3 Steps to Writing a Marketing Plan

There are three basic questions you must answer in order to write a compelling Marketing Plan. The first two steps flow from market research, which will end up in the Customer Analysis section of your business plan. The third questions flows from that and is expressed in your Marketing Plan.

The process of answering these questions is comparable to good marksmanship.

1) Who are your customers?

Do the market research. Combine your own research with a hired reputable research firm. Know what your customers purchase; how much money they make; how many cars they have; where they live; how many people they employ; what they do for a living; and other data.

The more information you have about your customer demographics and psychographics, the better off you are. This way, you can come to a reliable estimate of how many customers are in your target market. Investors love hard data-backed customer segments.

2) What do your customers need?

Using market research again, find out what your customers do not have that they need. How do you do this? You can find clues by finding out what products or services they have purchased that are intended to fill the same need your company fulfills. You can also gain access to research that reveals whether your customers would ever buy a product or service like yours.

Based on that information, you can come to a conclusion as to how many of those customers would likely switch to your product or service, given the opportunity to do so.

3) How do you give them what they need?

You must actively reach out your potential customers – and make it easy for them to reach out to you. This is where your Marketing Plan comes in. Use what you learned when creating your Customer Analysis to reach your target market right where they live.

This gives you a lean, effective marketing strategy which you will use to penetrate the industry and stake your claim.