Marketing Plan

Every business should have an up to date Business plan that contains four key components:

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1. Marketing Plan

2. Financial Plan

3. Operational Plan

4. HR Plan

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Each part of the business plan is interrelated as shown in the 7 Ps (Marketing mix)

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The Marketing audit is an assessment of all Marketing methods adopted by the organisation. Most organisations use several programmes and types of media to promote their business without having thought through or documented a formal Marketing Plan.

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A Marketing Plan should include the following:

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1. An Executive Summary
2. SWOT analysis and defined marketing objectives that are S.M.A.R.T.
3. S Specific
4. M Measurable
5. A Assignable
6. R Realistic
7. T Time Bound
8. Target Market Identification / Analysis
9. Financials – Expense Budget, Lead Generation and Sales Forecast
10. Organisational Plan

Critical Issues

An Audit is completed to cover the following:

1. Online/e commerce
2. Social Media
3. Offline
4. Reference
5. B Directories
6. Networking
7. Accreditation
8. CRM / Database

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This process often identifies several areas of opportunity! For example a business owner may have created a Twitter or Facebook profile but have made no mention of it on the corporate stationery.

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Businesses that have spent tens of thousands of pounds on marketing often fail to build a database or analyse where their business is coming from.

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Once the audit process is completed the prospective client is asked to prioritise where they need the most help to improve their marketing.  After further discussion I give my 3 recommendations.

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Having completed a questionnaire and built rapport and trust with the prospective client I may recommend writing a marketing plan for their business to help them:

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• Improve their understanding of the market they are in.
• Reassess their competition and find ways of gaining competitive advantage
• Clarify their own business proposition
• Document their thoughts and ideas, involve other members of their team
• Identify new opportunities to grow their sales

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