fbpx

What Entrepreneurs Must Know About Business Plan Marketing Strategy


Having a good business plan marketing strategy is a vital part of any successful business. This is because it focuses on what you aim to achieve for your business. Every new business should have a business plan because it can be used to attract good investment for start-up companies.
It is also important to have a good marketing strategy for your business because it will outline how your company can find new customers and also promote its products and services.

Table of Contents

What is Marketing Strategy?

Business Plan Marketing Strategy
What is Marketing Strategy?

Marketing strategy is the long-term comprehensive plan of business objectives that the company wants to achieve. In other words, it is a strategy that is designed to promote products and services in a business. A good marketing strategy helps companies identify and understand what people want. This is why it is essential to have a good marketing strategy in your business plan

What is Marketing Strategy in Business Plan?

Marketing strategy in companies’ business plans simply portrays who their customers are and the best means of reaching out to them. As a company, you won’t be in business for a long time if you don’t have a good marketing strategy. People can only want your product and services if you know what they want and ways of reaching them. Having a marketing strategy in your business plan will also elaborate on the competitive analysis of your business.
In the marketing strategy of a business plan, you’ll have to address issues such as;
How to identify your target buyers
The market segment in you will compete
The reasons your products or services are unique
Your philosophy on pricing
Plans for your marketing research
Development plans on your ongoing products or services
Always remember that when defining the scope of your marketing strategy, you should make use of the principles of marketing.

Difference Between Marketing Strategy and Marketing Plan

Difference Between Marketing Strategy and Marketing Plan

Most people are unaware that there is a difference between a marketing strategy and a marketing plan. These words are sometimes used interchangeably, but they actually have different meanings.
Marketing strategy helps to describe how your marketing goals will aid you in achieving your business goals. It summarizes what you have to deliver, who to deliver it to, how to deliver it, and who your competitors are. Marketing strategy usually contains the company’s vision, its marketing goals, and competition landscape, etc.
A marketing plan is simply the plan for executing a marketing strategy. It shows the structured arrangements of companies marketing campaign efforts. In other words, a marketing plan is a plan used by companies to implement their marketing efforts.
In summary, a marketing strategy is created before work can begin in a business while a marketing plan is created when a marketing strategy has been established. This means that a marketing plan can contain one or more marketing strategies.

What Are The Principles Of Marketing In Business?

What Are The Principles Of Marketing In Business?

Understanding the principles of marketing in business is an integral part of what companies need in order to successfully sell their products and services.
There were initially four principles of marketing that companies used for their marketing strategy. These marketing principles work together and are intertwined; consequently, they are being referred to as a marketing mix.
In recent years, marketing principles have been extended into a “Seven P Formula”, and some companies make use of 7Ps of marketing instead.
Once you have developed your business plan marketing strategy, you should use the following principles of marketing to evaluate and reevaluate your business activities.

Product

Product is the goods or services that are being provided to meet customers’ specific needs. It is important for business owners and marketers to develop the habit of looking at their products from an outside perspective. When having difficulties selling your product or services as you’d like, you need to assess your business honestly and ask yourself, “Are these the right products or services? Is your product or service superior compared to your competitors?”.

Price

Business Plan Marketing Strategy
Price

It is important you develop the habit of always examining and evaluating your products or services. This will aid you in knowing the current market prices. In other words, you would know when to lower your prices and when to increase them.
The price of products depends on several factors such as cost of production, demand for product and brand image, etc. In business, always be open to the possibility that your current price structure isn’t ideal in the current market. If necessary, be willing to revise your price in order to remain competitive in a fast-changing marketplace.

Promotion

Promotion is simply how companies tell their customers about their products or services, and how they market and sell to them. It includes marketing communication strategies such as sales promotion, advertising, and public relations.
Little changes in the way of promoting and selling your product can lead to better results. Many companies in different industries continually experiment with different means of promoting, advertising, and selling their products and services. This is because they are aware that their marketing and sales strategy won’t yield good results forever. Therefore, they have to develop new sales, advertising, and marketing approaches and strategies.

