Peter Field, marketing consultant says, “The single greatest threat facing marketing at the moment is short-termism: the dominant focus on this period’s…
Peter Field, marketing consultant says, “The single greatest threat facing marketing at the moment is short-termism: the dominant focus on this period’s or quarter’s sales. Because it leads marketing to abandon the pursuit of those emotional qualities that build long-term preference and profitability for brands.” And therein lies the secret to a great marketing plan.
It must be:
- Long term
- Capable of building an emotional connection with the customer and
- Make a brand profitable.
There are many components that go into an effective marketing plan and here is how you can go about designing one suited to your brand.
Availing a free plan
There are many free website analysis tools that are available online. These can be a great way to start on designing a marketing plan. If you were to access one such tool on marketing.com, then you will get a very comprehensive idea about how effective your website is for online marketing.
Knowledge of your company
When it comes to designing a marketing plan, you must obviously start with a complete knowledge of your company. Such knowledge of your company will entail:
- a comprehensive company analysis which will include all your goals
- strengths and weaknesses of your brand
- product portfolio and what should be focused on
- customer perception of your brand
- target market and where you can find them and
- the right mix of off-line and online marketing strategies.
It is all in the combination
Successful marketing strategies must be a combination of online and off-line marketing tactics. This could be a mix of emails, television commercials, print advertisements and even sponsorships of various events. One powerful medium that you can use in the online and off-line worlds is newsletters.
Getting a soft copy of your newsletter out to all your customers is an extremely interesting thing to do. Simply because it gives you the opportunity to personalize content and announce all important events in an extremely timely manner. Hard copies of your newsletter can be posted to the customers who do not have access to your brand through digital modes.
Development of brand personality
Your marketing plan should also focus completely on developing your brand personality. This will take a lot of thought and time and cohesiveness of communications. Whether you’re talking to customers through your website or through a telemarketing company, your communications and content should aim very purposefully towards building a strong brand personality.
Finally, your marketing plan should also include a complete understanding of the target market and your competition. This should also be an extremely dynamic and ongoing process because only then will you be able to make course corrections for your marketing plans. Start with a free website analysis and build from there.
