7 Steps to Building a Successful Marketing Plan

One of the most powerful strategic planning tools a business can possess is a marketing plan. Your marketing plan should be simple but should define your goals, audience, budget and activities required to create brand awareness. Without a solid strategy in place, businesses might fall into traps focusing on individual tactics. If you are looking to create a powerful marketing strategy, here is a 7-step guide to create one:
Define your Success
Firstly, define the objective of your marketing plan that will determine if you have succeeded in your goal or not. Note down achievable goals and define the time frame to complete them. Success definition might differ company to company depending on type of business. For some, it means increasing the dollar value from sales, for some it can be increasing internet presence and for some it can be increasing the website traffic. Whatever, metric you’ll choose, define it clearly.
Define your Audience
It’s important to understand who your prospective and current customers are, and what services or products they want to buy and why. Understand their pain points and problems and include a solution in your messaging.
Build a Profile and Prioritize
You should know the complete profile of the person you’re targeting: age, likes/dislikes, gender, shopping habits, buying habits, lifestyle, location, annual income etc. This data will tell you who to invest in and who will be the waste of your time.
Idea & Brainstorm
Create a list of strategic partnerships that will help you maximizing your visibility and success. These partnerships can bring new customers and fill in the gaps in your products and services that you don’t offer. It brings more visibility to your brand.
Budget and Prioritize
Spending more in new areas of marketing should be the first priority in your mind. According to a survey, the annual spent on marketing is increasing and this trend will continue for several years.
Create, Craft & Implement
You must craft your marketing collateral’s and messaging keeping your ideal customers in mind. You can always make use of available resources and network if you can’t afford to hire professionals to get engaging content crafted. You can also pay for few hours of consulting or look for other online options.
Measure Results, Adjust and Repeat
Measure the results of your campaign, analyze these results for their weakness and strengths and get customers’ feedback. Ask them what made them buy your product. Based on these results, adjust your strategy, messages and repeat.
Marketing can drive sales for a company but can’t do sales. Never ever mix marketing and sales together. Yes, they can go together. Marketing can always come up with follow-up plans to close the leads they have generated and help sales in closing those leads.

Infographic Source: https://www.golevo.com/blog/build-successful-marketing-plan/