how to create your marketing plan -...

HOW TO CREATE YOUR MARKETING PLAN

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How to Create Your Marketing Plan

COURSE CONTENTS Modules

Introduction 1. Key Elements of a Marketing Plan 2. Why Do You Need a Marketing Plan? 3. Market Research 4. Describe Your Company 5. Assessing Your Business

• SWOT Analysis 6. Establish Marketing Goals

• SMART Goals 7. Track Your Marketing Results 8. Understanding the 4 P’s of Marketing

• Identify Your Marketing Mix i. Product Tactics ii. Price Tactics iii. Place Tactics iv. Promotion Tactics

9. Create a Marketing Budget 10. Create Your Marketing Plan Calendar Conclusion: Putting It All Together

Participant Materials

Ø 58-page Course Book – self-study content and activity instructions Ø 38-page Course Workbook (worksheets for completing the learning

activities) Ø Marketing Budget spreadsheet Ø Infographics

o What are the 4Ps? o Popular 4P Tactics o SWOT Analysis

Ø Course Graphics – Graphic Models of Key Concepts



Ø Marketing Plan Template Ø Marketing Plan Overview – PowerPoint Template Ø Checklist of Marketing Plan Creation Tasks

Facilitator Materials

Ø 179 Slides – for classroom, webinar or video Ø Speaker Notes – script and instructions in Notes section of slides Ø Facilitator Guide – additional instructions plus all slides and notes Ø Mind Map Overview of Course Ø Course Evaluation Form Ø Course Follow-up Emails (5 emails for following up with participants

after the course) Ø Top Ways to Deliver Your Training Ø Instructions for Using Your New Content Ø List of Research Sources

Promotion Materials

Ø The 3 Keys to a Successful Marketing Plan – Opt-in report Ø Opt-In Infographic – The 3 Keys to a Successful Marketing Plan Ø Promotional Slide Show (40 slides) – 10 Questions Your Marketing Plan

Must Answer Ø Follow-up Emails (5 emails for following up after the short report) Ø Blog Posts (5 blog posts about Marketing Planning) Ø 30 Tips about Marketing Planning (In tweet-friendly length for use in

social media) Ø Promotional Videos for both the course and opt-in report Ø Sales and Opt-In pages (html page plus separate doc with sales copy) Ø 5 Inspirational Quote Images Ø Editable eCover Templates (10 Designs in 2D psd, ready to convert to

your own branded eCovers)



Facilitator Guide Excerpt

COURSE OVERVIEW How to Create Your Marketing Plan is a comprehensive training program that should ideally be delivered as separate workshops, webinars, video series, or longer classroom session(s). There are 17 different chapters in the Course Guide, which can be combined depending on your audience’ s needs. The purpose of this Facilitator Guide is to give you some instructions for delivering the course, as well as one place to keep all your speaker notes. Your goal in teaching the course is to help people create a complete marketing plan that guides them towards successful achievement of their marketing goals and ultimately to a much more rapid increase in revenue and profit. During the course, participants will develop the details of their marketing plan, starting with setting goals and moving on through research, assessment, identification of their marketing mix, drafting of a budget, and the creation of their marketing calendar. Many of the activity require individual work in research and analysis. However, participants will still learn best by sharing their challenges and getting feedback from each other on the work they’ve done. Therefore, while you need to leave time for individual work, be sure to build in the time for debriefing of activities too. As participants go through each module, make sure they are completing the activities as thoroughly as possible. In that way, they’ll have a truly actionable marketing plan by the end and will be able to jump right into implementation and ultimate success.



Also, be sure to complete the learning activities yourself, as much as possible, before conducting the course. That way, you’ll have your own feedback to share and you’ll see where others might have challenges. While there is a participant Workbook included for completing activities, some people may have their own preferred way to record their notes. For example, participants who use Evernote or One Note may want to use those platforms for recording their notes. For an overview of the different modules and the materials included, see the separate Course Overview mind map.

