In today’s competitive and cluttered selling environment, business owners
are striving to stand out from the crowd and to be the best among the rest and
that is why marketing is essential
for all businesses irrespective of how big or small the business is and for
marketing to be successful it needs a strategic plan.
A marketing plan is your guide to
successfully promote and grow your business. A good marketing plan will help
you answer key questions about
your business, questions like how to position your company in the market, How to
differentiate yourself from your competitor, How to reach your customers, what
your sales goals are, Where and what medium to advertise on etc.
However here are some
basic reasons why taking the time and effort to develop a marketing plan is a
must for every business owner;
- Business Goals and Mission: It ensures that your marketing objectives are aligned with your business
goals and strategy. It helps you to fully understand your business and your
market. It also causes you to look at all factors that may affect your
ability to operate in the marketplace, e.g social factor, religious factor,
economic factor, legal factor, etc.
- USP: It helps you to discover what makes your company
unique. Once you identify who your competitors are, you can then be able to decide
on how to position your business in the market.
- Target
Audience: A marketing plan will help you to define your target audience;
good marketing helps your customers understand why your product or service is
better than, or different from, the competition. A good marketing plan can help
you reach your target audience, boost your customer base, and ultimately,
increase your bottom line.
- Clear Decision making: A plan enables clear decision making. In other words you can now assess the important marketing questions. What
marketing channels and tactics are working well/not so well? Are your products
meeting your customers’ needs, and are your prices working for your market?
Consider such questions in terms of your objectives, time frames and budget in
order to make these issues more concrete.
- Control: A marketing plan keeps you in control and will assist with the day-to-day operations of the business. It allows you
to monitor your business’s resources, team, and overall company performance. It
also prevents decisions being made out of panic or impulse.
- Ideas and concepts: Running a business is intense and sometimes marketing concepts can be a
case of all talk and no action. A marketing plan provides the foundations to
turn ideas into a reality. It will also help to avoid time-wasting, allowing
you to still focus on your business.
- Tasks and Deadlines: It
helps you establish tasks and deadlines, marketing activities
are all vastly different, and require creativity and boldness. Those
responsible for executing such activities may be quite overwhelmed upon first
glance. A marketing plan helps you to break tasks down into a step-by-step
guide to achieving them in your desired timeline.
- Obtain financing: A Marketing plan is a must if you are seeking investors, it is an essential document to show them.
Presenting potential financial backers with a detailed marketing plan will instill
them with confidence in your ability to achieve your company goals.
- A marketing plan keeps you focused: A well drafted marketing plan eliminates distractions and can keep you focused on what you really need so that you don’t waste time on what you don’t. It also makes working towards goals easier, with the end-game of your business’s success and prosperity in clear sight.
If you are thinking of advertising in Nigeria,
please contact PoiseMedia Communications at www.poisemedianigeria.com or check our contact at the bottom of this
blog. We can help you identify your market and reach them. We apply both BTL
and ATL strategies to project our clients’ brands to the right audience. We can
do same for you at very affordable price.
Lilian Izuorah
Business Development Officer
PoiseMedia Communications Ltd
