Marketing plan template

Use this template to guide you through writing your own marketing action plan.
Introduction
What are the main objectives you want your marketing action plan to achieve for
your business (ie, more sales, more customers, greater market share, etc try to
be specific)
We want our marketing action plan to spread our brand name so more people will
want to buy our product. !n addition to increased brand recognition, we would like
to see an increase in sales and converters from other clothing brands.
1. Your market
1.1 Who are your customers?
"nswer the following #uestions$
Who are your e%isting customers
What are their needs
What motivates them to buy your offer
&an you separate your customers into different groups of people with
different needs or motivations
"re there people who aren't currently customers but could benefit from your
product or service
(ur e%isting customers are people that are interested in high #uality, yet
affordable southern clothing. )he great price and high #uality of our clothing will
drive people to buy our clothing. )he different groups of customers are young
teenagers looking for new preppy clothing, all the way to successful adults that
want to e%press themselves in the new southern fashion.
1.2 Who are your competitors?
"nswer the following #uestions$
Who are your competitors (*+, think about your direct competitors ie,
businesses who are selling a similar offer$ and your indirect competitors ie,
businesses with a totally different offer but who are competing for the same
customers)
Why might your customers or potential customers choose a competitors' their
product or service over yours
(ur direct competitors would be companies like ,ineyard ,ines, -outhern .arsh
and -outhern )ide. (ur indirect competitors would be /uf, &olumbia, and even
*ike. (ne reason that they might choose other companies over us is that other
companies have been in the market place, and have already built a strong following
of people (brand loyalty). )his would be a hard time to convert them from their
favorite brand, to &arolina &otton, but that is our goal. "lso, customers may find
that other brands fit their specific needs as opposed to ours, that just may not
meet their standards.
1.3 Other marketing activity
"nswer the following #uestion$
"re there opportunities for you to be involved in marketing activities you
don't already engage in
0es, there are commercials and we can start a maga1ine that people can pay to
subscribe to.
2. Opportunities in your business and your market
2.1 What are our strengths?
"nswer the following #uestions$
What are the strengths of your product or service(ie, high #uality, uni#ue,
cost2effective, etc)
/ow does your product or service compare to your competitors'
)he strengths of our company are our high #uality clothing as well as uni#ue brand
logo that other companies have not made yet. "lthough our logo is uni#ue, our
overall style is very common. We are looking to stick our nose out as a business,
and compete with other businesses, bringing something new and available to the
people of *orth &arolina. (3urther e%pansion down the road.) (ur direct
competitors put up a big risk for our business going forward, but we hope to obtain
new customers that are looking for something that is uni#ue to them, and not
something everyone else is wearing.
2.2 What could e improve on?
"nswer the following #uestions$
"re there any aspects of your product or service which are weak
/ave your customers complained about any aspect of your offer
(ne aspect in which &arolna &otton is weak is that the price of our shirts is
relatively high to certain other brands, yet we have no brand recognition at this
point in time. )his problem will hopefully go away eventually, and we will be
justified in all of our pricing demands. We have no 4customers5 at this point in
time, but as we start up our business it may become evident that some people
believe we should not price our products so high, but in order to create the brand
image that we are looking for, it is necessary to do so.
2.3 What opportunities are there?
"nswer the following #uestions$
Which of your strengths are you not taking advantage of
"re there any trends in your market that you and your competitors are not
catering to
"re there any gaps in your market that you could fill
"re there any additional uses for your product or service which you could
draw attention to *(.
(ne strength, that as a whole, &&&, is not taking advantage of is our market
outreach. We have a very narrow target market as it stands, but we are not doing
the most necessary means of promotion and6or advertisement at the given time.
Within today's market, it is clear that there is currently a division in men's clothing
between 47reppy5 and 4/ipster5. We can only tackle one of these trends with our
company if we think that it is a necessity to remain true to our roots as a business.
"s for gaps in the market, the division between the two societal divisions leaves a
large, blended fashion in between. )his is a gap that we, as a company, will look to
pounce on as soon as possible, and it may eventually become essential to our
success in the long run. !n addition, we will look to identify our own women and
kids clothing line that will resemble the men's theme.
2.! What obstacles are there?
"nswer the following #uestion$
What is preventing you from implementing your marketing plan (ie, money,
time, resources, etc think about internal and e%ternal obstacles)
!f given unlimited amounts of money, resource management opportunities, and
advice from investors, our marketing plan would appear a lot different. We would
not start so local, yet e%pand #uickly into other southern regions of the country. !n
addition, we may have more space in malls, newspapers, craiglist, google, and
even radio advertisements. )he word of our company would not go unheard in the
-outh if given the ade#uate money we all wish that we had8
3 Your business ob"ectives
"nswer the following #uestions$
What are your objectives as a business )ry to make these both specific and
realistic.
