What is a Marketing Plan?

1. What is a Marketing Plan? • A marketing plan is a road map that provides direction for your marketing strategy – What to do and why you are doing it • A marketing plan is the practical application of your marketing strategy • A marketing plan details what you want to accomplish and helps you meet your objectives • A marketing plan can be part of a larger business plan but can also be used as a stand alone piece without a larger business plan

2. What is a Marketing Plan? • Tracks costs and measures value • Helps with focus • Charts marketing strategies • Serves as a handbook • Captures your thinking on paper • Reflects a the big picture • Becomes a document to build on

3. Do I Need a Marketing Plan? • If you build it, they wont necessarily come • Your opinion or the opinion of a friend or family member is not a strong enough basis to launch a business/project • Would you go on a trip to a destination without knowing how to get there? • Marketing plans are crucial for obtaining investment!

4. Where Do I Start? • Evaluate where you are now. • What is your product/service/project? • How are you positioned in the market? • How do your customers see you? • What is you vision? • Do you have a mission statement? • Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT)

5. The Plan: Getting Started • Research • Who are your customers? • Where are your markets? • Who are your competitors? • What type of marketing activities are your competitors engaged in? • Current trends • How will you pay for marketing? • Current situation – what do you do now? What works? What does not work?

6. Marketing Plan Template • There are many different ways to write a marketing plan • 1000’s of templates available online • Free document templates and paid business planning “wizard” software • There is no right or wrong way to write a marketing plan but there are some best practices to keep in mind

7. #1 The Business • About your business • Who are you? • History of your business • Product/Services/Projects • Brand manifesto ( a public declaration of principles and intentions) • Core intentions of you business

8. #2 Vision • Where do you see your business in 3, 5, 10 years down the road? • Articulate your dreams and hopes in the future • Your vision is your inspiration and framework for your marketing plan • Your vision does not detail how you are going to get where you are going but it sets the direction you are going in.

9. #3 Mission Statement • Why does your business exist? • Mission statements are as varies as the businesses they describe • What they all have in common, however, is a broad description of business capabilities, customer focus, activities and make –up • Mission statement is your present state and a vision statement is your future • Every business should have a mission statement and is a crucial component of your marketing plan • It ensures everyone is “on the same page”

10. #4 Year in Review • Sales history • Marketing initiatives • Marketing conversions • Marketing conversion overview • It is important to collect data for future planning. • Your marketing plan is a living and breathing document

11. #5 SWOT Analysis • The SWOT is a powerful tool used to understand you marketing strengths and weaknesses • It also assists in identifying opportunities and threats that you may face • Uncover opportunities that you are well placed to take advantage of • Understanding weaknesses helps manage and eliminate threats that would otherwise catch you off guard • Apply the SWOT to you and your competitors • Facilitates a marketing strategy that will distinguish you from your competitors • Help identify promising new customers

12. A) Strengths - internal • What advantages to you have? • What do you offer better than others? • What unique or low cost resources do you have access to? • What do customers and competitors perceive as your strengths?

13. B) Weaknesses - internal • What can you improve? • What marketing and business practices should you avoid? • What do customers and competitors perceive as your weaknesses?

14. C) Opportunities - external • What positive opportunities are you facing now? • What are the interesting trends that you can take advantage of?

15. D) Threats - external • What obstacles do you face? • What is your competition doing? • Are the specifications to your sector in regard to how you market your product and services changing? • Can you weaknesses seriously threaten your business?

16. #6 SWOT Analysis Overview • Recap and examination of the internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats determine the appropriate course of action • Action may include: • Communications standards policy • Product diversification • Marketing strategy that captures a particular target market

17. #7 Measurable Objectives • Increase sales over year prior • Expansion of target market • Pricing incentives (discounts, bundles) • Introduce new product offering • Create new collateral • Concentration on existing customers • Re-brand

18. #8 Market and Brand Position • Transform your passion into a position • Be a big fish in a small pond • Perceptual location of where your product/service/project fits in the marketplace • Identify your greatest strength and use it to position and define your product/service/project • Effective positioning puts you front of mind to potential customers • Key elements to positioning: price, value, quality, service, distribution, packaging

19. #9 Market Share • What is the size is the market for you product/service/project offering? • Identify your current market share over a specified time period • Define the potential market share your plan aspires to over a specified time period • To calculate your market share: your sales divided by total sales of your industry over a specified time period • This metric is an indication of your relative competitiveness

20. #10 Target Market • Group of customers you are directing your marketing efforts toward • A well defined target market is critical in your marketing strategy • Key segmentation of target markets • Geographic • Demographic • Psychographic (lifestyles) • Behavioural (occasions, loyalty) • Primary and secondary target markets

21. #11 Marketing Objectives and Strategies • Creating experiential events and brand leveraging programs • Great special events and activities engage the consumer creating an emotional connection with a brand. Oceanview Garden Centre and Landscaping will produce special events that are integrated into the marketing plan which will create long lasting memories with the target market. • Oceanview Garden Centre and Landscaping will engage the consumer by placing gardening lifestyle experiences face-to-face with the target market in a manner which reinforces the Oceanview brand experience. • Strategies • Connect art and culture to the Oceanview brand – Artists by Nature • Show local art in retail areas • Live acoustic performances by local singer/song writers • On-site treasure hunts for children • Painting contests inspired by nature • Educational field trips for schools • Moonlight garden parties • Saturday BBQ’s • Halloween pumpkin carving

22. #12 The Marketing Mix • The 4 P’s of Marketing • Product – detailed description of your product/service/project • Promotion – tactics of your marketing plan. Getting your product/service/project known. The nuts and bolts of the marketing plan • Price – How much does it cost? • Placement – distribution and location

23. #13 Critical Path/Project Management • Schedule and manage your marketing plan • Identify key tasks and when they must be executed • Identify interdependencies • Many tools available to employ tasks and schedule activities • Outlook, Excel spread sheets, word docs, Marcato, Base Camp

24. #14 Budget • All marketing plans will be subject to your marketing budget • Although this will be the last page of your plan it is the first thing you should consider • SWOT analysis should serve as a useful tool in determining what you can afford and what low cost opportunities are available to you