Place

The fourth marketing mix is the place where your product or service is sold. It is important to review and reflect on the exact location you can meet your customers. This is because sometimes a change in location can lead to a massive increase in sales. Examining your business will help you know the locations to sell your product or services. It will tell you if you should sell by telemarketing, mail order, or if your company should send out salespeople to personally meet and talk with prospective customers.
Always remember that place does not just indicate a product’s actual location within a store or on a website, but it shows if its accessibility will help drive sales.

People

People will always be an important part of any business organization. Some entrepreneurs and business owners will work very hard to think through every part of the marketing strategy, but they will pay little attention to the fact that every decisions and policy have to be carried out by people. To be successful, you need to have the ability to select and hire the right people who are trained with the skills and abilities to do the right job is essential for a business organization. It is even more important than others because these marketing principles can only be carried out by people.
Always develop the habit of thinking in terms of exactly who is going to carry out each task and responsibility.

Packaging

Packaging is the way your products or services look from the outside. It is an important marketing mix because people easily form their impression about you or your company from it. Everything counts in packaging because it portrays everything about a business from a customer-first point of view. Therefore, always look at every visual element in the packaging of your product or service through the eyes of a critical prospect. It is an opportunity to make your product more attractive and different from others, so it is important that you use it well.

Physical Evidence

Physical evidence talks about the customers’ experience with the product or services when interacting with a business. It refers to physical context such as receipts, confirmation emails, etc. that comes along with the product. For example, restaurants and hotels invest heavily in their decorations and interior designs so as to offer a real and unique experience to their customers. Similarly, companies and firms make available plush sofas and magazines for their customers to read and relax while they wait for their appointment time.

Tips For Writing A Good Business Plan Marketing Strategy

Business Plan Marketing Strategy
Tips For Writing A Good Business Plan Marketing Strategy

A business plan marketing strategy clearly outlines how businesses can find new customers, and also promote their products and services to get more sales. The marketing strategy of your business plan will tell you where your business fits in the market. It will also aid you on how you promote, price, and sell your products or services.
Highlighted below are tips for writing a good business plan marketing strategy.

Try To Be Unique

It is important that you are unique and always try to outline what differentiates you from everyone else in the market. If you create your own unique selling proposition and relate it to the principles of marketing listed above, then you will know how to define your products or services.

Define Your Customers

Defining your customers simply means that you need to be specific. It is not possible to have a demographic reach of 20 to 70 years old. This is because different generations buy, shop, and get their information differently. You need to focus on a narrower demographic when writing a business plan marketing strategy, and then expand as you grow.

Do Your Research

Making good and detailed research will help you in determining the price of your products or services. Good research will give you plenty of data to back up your decisions. Examples of such data include industry reports, competitors’ ads, etc. This will aid you in making the right decision on the price of your products or services and any changes over time.

Remember/Consider Your Budget

It is important you remember and consider the financial analysis of your company when writing your business plan marketing strategy. Some of the strategies involved in the marketing strategy part of a business are market segmentation and competitive analysis. This will require a lot of research and unless you tie it directly to your financial status, you may have a difficult time meeting your goals.

Know What Your Customers Want

Having done your market research, you need to develop a profile of your targeted customers and identify their needs. You have to ensure the profile reveals who your ideal customers are, what they like, how they buy, and where they buy. Also, you have to regularly review trends so that you won’t become irrelevant with your marketing message. This will ensure that your marketing strategy is more accurate and applicable to your target audience.

Be Flexible

Being flexible makes your business plan marketing strategy work well in the long run. Although a good marketing strategy doesn’t need to be changed every year, it can be revised when your marketing goals have been met. Also, changes in the market due to new competitors or technology may force you to amend your marketing strategy.
You should be able to know which of the marketing strategies works well for you. For example, if you are focused on services and not physical products, you may decide to use a website because the website is a part of place and promotion section of the marketing mix. This shows that you are being flexible by making a little tweak to your marketing strategy to suit your services.

Consider Your Competition

Part of your marketing strategy should be to consider and develop a profile of your competitors by knowing their products, supply channels, pricing, and marketing tactics, etc. Having done this, you will have a competitive advantage and know what sets you apart from your competitors. You can also use it to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your internal processes to help improve your performance.

Conclusion

Like all business skills, you can be able to write a good business plan marketing strategy if you practice, experiment, and learn from your mistakes. Always ensure that your company has a good business plan marketing strategy in order to attract good investment and prospective customers.