The Biggest Missing Piece of Your Marketing Plan
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The Biggest Missing Piece of Your Marketing Plan
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Black Pearl Matrix
With a marketing plan you will:
- Know your target audience in depth and understand how to reach them
- Record realistic goals and objectives for certain periods of time
- Detail the strategies that will be applied to achieve these objectives
- Analyze competitors
- Create a clear image that allows you to see where the company is in the market in relation to the competition
- Define the tools that will be used
- Visualize the sales funnel more clearly
- Concentrate information in one place
A well-crafted and complete digital marketing plan can bring success to a business. Do you want to learn how to do this strategic planning for your company?
After all, nowadays a company that is not present in the digital environment is leaving a lot of money on the table, that is a fact. The internet is where new potential customers find your business and use it to communicate with your brand. Therefore, a well-crafted plan is more than essential.
Marketing has changed rapidly in recent years, flyers, billboards and television ads are now outdated media. To be really close to the target audience, you need to be on the internet.
Most people have 24/7 internet access in the palm of their hands. In other words, we are always connected. Therefore, we reinforce that promoting a company on the internet is essential for its growth.
In this content, you will learn everything you need to create a complete digital marketing plan for your business.
Be sure to sell, keep reading and check out the best tips to ensure business success!
1- What is a Digital Marketing Plan?
Before creating a digital marketing plan, you need to fully understand what it is.
The digital marketing plan is a document that contains important information for your company. The focus of this document is actions, so it should be direct and objective.
Preparing it correctly will bring many benefits.
In this document you will:
• Define the personality;
• Know your target audience better and understand how to reach them;
• Register realistic goals and objectives for certain periods of time;
• Detail the strategies that will be applied to achieve these objectives;
• Analyze competitors;
• Identify the competitive disadvantages and advantages in relation to competitors;
• Create a clear picture that allows you to see where the company is in the market relative to the competition;
• Define the tools that will be used;
• Justify investments;
• Visualize the sales funnel more clearly;
• Obtain a complete mapping of the actions, facilitating reports and performance evaluations and definition of future strategies;
• Concentrate information in one place, which helps with team organization and communication.
2- The Importance of a Digital Marketing Plan
The online universe is wide and variable, there are many options available and it is constantly dynamic, so planning and having a good digital marketing plan is essential to guarantee success and the right investment, so as not to lose money, sales or credibility.
Planning also offers better arguments for negotiating investments and presenting projects, because when you have a complete digital marketing plan in hand, you can project results and present arguments in favor of actions.
3- What are the Stages of the Marketing Plan?
Now, let’s unravel the structure of a Marketing Plan. Here, we suggest the steps for creating a broader and more complete Strategic Marketing Plan. But they can be adapted to other types of plan.
Also, understand that these steps are also part of the marketing planning process. Along this path, you can write down the insights and put together the plan, which also tends to fulfill this sequence. So, let’s see what are the stages of elaboration of the Marketing Plan.
3.1 Company Diagnosis
Building the plan begins by looking inward. Try to make a summary of the company’s current situation, looking at the business structure, the number of employees, sales volume, billing history, resources, current positioning and management objectives.
In addition to describing the business, it is important to make a deeper analysis of the company’s strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities and threats of the environment that can influence its performance. The SWOT Analysis framework is the most suitable tool for this step:
Analyzes of the company itself ensure that the plan is adequate to the reality of the business and fits within its budget, in addition to aligning it with strategic planning decisions so that it meets the objectives of business management.
3.2 Analysis of the Business Environment
In the second step, it’s time to look outside. The analysis of the business environment must gather data from the macroenvironment and the microenvironment, in order to investigate factors that may affect the company’s performance during the period of execution of the Marketing Plan.
In the macro environment, the analysis should look at the major changes and trends in the region, the country and the world, which have to do with your business in the following environments:
• Demographic;
• Economic;
• Natural;
• Technological;
• Political-legal;
• Sociocultural.
In the microenvironment, the analysis focuses on the company's sector of activity and the main actors involved. In this case, Porter's 5Forces framework helps to think about the main factors that streamline the microenvironment:
• Rivalry between competitors;
• Bargaining power of suppliers;
• Bargaining power of customers;
• Threat of new competitors;
• Threat of new products or services.
All these factors can be combined to build scenarios (optimistic, neutral, pessimistic) for the future and develop strategies that strengthen the company in each one.
Thus, the Marketing Plan is designed to anticipate these factors in the business environment, whether positive or negative for the company.
