Why It Matters: Marketing Plan
Why learn to develop an effective marketing plan?
In a very real way, the marketing plan is the culmination of everything you have been learning in this course. Marketing plans are designed to capture the most essential information, analysis, and insights that lead to the development of a marketing strategy. But they don’t stop there. Marketing plans go on to outline—often in gory detail—exactly how the marketing team will execute that strategy to achieve the specified goals. Even if you are a team of one and you work for a small company—or you’re just trying to help out your bookstore-owning uncle—the success of your marketing vision will depend on having a well-conceived, detailed plan. This is nothing new: by now you know that not having a solid marketing plan is like being in Nevada and heading into a rainstorm on a bike in the dark (without your smartphone) while you’re trying to find Kansas.
So, developing a good marketing plan is very, very important, and it accounts for the lion’s share of the work you must do. There are two other critical steps you must take, though, if you really want to get the most out of all your hard work: presenting your plan effectively to others and using the plan to adjust course once the marketing activities are in full swing. You’ll learn about these steps here.
Introduction to Elements of the Marketing Plan
What you’ll learn to do: identify the key elements of the marketing plan
A lot of work goes into developing a marketing plan. But once it’s completed, it provides a detailed roadmap of not only where you’re heading, but also why and how to get there. By putting in significant effort up front to create a good plan, you’ll find that the “doing” part is much simpler, better focused, better organized. Of course, a good plan also increases your likelihood of marketing success.
Success? Well, that makes you look good.