Starting a business requires a lot of thorough planning. Whether you are starting a grocery store or building a new IT empire, you need to create a well thought-through project. And since marketing is the key way to gain new clients, you need to have a clear-cut marketing plan. So, how do I prepare a marketing strategy plan, you might ask? Here you will find out!

  • Decide what you need.
  • Think about your goals.
  • Analyze the market.
  • Think about your target group.
  • Plan your budget.

If you find this interesting, try reading our post on how mapping can help you market your business.

How to begin planning a marketing strategy?

Start with your needs. In order to create a marketing plan you need to know what you want to achieve. Good marketing indeed leads to an increase in sales, but it does not have to do so directly. Maybe instead of promoting your product or service you need to increase your brand awareness? Maybe your website does not show up in the search results and you need to work on that? You need to think about your aim and needs while creating a marketing strategy plan. 

Think about your goal. Be realistic – if you see an aspect that you need to improve, think about the improvement – how big should it be, how long will it take to achieve such a level. You won’t change your sales from 100 to 10,000 in one day, you won’t be able to do so with your website’s online visibility. You need to set up realistic aims combined with the deadlines in which you want to achieve them.

Analyze the market. Get to know what works and what doesn’t. See what your competitors do better. You cannot plan a good marketing strategy without knowing the ins and outs of the market. But if you prepare well you can see your business’ strong sides and weaknesses, and improve the latter.

Marketing strategy plan

Planning a marketing strategy – the next steps.

If you already know the market, your needs and you have set your goals, then this is time to dig in further. Begin with considering your target customers. Who are they? How old are they? What communication channels do they use? The more you know about your clients, the better your marketing strategy will be. You cannot create a universal marketing campaign that will work well on all kinds of people – you need to know who’s your target, but also how to approach them.

Now, since you’ve prepared all of the above, you can prepare your budget. You know what results you expect, you know how to approach your clients, you have some knowledge of the market – so decide on how much you want to spend on your campaign. Since you have gathered all the information in the previous steps, you can prepare a realistic budget. You know what channels you are going to use, you know what you are trying to achieve, you know the patterns in your target group – write down your budget and put your marketing strategy into life.

The takeaway

Creating a successful marketing strategy consists of many steps – from taking a deep insight into your company to getting to know your customers and the market better. However, by planning your marketing strategy step by step you can achieve better results, and spend less money on marketing.

If you are interested in marketing, read our tips on promoting your business locally.