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3.3 Competitor Analysis
Among the actors of the microenvironment, one deserves to be highlighted: the competition. Look for information about the performance of competitors, the public they are serving, how they communicate with the persona, how they advertise their products and how their results are.
As a competitive intelligence tool, competitor analysis in the Marketing Plan allows you to:
• Seek insights for your strategies;
• Anticipating market trends and competitors’ movements;
• Identify your position and market share;
• Identify opportunities for positioning and competitive advantage.
Perhaps you think that there is no way to get data from competitors, because they are confidential. But there are tools that allow you to spy on the competition, monitor their movements and know what they are doing (all within ethics, ok?). Google Alerts, SEMrush and Similar Web are some examples.
3.4 Definition of Audience and Personas
After analyzing the market and competitors, you already have a better basis for defining the target audience for your strategies. This is the group of consumers with similar demographic, psychographic and behavioral characteristics, to whom you will direct the Marketing Plan strategies.
To define it, you need to slice the market into segments with common characteristics, and identify the groups of consumers whose needs your business meets. So, the brand value proposal, which is present in the Marketing Plan strategies, must be directed to this target segment.
From the description of the target audience, you can also create the persona. Unlike the target audience, the persona deepens the behaviors, values, expectations and pains of the public, synthesized in the description of a character that represents the company’s ideal client.
At this point, you can also trace the persona’s buying journey. Think about your customer’s trajectory, from consideration to making the purchase, and the main behaviors, doubts and pains of each stage.
In this way, you can map out the ideal content, channels and approaches for each stage of the journey. Strategies target the target audience, but talk to the persona. Do you notice the difference?
While the target audience brings a generic description for segmentation and positioning purposes, the persona has a more complex and in-depth human profile, used to outline content and relationship strategies.
3.5 Definition of Positioning
From the definition of the target audience, the Marketing Plan enters into the strategic definitions. We start with positioning, which must be defined for each target audience.
Defining a market positioning means thinking about how the company wants to be perceived by consumers. Positioning builds a unique, differentiated and relevant image in the public’s mind. Of course, for this, you must have already studied your competitors to differentiate yourself from them in this position.
Positioning concerns company or product attributes, such as price, size or design, but it is mainly subjective factors, such as values and meanings attributed to the brand. They are the ones that awaken the public’s identification, conquer a space in the minds of consumers and influence their consumption decisions.
Then, when creating marketing strategies, positioning must be reflected in content, advertising, visual identity and all points of contact with consumers, so that they absorb the image you want to convey.
3.6 Definition of Objectives
The definition of objectives is at the heart of the Marketing Plan. But it’s important to go through all the steps that we’ve already mentioned, because they provide the basis for the objectives to be aligned with the reality of the business and the market, and target the right audience.
For defining objectives, the SMART methodology framework is an excellent ally. SMART is the acronym for the following characteristics that goals should have:
• Specific (specific);
• Measurable (measurable);
• Attainable (attainable);
• Realistic (realistic);
• Time-bound (with deadline).
When the Marketing Plan follows these guidelines, the objectives are more likely to be achieved. They become clearer and more motivating for the team, in addition to defining a common horizon, which everyone should aim for.
Realize, therefore, that there is no point in defining broad objectives, such as “sell more”, “have more engagement on social networks” or “increase access to the website”.
These are some examples of more efficient goals to guide strategies:
• Generate 1,000 e-commerce orders in one year;
• Increase engagement rate to 10% by July 2021;
• Reach 10,000 website visitors in two years.
They are much more specific, measurable and have a deadline. To find out if they are realistic and attainable, it is necessary to go back to the diagnosis of the company and the market to find out if the amounts and deadlines make sense.
It is worth remembering that we are defining objectives at the strategic level here. So, ideally, they determine what marketing as a whole wants to achieve, and work with a longer time frame. But, if you are creating a plan for a specific strategy, you can now define more unique goals.
3.7 Definition of KPIs
If you set measurable goals in the previous step, this phase becomes much easier. After all, being measurable means that you can use metrics to track the performance of strategies and know if they achieved the expected results.
But we are not talking about metrics, but about success indicators (KPIs). Okay, and what’s the difference?
Metrics are any measure to evaluate the performance of some action, such as the number of website visitors or social media interactions. KPIs are also metrics, but they are directly related to objectives. That is, the KPIs tell you if you are on track and if you have reached the goals outlined in the plan.
Of course, you can monitor other metrics as well, but it is the KPIs that indicate the successful execution of the Marketing Plan. Therefore, they must be closely monitored.
