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Overview
The digital marketing plan can be broken down into three distinct parts:
- An introduction
- Product research
- Marketing strategy
The introduction will set the stage and introduce you to your readers. The product research stage will unearth all the essential information about your product – from competitive analysis to market size. The marketing strategy stage will put everything together and help you create a complete digital marketing strategy. Finally, the conclusion will wrap everything up and highlight the key takeaways for your own team.
Let’s get started.
Get Inspired
While you might know what kind of content you want to create and include in your marketing plan, the devil is in the details. You need inspiration for everything from headlines to product descriptions and even the language you’ll use.
You’ll never have enough content to cover every topic you can think of. That’s why it’s important to stay inspired and visit places that provide fresh ideas. Look at other industries and see what they are doing. Are they using similar methods to attract and retain customers?
When you’re stuck for ideas, look at other industries. What do successful businesses in other fields do that you can implement in your own marketing?
You don’t need to be limited by what you know. Take the time to learn about what others are doing in the industry, and you’ll be able to create a content strategy that truly stands out.
Planning Documents
An important part of the planning process is gathering all the necessary planning documents. Before you can move forward, you need to have all the proper documentation in order. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here’s a list of everything you need to have ready before you start creating content:
- A copy of the business plan
- Product research papers
- Marketing analysis
- Pricing guidelines
- Availability of the product
The business plan is a critical part of the business’ foundation. Without it, the business could crumble in a matter of months. It will serve as the backbone of your marketing strategy – providing you with a clear vision and mission statement for the company. Make sure you attend to every detail of the business plan and ensure that everything is consistent and coherent.
The product research stage is exactly what it sounds like – you’ll be uncovering all the essential information about your product. From competitive analysis to market size, you need to have all the relevant data before you can begin developing your strategy. Be thorough and methodical during this stage – gathering as much information as possible so you can make the right decision. When done right, the product research stage will form the basis of everything you do in marketing and communications.
The marketing analysis stage is a bit like the business plan in that it forms the basis of your marketing strategy. However, the analysis will be narrower and more focused on implementing the strategy. The marketing analysis stage will serve as a road map for the rest of the planning process – helping you to measure the success of your strategy and identify areas for improvement. This stage is all about the numbers – taking a clear and systematic approach to uncovering the relevant data and analyzing it efficiently. Make sure you have all the necessary metrics in order to do this stage properly.
The pricing guidelines stage is essential as you’ll be presenting proposals to clients or investors. Without precise and practical pricing guidelines, the whole process could be thrown off course. The pricing stage is about giving each product or service a price – ensuring that none of the costs are hidden. It’s also important to note that your pricing strategy needs to compliment your overall marketing strategy. The pricing stage will serve as the foundation for the rest of the marketing plan, helping you to measure the effectiveness of your campaign and identify areas for improvement. The most successful businesses are those that know how to price their products and services appropriately – ensuring that they can charge what is necessary to cover their costs while still making a profit. This is critical in ensuring the sustainability of the business.
Strategy
Marketing is a lot more than just selling a product, it’s a full-fledged approach to attracting, engaging, and retaining customers. You can think of the strategy stage as the ‘how’ of the plan – it will form the basis of everything you do in the rest of the process. The strategy stage will include all of the tactics you will use to implement the plan – from creating awareness to gaining followers to creating engagement to selling the product and retaining customers.
In order to properly come up with a strategy, you need to do extensive research into your industry. What are your competitors doing? What are the prevailing trends? Where do you fit into the scheme of things? These are just a few of the questions you need to ask – seeking out detailed answers so you can begin to form a mental image of how you will approach the market.
Your strategy should be comprehensive and methodical – covering every aspect of your marketing plan from advertising to social media. You should be able to describe your strategy in a way that makes sense to a non-expert such as a business owner or CEO. Don’t be afraid to be creative during this stage, after all, that’s how you came up with an idea for a product in the first place. You’re not limited to one strategy, after all, experimentation is key to achieving success.
Action Plan
After you’ve carefully laid the foundation of your marketing plan with all the necessary documentation, it’s time to move into the action. The action stage is where all the ‘what’ and ‘when’ of the plan come together. It will form the basis of your daily work as a marketer – creating detailed schedules for everything from ad campaigns to content releases. The action plan serves as a road map for the rest of the plan, helping you to keep track of all the details and serve as a reference for future planning.
The action plan should be concise and to the point – breaking down all the key points in a way that can easily be followed. Remember, this is a plan for action and you should be able to hold yourself accountable for each action item. Be sure to factor in plenty of time for delays and unexpected events so you can stay on schedule.
Review
Finally, we arrive at the review stage. This is the stage where you can examine all that you’ve accomplished and evaluate the success of your plan. The review stage is an important part of the process as it will serve as the basis for future planning and help you make the right decision about the plan as a whole. The review stage is also a good place to look for potential areas for improvement or changes you can make for the next time around. Be careful not to overcomplicate things as this could lead to you missing details that are critical to the success of your plan.
As a digital marketer, you’re used to working quickly and efficiently. Why should your planning process be any different? With just a few simple tools, you can use to create a solid marketing plan in under 15 minutes. Don’t waste your time with lengthy, complicated planning tools – use [Title]: How to Create an Online Marketing Plan in 15 Minutes instead.