See how to create a marketing plan in 5 steps

Marketing is an important part of structuring a company, but many businesses, especially MEIs and small businesses, do not prioritize this activity because they do not have the time or investment. But digital actions can be economical and adapted to the size of each company. For this to work, however, you need to create a marketing plan .

Planning allows actions not to be lost and goals to be truly achieved. Even if they already have some strategies , such as social networks, companies may not be aware of the importance of structuring these media so that they provide a return, whether in financial terms or visibility.

What is a marketing plan?

The plan works like a map, a document containing all the defined strategies, objectives and goals and the actions necessary to achieve them. It covers a certain period, which can be the year, the semester, or even goes into details of specific actions.

A sweet shop can, for example, develop a plan just for the Easter period, or a business can work with a focus on Black Friday.

The important thing is that this guide contains important information related to marketing and serves as a reference for the company to achieve the established objectives.

The plan, however, is not the first step in marketing development. First, you need to have already defined some guidelines, such as:

Goals

Marketing has a comprehensive role for a company. With inbound , it is possible to attract new customers, and with content to generate more credibility. Social networks allow you to expand your audience and email marketing contributes to increased sales. And it is possible to use all methods, as long as the objectives are clear.

A small company, for example, may prefer to dedicate its efforts to increasing visibility on Google, so its strategies will follow that path. A self-employed professional can choose to be known on social media and, therefore, will adapt their actions to improve their online profile.

Target Audience

Marketing actions cannot be defined without first knowing who the company wants to talk to. Establishing which personas represent the public is a determining factor for the next steps. With this, it is possible to carry out market research and understand what this audience is looking for, what their interests are and even observe how the competition approaches them.

Branding

Visual communication, combined with values ​​and mission, make up branding and is the basis of the organization. In the visual aspect, this will help define how advertising pieces will be created, allowing for standardized communication across all media.

Values ​​strengthen the message to be transmitted and help create a connection with the public.

How to make a marketing plan in 5 steps

With the guidelines defined above, it’s time to make the plan. Understand how to create efficient planning in five steps:

1- Define strategies

First, it is necessary to define which strategies will be used. The plan will detail each one, defining the objectives of the actions. If the focus is social networks, for example, the plan must contain:

• Which networks the company is present in and the numbers of each one
• What actions will be carried out ( videos , arts, tutorials, etc.)
• What is the objective each month/quarter/year

2- Create goals

The objective will serve as the main guide, but goals allow you to evaluate each action individually and understand whether they are having an effect. A company’s objective may be to increase leads, and the goals quantify this by proposing the acquisition of x leads/month.

3- Make a schedule

Anyone who wants to invest in social media, for example, needs to be consistent in their posts, otherwise the public will forget or stop following. Making a schedule allows you to put this strategy on the agenda, defining specific periods to carry out the actions.

This helps organize what needs to be done in the short, medium and long term, and also makes life easier for professionals who don’t have a team and need to include these tasks in their daily lives.

4- Analyze the results

The plan must also contain KPIs that allow measuring the results of the proposed actions. This helps to analyze whether what is being done generates the expected result. Therefore, it is important to monitor the progress of actions and analyze what has the most public support.

5- Rethink

The plan is a guide that can be changed throughout the process. By evaluating this data and monitoring actions closely, it is possible to verify that some strategies work better than others and rethink the next steps. Why dedicate so much effort to Facebook if email marketing is more efficient? Trial and error is part of and must be included in the marketing plan . Finally, the way this is documented depends on the possibilities and facilities of each person. Some use management systems, or even a Powerpoint to establish the plan. What matters is that this is clear and allows the company to evolve.