For this, it is important to establish an evaluation and control routine that monitors the KPIs and indicates possible adjustments to improve the results, in case they are moving away from the established objectives. Later on in the schedule this routine should appear.
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3.8 Definition of Strategies
Here, we start to get into the tactics of the Marketing Plan, that is, how to concretize the definitions into specific strategies, which then must be broken down into operational definitions. In this step, you must define which marketing strategies will contribute to achieving the objectives of the Marketing Plan.
If the goal is to generate 2,000 leads in the next year, you will probably need Inbound Marketing, Content Marketing and SEO strategies, for example. So, they must be thought of at that moment.
In addition, it is important to determine the Marketing Mix or 4 Ps of Marketing strategies:
• Price;
• Product;
• Square;
• Promotion.
These strategies are responsible for placing the brand on the market and must be aligned with the positioning for each target audience. As we are in a plan at the strategic level, you can only outline the main strategies and detail them in specific plans, at the tactical level (an Inbound Marketing Plan, for example).
If you prefer to concentrate everything in a single plan, you can now detail the strategies and actions, as well as your specific objectives and indicators.
3.9 Resources and Budget
What equipment and tools will you need to execute your plan? How much will you need to invest in each strategy? This is the time to look into the pocket!
Among the marketing costs you should consider are:
• Acquisition of tools;
• Employee hiring;
• Employee training;
• Paid media campaigns;
• Hiring services;
• Expenses with internet, telephone, energy, etc.
Marketing is one of the most costly areas for companies, so investments need to be well thought out and planned. That’s why they should also be part of the Marketing Plan.
3.10 Schedule and Persons Responsible
At this stage, define a schedule to enable the execution of the plan, as well as those responsible for the strategies. This is important to verify that the deadlines for achieving the objectives are plausible, and to show those involved what their responsibilities are, so that they commit to the Marketing Plan.
Since we’re creating a strategic plan, you can set long-term dates and general responsibilities. Afterwards, in the tactical and operational plans of each strategy, it is possible to detail the tasks and responsible parties in the medium and short term.
3.11 Elaboration of the Plan
Anyway, you already have all the information in the Marketing Plan! Now, it’s time to synthesize everything and create the final document, which will serve as a guide for marketing.
Generally speaking, the topics in the document can follow the steps we’ve shown you so far, but you can adapt it as your business needs.
The Marketing Plan can be structured like this:
1. Executive summary;
2. Diagnosis;
3. Analysis of the environment;
4. Competitors;
5. Target audience and persona;
6. Positioning;
7. Objectives;
8. Goals and indicators;
9. Marketing strategies;
10. Resources and budget;
11. Schedule and responsible.
Start with an executive summary, which introduces the Marketing Plan, the company and why this document was created. Take the opportunity to create an engaging text that encourages employee commitment.
Then, detail each point you thought of throughout the planning stages. Perhaps you have already noted several insights and have a preview, but it is important now to work on the texts so that they are clear and objective, in addition to prioritizing the main information.
The Marketing Plan shouldn’t be short, because it needs depth, but it shouldn’t tire anyone who reads it either. Also, pay attention to the design. As the plan must be a living document in the company, always present in the day-to-day, it must be attractive and pleasant. So create a good experience.
4- How to Put the Marketing Plan into Practice?
Plan your work, work your plan. This business philosophy can be translated like this: plan your work, execute your plan.
This means that there is no point in doing the whole planning process, creating the Marketing Plan, if it is not put into practice, according to its definitions. First, remember what we said about strategic, tactical, and operational plans.
To put the strategies into practice, the ideal is to break down the plan down to the operational level so that its execution is feasible. In this way, the strategic definitions reach the front end, in the employees’ daily lives.
In the operational plan, the Action Plans must be included to execute the strategies, which must contain:
• Activities that must be performed;
• Period of execution of each activity;
• How they should be executed;
• Who or who are responsible;
• What is the execution budget for each activity.
To engage the team in execution, it is important that the Marketing Plan and Action Plan documents are clear and available to all involved. When you know what to do, with a deadline and purpose, involvement and motivation are greater.
In addition, ideally, marketing should define a management methodology to apply plans and guide actions. Currently, many teams work with Agile Marketing, which adopts agile methodologies in project management, with short work cycles and flexible plans that adapt quickly to market responses.
Traditionally, however, teams tend to adopt the Waterfall (or “cascade”) methodology, which is a linear and sequential approach to activities, simpler to apply, but with more rigid plans.
