Guest Contributor
Trending

Why Your Company Should Have a Marketing Plan in 2020

By | Raunak Pandey

Currently, no one doubts that marketing can help, and much, that companies can improve and achieve their goals. But, what many doubt is whether it is necessary to make a marketing plan or not. The answer to this question is a resounding yes, and we tell you throughout the post.

What is meant by a marketing plan?

Before we begin to tell you the benefits of having a marketing plan, let’s focus first and try to explain what is meant by a plan with these characteristics.

A marketing plan is a document that collects everything concerning the marketing of a company. In that, you can see all the market studies that have been carried out, the objectives that are proposed to be achieved and the actions that will be carried out to achieve the goals set.

Well, beyond what someone thinks, the marketing document is not something static, it must be in constant motion. The reason is simple: fluctuations in the market, changes in interests and tastes in consumers and the situation of the company itself.

All these variables directly affect the marketing actions of a company, so it is always necessary to review the plan that has been made to be able to adapt all these changes and redirect the strategies, and thus not to deviate from the goal towards the achievement of the objectives.

Once clear. Do you know how to make one? Simplifying a bit, a good marketing plan must contain at least four basic sections-

1. Market study

It is the starting point that every strategy must go through. To apply this to marketing you must direct your study in such a way that you cover the following aspects: the situation of the market in which you move, the situation of your company in the market, identification of competitors and their situation and market share. To do all this correctly you can help yourself with a SWOT matrix.

2. Set goals

The next point is the setting of objectives. Remember that these must be SMART, that is, specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely.

3. Strategies to follow

What strategies and actions will you take to achieve the proposed objectives? Now is the time to think and capture them. For example- presence in social networks, mail marketing campaigns, digital marketing etc. The ideal thing is that you start by establishing more generic strategies and, little by little, go on developing the most specific ones.

4. Control and review

The last point we propose is the review and control of the actions. As we mentioned, marketing should not be something static, so you have to constantly review the plan we have made to make the necessary adjustments and anticipate the changes that the environment is coming.

Is it necessary to have a marketing plan?

The million-dollar question is hidden after knowing if it is necessary or not to have a plan with these characteristics. Well, as we already told you, the answer is yes, and it remains an affirmative answer, whatever your business environment and your type of company, since even micro-SMEs can benefit from the benefits of having such a plan.

There are many benefits that bring marketing plans to companies but we want to highlight the following:

  • Achievement of objectives- The primary benefit that helps achieve good marketing planning is the achievement of objectives. By having everything (both goals and actions) well defined and analyzed, we are already working towards it, so the success rate in these cases is higher due to good planning.
  • Organization- Performing marketing actions in an organized way is vital if you want to achieve good results. Thanks to marketing plans, actions can be done that relate to each other. This, in addition, gives an image of professionalism facing the outside and makes all efforts come together to achieve the objectives.
  • Greater control over actions and results- By having everything embodied in the plan, it is easier to track and control what has been done, its results and everything that remains to be launched.
  • Create commitments- The fact of embedding everything in the document makes the company create real commitments to fulfill, so the motivation to achieve it is greater.
  • Long-time vision- The marketing plan helps to trace the path by which the company must follow in the long term. This is very important, since on many occasions, in marketing issues we focus on performing short-term actions for specific issues and do not relate these to a more global vision of the company.
  • Error prevention- The marketing plan helps to easily identify and solve problems that arise and also helps to have more agility and response to unforeseen changes, something that will have a positive impact on cost and time reduction.

Conclusion

In short, a marketing plan is a document that, far from occupying space on a shelf, will help you draw better actions, achieve global cohesion, take your long-term strategies and, ultimately, create a more strategic solid for the achievement of objectives. And it is that all companies carry out marketing actions, so why not do them in a correct way and that they add value to the company?


Author Bio:

Raunak Pandey is a Mechanical Engineer by qualification & Marketer by passion. He is the co-founder of Maiden Stride, a leading digital marketing agency that provides world-class search engine marketing services and website & application development.

Show More

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top button