanding of who your likely buyers are, or if you are starting out you can probably provide a ‘best guess’. The key is that you should be specific – if you know how your product or service can add value to the lives of people you sell to, you can ensure you target these customers with your products key benefits, thus encouraging sales. You may have a number of different customer profiles who form your target market. This is called market segmentation and you may have different products and different messages for each of the different groups. Knowing your market and its needs, helps you to create specific messages and place them where they’ll be seen for greater effectiveness.
3. What are you looking to achieve? To get the best from your plan, you should include specific goals that you want to achieve. We recommend that you focus on SMART goals (this should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely). A smart goal could be to increase your number of new customers by x or create y new Facebook followers. Your goals help to quantify whether your marketing plan is actually working by providing measurable targets.
4. What marketing tactics will you use to reach your audience? Knowing your audience is key. By understanding your audience profiles, you can identify what will entice them to look at what you have to offer and where they would be most likely to see. For example, if your market spends a lot of time on Facebook, you might consider having a page or group, or perhaps investing in Facebook advertising. Or if your products are more visual, you might consider Instagram.
5. How much will it cost? This is where you set a budget that you would be able to commit to your marketing plan. There are many free marketing strategies that you can implement, these require a time input, but are highly cost effective. Alternatively, you could consider networking and events and if so, have to consider the cost of travel, sending out invites, agreeing commission or discounts for multi-buys. Will you need to pay for online advertising or promotions? Of all the places to spend money in your business, marketing is the priority, but being smart in the way you allocate and invest your budget is key to maximising your sales potential.
To summarise:
A marketing plan should be constantly evolving to reflect the needs and successes within your business. Knowing your numbers and measuring your results will mean you can constantly assess and review your strategies to ensure you’re spending your time and budget in the right areas. Keeping your plan up-to-date and prioritising your activity will be a key way of ensuring your meet your business goals. Many factors can impact your marketing results and choices including market conditions, demand for your product or service, pricing, and new marketing methods (i.e. a new social media platform). It’s important you stay aware of all of this and adjust your marketing plan accordingly.
