A marketing plan is a comprehensive document or blueprint that outlines the advertising and marketing efforts for the coming year. It describes business activities involved in accomplishing specific marketing objectives within a set time frame. A marketing plan also includes a description of the current marketing position of a business, a discussion of the target market, and a description of the marketing mix that a business will use to achieve its marketing goals. A marketing plan is an operational document that outlines an advertising strategy that an organization will implement to generate leads and reach its target market. It details the outreach and PR campaigns to be undertaken over a period, including how the company will measure the effect of these initiatives. A marketing plan is based on a companys overall marketing strategy.
The functions and components of a marketing plan include the following:
- Market research to support pricing decisions and new market entries
- Tailored messaging that targets certain demographics and geographic areas
- Platform selection for product and service promotion: digital, radio, Internet, trade magazines, and the mix of those platforms for each campaign
- Metrics that measure the results of marketing efforts and their reporting timelines
A marketing plan has a formal structure but can be used as a formal or informal document, which makes it very flexible. It contains some historical data, future predictions, and methods or strategies to achieve the marketing objectives. Creating a marketing plan involves determining goals and developing marketing strategies and techniques to achieve these goals.
