Marketing Plan
It is quarter four (Q4) – we are officially down to the last three months of 2020. If this year has taught us anything, it is to move boldly with intention and reach to solve the needs of others. Every new or established brand needs to have a marketing foundation – with that said, creating a marketing plan is essential.
What is It?
A marketing plan is a strategic roadmap that businesses use to organize, execute, and track their marketing strategy over a given time period. Marketing plans can include separate marketing strategies for the various marketing teams across the company, but all of them work toward the same business goals.
HubSpot. Everything You Need To Write a Marketing Plan
Quick note: The marketing plan is different from the marketing strategy. The marketing strategy describes how a brand will accomplish a particular mission or goal. (We can cover strategy in a different post.)
Top Elements To Include
Before we can get into the fun, exciting elements of marketing, i.e. social media, email marketing, and social media advertising, we need to talk about creating the foundation of your brand. These foundational elements will keep your brand grounded while remembering its purpose when times become difficult or not up to your expectations.
While this is not a comprehensive guide of every element you should include in your marketing plan, here are 5 elements necessary to write down.
Goals
Now, we all know how important goal setting is. But without the proper parameters around the goals, they can become statements without actions that we do not look at again or get around accomplish. We all do it – I still do, but SMART goals will help to eliminate it
Write your brand’s marketing goals in the SMART format: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
Example: Create and schedule out 3 Instagram feed posts for [related brand-related product/service] per month.
Brand Pillars
Stand out from your competitors by creating brand pillars. These are the points that set your company apart from competitors. Similar to values, brand pillars are short phrases or statements you can identify at any point in your audience’s brand experience – pillars you strive to achieve every step of the way.
Target Audience
To accurately market your brand, you will need to know your audience. Have the information to describe the type of person(s) they are, including demographics: age, sex, location, job title, interests, and other factors. This plays into how and where you should market your brand to your audience. It also helps eliminate confusion on who your audience is not.
Brand Style, Tone, and Voice
This is great to have once you expand from a solo brand into a team. Stating your brand style, tone, and voice will ensure consistency and cohesiveness within all brand messaging:
- The brand style is how you format your copy.
- The brand voice represents its personality. It is how you should talk to your market audience in your social captions, website copy, and within your customer service aspects.
- The brand tone is the emotional inflection applied to your voice.
Your Why
Lastly, your WHY is huge! This is the piece to solve every puzzle. It is the solution to every problem. It is the answer to every question.
When you establish your why (the reason you created this brand in the first place), you find the value in what your brand brings to its market audience. Now, your other elements will become easier to detail out, and you will have a starting point in truly honing in on your marketing plan.
We Can Help With Your Marketing Plan
The 5 elements mentioned lay the foundation to fully complete a marketing plan. Let me know in the comments below if you started one using these 5 elements or would like assistance on it.
I am accepting two more marketing clients for the rest of the year. If you are in need of marketing assistance, book your free consultation to get started. We will discuss your brand, goals, current marketing efforts, etc.
Book your free session today!
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