Another possibility is the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) methodology. It is an approach focused on results, which connects the OKRs of the company, the team and each professional.
Regardless of the methodology you adopt, it’s important to review the plan frequently.
Even in the Waterfall methodology, the Marketing Plan should not be set in stone — as the strategy progresses and the reactions and changes in the market, the plan must adapt to generate more results.
For this, define the evaluation and control routines. You already know which KPIs to monitor, right? This is already defined in the plan. So, periodically monitor the results to see if they are on track, and adjust the strategies according to the results.
5- Which Companies Have the Most Successful Marketing Plans?
Now that you have all the information you need to create an effective Marketing Plan, check out some strategies from companies with more successful documents.
5.1 Contently's Content
The Marketing Plan applied by Contently reproduces the successes and potentialities of the previous campaign, as well as assessing problems and bottlenecks to increase the effectiveness of the next one. To prove that Content Marketing is really effective, whose concept and good practices are widely discussed by the company, the main focus of the strategy is the production of pieces with relevant information for the public.
For this, Contently creates a content flow with well-structured CTAs so that the persona’s journey of knowledge is completely met from the visit to the company’s points of contact. Thus, previous efforts gain strength throughout campaigns and publications, improving long-term results.
5.2 Coke
56% of people believe that companies’ socio-environmental responsibility actions are a marketing ploy to gain consumers’ trust. Coca-Cola, however, mitigated this stereotype, spreading “happiness”, mainly, in its Christmas campaigns.
One important campaign was based on the circulation of its famous Coca-Cola red truck through the streets on the outskirts of large urban centers to distribute items to people who pressed the button at the bottom, of the vehicle.
The campaign was released only on YouTube, but the marketing actions had such an impact, both for their innovation and their social focus, that Coca-Cola reproduced the same approach in Armenia and Istanbul. When the company truly believes in the cause and aligns its values with those of the public to which it will be directed, all investment is rewarded without demanding much effort.
5.3 Nike
Like Coca-Cola, Nike knows very well how to promote its values. With the slogan “Just do it”, the company inspires customers and athletes to pursue their goals and overcome adversity with innovation.
For this, in its campaigns, Nike tells inspiring stories that provoke positive emotions and identification in the public. But, just as we highlighted with Coca-Cola, this works because the values propagated are not only present in their marketing strategies, but also in the brand’s actions.
5.4 Red Bull
Red Bull is a brand that has always valued innovation in its marketing campaigns. The company motivates the public and invites everyone who wants to challenge their limits. To reinforce words with actions, the company sponsors high-risk athletes and extreme sports competitions.
A good example of this is the sponsorship given by the brand to Felix Baumgartner, who simply jumped out of the stratosphere. The risk of a stock of this size and level of boldness is enormous, yet marketers know that higher risks also yield a greater reward.
5.5 Spotify
Spotify reached a prominent position among the large companies that, in a way, were great pillars for changing consumer behavior and the main reasons for accelerating the Digital Transformation.
Campaigns are supported by this digitization. While it offers an innovative music streaming service, at least when the platform was launched, what really made the Spotify brand unique is its focus on helping users discover new content, but always focused on personalization.
The company seeks to offer a new experience with each access, through Artificial Intelligence and playlists created by themes: exercise, rest, work and based on the mood of users. This personalization capacity is also reflected in the company’s marketing campaigns, and reinforces the consumers’ relationship with the brand.
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FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions About Marketing Plans
1- What are the types of marketing plans?
The marketing plan can be broken down in several ways. Among them, the main ones are: strategic, tactical and operational.
2- What can't be missing in marketing?
Know your company's target audience. The consumer is in charge: he is the one who will decide which social networks his company should be on, what content it should produce, how and where it will promote its products, how it will design its website and so on.
3- What is marketing planning?
Marketing planning is the effort to base and define what actions should be taken by your company in order to reach a goal, be it related to a specific product or service, or the brand as a whole.
4- What is the importance of a strategic marketing plan for companies?
Strategic marketing planning is essential to guide and structure actions to achieve a goal. It acts as a compass, pointing the way forward for the organization's success.
5- What are the benefits of a marketing plan?
Marketing planning brings several benefits to a company, among them: Greater organization; Reduction of possible errors; Clarity on the goals to be achieved; Better strategizing; Better financial planning.
Conclusion
Don’t forget that your Marketing Plan is an essentially important tool for your business, but it needs to be consistent with your brand values.
Follow the tips in this article and take advantage of the templates, but adapt the structure and steps of the process to the reality of your business.
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