AUDIENCE

This course can benefit a large number of markets and audiences, especially if you tailor some of the language and examples. You can even break up the modules and offer only the ones that are of value to your audience. Here are just a few types of participants who can be your target market:

Ø Small Business Owners Ø Solopreneurs Ø Business Service Providers Ø Business Coaches and Consultants Ø Bloggers Ø Marketing Consultants Ø Social Media Consultants Ø Anyone who is ready to take a proactive approach to guaranteeing their

business success



LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the time participants complete the course, they will be able to:

• Learn the benefits of creating a marketing plan for their business • Conduct the initial market research that will be included in their

marketing plan • Create a company overview that briefly describes what their

business is about • Conduct an analysis of their company's current position in the market • Define their key marketing goals and make sure they are in line with

their business goals • Decide how they will track whether they are meeting their goals • Gain an understanding of the 4 P's of a marketing mix • Identify their own marketing mix and what resources they need in

order to implement it • Draft a prospective marketing budget • Identify their marketing initiatives and calendar for the next year • Determine the key tasks they’ll need to do to implement their plan • Identify any next steps needed to complete their marketing plan

COURSE DELIVERY OPTIONS

How to Create Your Marketing Plan is designed to be flexible for delivery in different media and timeframes. The following are 5 of the most popular methods of delivery. See the separate document on Top Ways to Deliver Your Training for a few more details on each.

1. Live Workshop 2. Webinar 3. Recorded Video 4. Email Series 5. eBook



MATERIALS NEEDED FOR IMPLEMENTATION

For the most effective implementation of any delivery method, you will need at least the following:

• Ideally, you should have a website for publishing opt-in funnel pages, registration page, download pages for workshop materials and pre- reading (giveaway report), and any follow-up content for reinforcing the learning. However, an eCourse doesn’t necessarily require this.

• Payment platform, such as PayPal • Email autoresponder service for list-building (prospects and

customers), and ongoing relationship-building and newsletters • Computer and software for using the Microsoft Office documents

LIVE WORKSHOP • Venue for delivering the training, including main room and places for

small break- out groups for activities • Projector to connect computer and show PowerPoint slides • Flipchart and markers to record discussion points • Printed copies of Course Book, Workbooks and any other handouts for

each participant • Name stickers or tents • Any additional handouts for customizing activities. For example, if you

want to provide examples for people to use in exercises rather than coming up with their own.

• Access to computers for each participant, though ideally they should be bringing their own.

• Internet access.

WEBINAR

• Webinar platform – e.g., GotoWebinar or Google Hangouts on Air • Headset and good microphone • Place to publish recorded webinar (Google Hangouts on Air will

post to YouTube and you can make it Unlisted or Private)



VIDEO:

• Screen capture software or PowerPoint 2010 • Microphone • Audio recorder (if recording audio separately) • Video camera (if doing face-to-face recording) • Video editing software (if you want to edit afterwards)

ECOURSE:

• Autoresponder software, such as Aweber • Text editor (e.g., Notepad) • Pdf creator (You can create pdfs in Microsoft Word by saving as File type • .pdf) • Website for download pages and/or files (if not attaching to email)

EBOOK

• Word processing software (Microsoft Word or other) • Pdf creator (can use Word)

There is a Course Evaluation Form provided as well, which you can hand out to people at the end of the course, email to them, or enter into a service like Survey Monkey.

NOTE: If you want to deliver your course via a drip-fed or one-off membership payment, you will also need a membership platform. Examples include Wishlist Member, Amember, and Member Mouse, but you should do your research to find the one you feel most comfortable with



Course Book Excerpt

Establish Marketing Goals

Your marketing plan should include clear marketing goals. These are not

the same as your business goals. Business goals are specific milestones you hope to achieve with your business. They discuss your business as a whole and cover things like overall revenue targets, number of customers, and where that revenue will come from. Your marketing goals are a subset of your business goals. They outline specific goals you need to achieve on the marketing side of your business in order to reach your overall business goals. Marketing goals should follow the SMART criteria that we use for business goals. SMART means that your goals follow these standards:

S - Specific Every goal needs to be clear and simply stated. If goals are vague, there is no way to know whether you've achieved them or not. A good way to make goals specific is to make sure they answer the six 'wh questions': What do I want to accomplish? Why do I want to accomplish it? Who is involved in its attainment? Where will this happen? When will this happen? Which requirements will be involved in the process? Of course, you don't need to cram an answer to each of these six questions into the simple statement of your objective, but include all that apply. The



objective should be stated in one sentence that anyone with any familiarity with your industry can understand.

