How to write a Marketing Plan

Successful companies have marketing plans. Large companies have plans with hundreds of pages; small ones can get by with a half-dozen sheets.

The plan should cover one year. For small companies, this is often the best way to think about marketing. Things change, people leave, markets evolve, customers come and go.

Everybody in your company should see your plan, you shouldn't keep it to yourself.

Don't write a marketing plan without getting people involved. No matter what your size, getting feedback from all parts of your company: finance, manufacturing, personnel and supply is essential, as it takes all aspects of your company to make your marketing plan work.

The Marketing Plan - A marketing plan is basically an outline of a company's plan and strategy to market its goods or services.

Marketing is everything it takes to influence customers to buy what you are offering, it includes conception, advertising, sales, pricing, promotion, even distribution.

To know how to write a marketing plan, you must first understand the core vision of the company as well as the company's goals. Then, develop your marketing plan to communicate how the company is going to achieve those goals from the marketing standpoint. Here’s what it should include:

Company vision or executive overview - The overall vision of your company.

Market review - Details of the market environment, including competitors, market trends, future trends and barriers to entry.

Product and business review - Define your product or service, and how your particular business addresses it and attempts to offer it to the market. What makes your company different than the rest?

Strategies - Outline the four P's of marketing: Product, Price, Place (distribution), and Promotion. How are you going to define these aspects of marketing in your business and how will you approach them?

Action plan and implementation - Now how are you going to solve the four P’s? What are the exact plans and steps you are going to follow to make the four P's work for you?

Future Evaluation - Explain how you plan to evaluate and measure your marketing plan's success. What tools and measurements will you utilize?