When talking about objectives for creating a marketing plan, it is necessary to use another acronym, namely “SMART”
SMART goals stand for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound goals.
Let’s take a closer look at these aspects:
- Specific , as they must be defined clearly and precisely , avoiding ambiguity or multiple interpretations. This ensures that all team members understand exactly what must be achieved, without falling into errors;
- Measurable , because they must be quantifiable in terms of numbers or indicators . If we can measure it, a goal… We can understand it! This allows us to monitor progress and evaluate whether the goal has been achieved objectively;
- Achievable , because they must be realistic and not far-fetched. They must be achievable, therefore, with the resources and capabilities available. On the contrary, overly ambitious objectives can lead to frustration and demotivation in the team;
- Realistic , because they must be based on a realistic assessment of current conditions and available resources. They must be challenging, it is true, but also achievable;
- Timed , because they must have a precise deadline. This helps to maintain focus on the activities necessary to achieve the goal within the established period.
In a few words and to understand each other better…
Rather than setting a vague goal like “ increase sales ,” a SMART goal might be: “ Increase sales of product XXXX by 35% by December 2023. ”
You are not the only player in your industry, you need to reach this awareness.
Whenever you have to start any marketing, growth or launch activity you will always have to consider your competitors .
If your marketing plan includes, for example, a social media strategy, a content strategy, and an offline event organization strategy, you need to understand which competitors are already strong in all of these areas.
So for the social media strategy part, you need to figure out who has a strong presence among your competitors and possibly how you can fit in . And then repeat this process for every other strategy.
We finally get to talking about marketing strategies and how to fit them into a broader plan.
Based on the market analysis you have carried out beforehand, the objectives, the target audience and the competition, you must define the marketing strategy to adopt .
The strategy must include the actions the company intends to take to achieve its goals, the channels it intends to use, the content it intends to publish (such as articles, videos, posts, etc.), the frequency of publication, organic and paid activities.
You will also need to specify where you want the traffic to flow , which pages to promote, and through which activities.
Identifying the target audience
Once you are clear about who your competitors are, you cannot act without knowing who your target audience is .
We are talking about the people or companies most likely to purchase the product or service offered by your company .
In summary, the target is made up of the recipients of your marketing strategies .
You need to know everything about your buyer personas :
- personal data
- geolocation
- instruction
- Work
- needs
- purchasing behaviors
- preferences
- fears and doubts.
If you haven’t created your ideal target audience cards yet, I suggest you reread the article I wrote on how to identify the Buyer Persona to increase sales. Here I explained in detail how to find your target audience and use it for all subsequent activities.
Determination of KPIs
Well yes, in your marketing plan you job function email list will also have to establish the KPIs or OKRs through which you will monitor the results achieved by your marketing strategies.
KPIs , or key performance indicators , are nothing more than quantifiable measures of the performance achieved by different activities in a given period of time .
KPIs can be the metrics you collect from your website or social media: number of views, traffic, interactions, email open rate, and so on.
As you can see, every part of your marketing plan needs to communicate.
KPIs are closely related to the activities you want to implement within your strategies and represent the metrics that will help you understand what works and what needs to be fixed.
Budget definition
Another fundamental element of the marketing plan, as we will see in the example in the next paragraph, is the definition of the budget .
This is useful both for the company to take into account the resources to be allocated to marketing and to find potential investors and financiers . In general, the forecast document useful for managing who needs a marketing plan and why? financial estimates and keeping income and expenses under control is the company forecast .
If you’ve worked in marketing before, you know it can be a bit confusing to get carried away with paid advertising or influencer compensation.
To avoid going over budget , I recommend that you write everything down precisely and clearly in your marketing plan.
For freelancers it is also important to understand if they are financially able to support all the strategies they have decided to implement or if there are cheaper methods to achieve the same results.
Marketing Plan Example
To help you better understand what a marketing plan is , I propose below an example of a simplified marketing plan for a new line of sportswear products.
Marketing objectives :
- Launch the new sportswear line to the target audience by the end of the year;
- Increase sales by 20% by the end of the first quarter of the following year.
Target audience :
- Amateur and professional athletes aged between 18 and 45.
- People who go to gyms and fitness centers.
Marketing Strategy :
- Develop a strong social media presence to promote the sportswear line and create an engaging brand experience for consumers;
- Collaborate with sports influencers to increase brand visibility and generate interest in products;
- Offer discounts and promotions to encourage customers to purchase products during the launch phase of the clothing line.
Implementation plan :
- Develop and launch an advertising campaign on Facebook and Instagram, with the goal of reaching at least 500,000 views and generating at least 10,000 clicks on the company website.
- Identify and collaborate with at least 5 sports influencers, with a combined social media following of at least 1 million, to promote the new sportswear line.
- Offer a 20% discount to the first 1,000 customers who purchase the new line of activewear within the first month of the line’s launch.
- Organize a launch event for the new sportswear line at the company headquarters, inviting media, influencers and target customers.
- Continuously monitor the results of your marketing activities by analyzing website traffic, social media interactions, sales and customer feedback.
Budget :
- Social Media Advertising Campaign: €3,000
- Collaborations with uae phone number sports influencers: €5,000
- Organization of the launch event of the new sportswear line: €2,000
- Discounts and promotions: € 2,000
A marketing plan can be more or less specific depending on the objective for which it is created.