M – Measurable You need a way to measure each goal so that you'll know when it has been reached. Like the Specific criteria, you can refine this by asking 'how' questions such as ‘how much,’ ‘how many,’ and ‘how will I know when it is accomplished.’ Include targets and milestones that you can clearly reach and focus on objective indicators like quantity, time, flexibility, efficiency, etc.

A – Achievable Goals need to be in line with your capabilities. It may be a challenge to reach your goal and it may stretch your resources, but it needs to be attainable. If it's impossible, you're setting yourself up for failure. It's not always easy to tell whether or not a goal is achievable at first. Try to consider what work will go into achieving this goal and what resources you'll need. Consider also the timeframe in which you want to get it done. It's often easier to see whether a goal is achievable or not once you start working toward it.

R – Relevance Your marketing goals need to be relevant to your overall business goals. How will attaining this goal help your business move forward toward its goals? Measure each marketing goal against your business goal by asking yourself how it's relevant.

T – Time-Bound Time-bound simply means that your goals need to be set in a specified time-frame. They can't be open-ended. Your goal may have a time-frame of days, weeks, months, or even years, but it needs to have some kind of time limit.



Include a time limit for the goal’s attainment as well as specific times for each of the steps needed to reach the eventual goal.

Marketing Goals and Business Strategy Marketing goals are used to create a strategy. Your strategy will guide how you put your plan into action and it helps you decide which tactics to use. Tactics are the actual concrete methods that will lead you to achieving your marketing goals. For example, your marketing goal may be to increase revenue from a specific segment of your market by 25%. You'll consider your capabilities, your market, and your marketing plan to decide what strategy will help you do that. For example, you might decide that your best strategy is to increase your presence and engagement on social media to gain access to that market segment. Once you have a strategy in place, you can draw from it the specific tactics that will put it into action.

Review Your Business Goals Start with the big picture and work your way down. Review your business goals. Make sure that these goals are clearly stated. Once defined, state your marketing goals, which are tied in with your business goals. Since this is a marketing plan, your marketing goals are the central focus (although your marketing plan should summarize business goals as well). For now, set marketing goals for one year from now. Where do you want your marketing to get you in a year? Separate these goals into different categories. When coming up with marketing goals, think in terms of the actions you want your target market to take. When your customers take these actions, it pushes you closer to your business goals.



You can extrapolate your marketing goals into strategy and tactics by asking yourself, 'What can my business do to lead customers to take these actions (the marketing goals)?'

The Purpose of Marketing Goals Broadly speaking, there are three types of marketing goals. One is to gain new customers. The objective is to get a person to make their first purchase from you. In order to do this, you need people to tell others about you. You need to get the message to them about your offering and its benefits. If you can spread awareness of the unique value you offer, this will result in more first-time purchases. Your tactics should include everything from gaining more exposure to moving customers through your sales funnel toward that first purchase. Other goals revolve around keeping current customers. Your objective may be to maintain the same purchase amount and frequency. If this objective is met, you'll gain revenue as you gain new customers. To meet this objective, you might encourage increased use of your products or develop new product lines that current customers can use. Finally, goals can be aimed at getting customers to buy more from you. The tactics would be similar to the last type (keeping customers buying) but the objective would be to increase purchase amount and frequency. Just remember that your marketing goals should be simple, focused, clear, and should follow the SMART criteria. They should be specific actions you want your customer to take. Activity: Using the SMART Marketing Goals worksheet, identify your top 3 marketing goals and check them against the SMART criteria



Sample Graphics

SWOT Analysis

HELPFUL HARMFUL

EXTERNAL

INTERNAL



The 4 Ps of Marketing



This was just an excerpt from the course on How To Create Your Marketing Plan To see all the details of what’s covered in the course, and to purchase a license to customize, rebrand and sell it, head over here:

https://contentsparks.com/mktg-plan

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