The phrase "marketing plan" can intimidate many people. Yes, it sounds complicated and technical, but it's purely common sense. A marketing plan is always built on the most basic principles. You won't need a college degree to create such a plan—just a pen and paper.

We all know that nowadays, we can't just go and start a business just like that. The process of starting a business has become quite complicated. When it comes to marketing, we can't succeed without advertising. The days when a person could open a business and hope for the best are long gone.

That's why there is something like a marketing plan, which every company creates for a certain period. It is usually one year.

We have created a guide for you on how to create a marketing plan in 7 steps. Follow along with us for the best results!

What is a marketing plan?

Before we start creating a marketing plan, it's important to understand what a marketing plan is and what it should contain.

A marketing plan is part of a larger document called a business plan. It is a document that includes everything about your business in terms of advertising and marketing.

A marketing plan contains everything you need to create successful advertising.

Large companies have marketing plans written into hundreds of pages and documents. Smaller businesses and entrepreneurs write a marketing plan into a few pages. There is no defined number of pages or content for a marketing plan. It is an individual matter, but it is important to remember: The marketing plan must be complete for it to be effective!

Most often, a marketing plan is written for one year. This gives the company enough time to react but also allows for analysis over a larger time frame. All the goals that your marketing plan sets should be: Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Specific, and Time-bound. These five points are called SMART goals.

Now that you know what a marketing plan is based on, we can move on to the individual points. Below you will find the most basic points for a marketing plan, which together form a good start for creating a more comprehensive plan!

Step 1: Know your business

The first step is the same as when you created the business plan. This step will not be too difficult. After all, who knows your business better than you?

Think of this step as an opportunity to write down general information and goals for your business. Write down what influences you externally and internally. Why do you do business at all? What is the goal of your company? What makes your company better? How long have you existed? What is your business structure? What are your costs? Where do you sell? Who is your customer? What services or products do you sell? Do you need to present yourself online?

In this part, a SWOT analysis is very important – What are your strengths, what are your weaknesses, where is your company threatened by weaknesses, what opportunities do your strengths provide. This analysis will open your eyes to where you are as a company and in which direction you want to go.

Another necessary analysis is BCG – This analysis is more complicated and should give you an overview of which products are your specialties, which products do not earn you money, which products are the future of your company, and which products are your mainstays. For more information, we provide a link at the end of the article.

Step 2: Define your customer

Knowing who to target in advertising is essential. You have surely heard this a million times. It needs to be repeated over and over again. Your advertising will never work if you target the wrong people.

In this part of your marketing plan, you should write down everything you know about your customer. Include their location, age, gender, religion, occupation, social group, interests, opinions, behavior, financial literacy, education, etc. The deeper you research, the more successful you will be!

Why should they buy from you? What problem do you solve for them? How do you help them? What value do you provide them?

Find out everything you can. Every piece of information will help you get a clearer picture. More information = better marketing.

Knowing your customer will help you create a marketing strategy.

Step 3: Analyze the competition

It would certainly be ideal to do business without competition, we wouldn't have to worry about what others are doing, etc. Unfortunately, today's market is saturated. There is a good chance that dozens of entities are already operating in your field. This means that you will have to work even harder to stand out and surpass the competition!

Don't worry, every company has a lot of competition. Having detailed knowledge of your competition is very important not only when creating a marketing strategy but also in all other processes. This analysis will help you differentiate yourself from others.

Start with a description – a detailed description – of the product or service you offer. This is your chance to expand your view from the previous step. Then write down how your product differs from the competition and in what way! What position does the company hold? What makes you unique? How do you stand out? Why should people buy from you? What is your USP (Unique Selling Proposition)?

Analyzing the competition can be mentally challenging. Specifically, seeing that someone is doing something better. I can't emphasize this step enough, knowing what and how your competition is doing is simply key.

Step 4: Set goals

The most fun part of the whole process – Write down what you want to achieve. What are your goals for the given period? How do you want to achieve them? What turnover do you want to reach? Where do you want to move as a company?

Other goals may look like this: Start a blog on the website, create an Instagram account, gain reach on social media, get to the first position on Google, increase website traffic by x percent…

It is important to set goals that are realistic for the given time period. Do not think about the logistics of each goal and step yet; this step will follow.

Your goals should be motivating and challenging, yet realistic and achievable.

Step 5: Prepare a strategy

Now that we know exactly what we want to achieve, we need to think about how to achieve it.

I recommend looking at each goal separately. Write down the exact steps under each goal individually. This technique will show you exactly what needs to be done for the given goal. It will also help you recognize whether the goal is realistic and achievable or if it needs to be revised and rethought. Your goals should be achievable but also challenging enough to be motivating.

Let's look at an example of a goal with the mentioned Instagram.

Goal: Gain at least 100 new followers on the company profile by January 2021.

Starting point: 300 followers

What needs to be done?:

• Be more active, post content 3 times a week.
• Be more active. Respond to comments on competitors' photos. Like other photos and relevant accounts.
• Market research. Research hashtags that we can actively use to gain more organic reach.
• Start running contests for our community.

See? It's not that difficult, you can define any goal this way. This technique is not complicated. It is, however, extremely effective.

Step 6: Create a budget

If you don't get along with numbers, don't worry. Again, it is a very simple matter.

In your business plan, you surely have everything written down about finances and sources of financing. In your marketing plan, try to be brief. How much money does the company need to spend on marketing? How much can the company spend on marketing? How much do you plan to invest in marketing when you look at your goals for this year? Where will you get the marketing funding from? What should be the return on investment? How much will it cost to achieve my goals?

Budgets are not fun, but they are very important. Be honest. Now is the time to find out where you have gaps, what you can't fund, and what you don't have money for. None of us want the company to run out of money after 4 months of operation. Find out where you can save. What are your major expenses? What are your priorities? Can the company remove minor expenses in case of emergency? What is the company's reserve?

Step 7: Start working!

That's it! Now we know what to focus on when creating a marketing plan, how to work with it, and what to look out for.

It's time to put all the pieces together and create your marketing plan. Remember, the more detailed the plan, the easier it will be to fulfill it.

The main thing is the time you put into your project. Your plan may be perfect, but if you don't work on it, it will be useless!