What are your deadlines for each objective
What resources do you have to help you fulfil your objectives
What e%tra resources will you need to help you fulfil your objectives
(bjectives2 to make a profit off of selling our clothes in the ne%t 9 year. "lso we
would like to e%pand to a second store and to become a known household name
within the ne%t ten years.
9 year, 9: years
(ur business will be refuelled by taking the profit we receive, and instead of
paying one another, we will circulate that money back into the business for the
ne%t year. )his will keep us going, and almost ensure a profitable business. !n
addition, we have a good business plan and strategy, and have a store which will
really allow for the e%pansion of our business.
We will need our promotions and advertisements to bring in customers, which will
increase revenue. !f these things work, then that could be the only thing we need
to e%pand as a company.
! Your marketing strategy and action plan
!.1 #arget customers
"nswer the following #uestions$
Who are your target customers (choose e%isting and potential customers
identified above)
What do you know about them (ie, where do they live What age6gender are
they What sort of income do they earn What other products do they buy)
Where are they likely to find out about your product or service
/ow do they prefer to buy your product or service (eg, face2to2face, online,
etc)
Which are the most profitable customers
Which could become more profitable customers
(ur target customers are men and women from ages of 9;2<=. 7otential >aleigh
customers would immediately include people from !)+, earning good money with a
lot of disposable income, and also any other people that dress nicely8 )hese
customers would most likely buy all of our products. When they buy our products,
they at least should find out that what they have purchased is very high #uality,
comfortable, and fashionable. When they are buying our products, it is predicted
that they will start out as online customers, but will transition into face to face
shoppers eventually. (ut of all of these customers, the ones that are most
profitable for our business are loyal customers. )he customers that have a sense of
brand loyalty are crucial to our business because they will spread the word and
wear our clothing in public8 (ur biggest point of profit will come from our new or
first time customers that start coming back more and more often.
!.2 What products or services can e o$$er our target customers?
"nswer the following #uestion$
What products or services can you offer each of your customer groups in order
to achieve your objectives
We will offer them promotional items like car stickers, lanyards, and coupons. )his
will make them want to make more purchases at our store. ?veryone is very
different that shops at our store, so they like different things. With this, people
that are into the beach will buy more of our &oastal &lothing line, whereas others
might like just normal, everyday clothing.
!.3 %o can e encourage these people to take up the o$$er?
"nswer the following #uestions$
What aspect of your product or service will be most attractive to each of your
target customer groups
Will you need to offer them an incentive to take up your offer
)he most attractive product will be our t2shirts and button downs. *o, we will not
need to offer them an incentive because if they buy our clothing then they will
already be benefiting from it. "lso, they will really like what they are buying, so we
look at in a way that it is almost giving away profit that we could be earning. We
only like to do things that have a good return.
!.! %o do e communicate our o$$er?
"nswer the following #uestion$
/ow can we reach each of our target customer groups with appealing
information about our product or service (*+, think about the different ways
they receive information this will help you understand the best ways to
market your offer to each customer group)
Will it be cost2effective (ie, will the investment justify the likely return on
investment)
Which is likely to be the most profitable marketing channel
We will have a group of people that will subscribe to our monthly maga1ines. !n
addition, we will have newspaper ads, and maybe eventually even some
commercials for people that watch a lot of television. When we do these different
forms of promotion and advertisements, we believe that we will get a great return
on our investment. (ur hopes are to increase our sales and foot traffic in our
stores, and these things will definitely do that8 (ut of all these investments, our
greatest return will most likely to be found within the maga1ine marketing channel
because we will have cheap means of promotion, and tons of people will get to see
the maga1ines each month.
!.& Marketing action plan
Use the table below to summarise your strategy.
When What #arget
customer's(
Ob"ective's( )ost 'i$ any(
monthly .aga1ines
subscriptions
/ouseholds
with men and
women from
9;2<=
)o promote brand
recognition
@<: for a
yearlong
subscription
yearly billboard /ouseholds
with men and
women from
9;2<=
)o promote brand
recognition
@AB:
yearly -prout loud Cocal
community men
)o brand our
company at a local
&ost
dependent on
and women
from 9;2<=
level time usage
yearly !phone6android
app
"vid iphone an
d android users
)o create sales off
of the app
@BB:
& *evieing your marketing action plan
/ow will you know that your plan has been a success !dentify appropriate
measures for success and put realistic timescales against each activity in your
action plan. >eview the action plan regularly to make sure you are on track.
Marketing
activity
1
st
revie
date
Measure o$
success at 1
st
revie
2
nd
revie
date
Measure o$
success at 2
nd
revie
+inal
deadline
Measure o$
success at
end date
.aga1ine D
month
s
"mount of
maga1ine
subscriptions
;
months
"mount of
maga1ine
sales
(ne year "re we
making a
profit on
the
maga1ines
bought and
sold
+illboard ;
month
s
)aking poles
to see how
people have
seen the
billboard and
if it has
influenced
them
9 year )aking poles
to see how
people have
seen the
billboard and
if it has
influenced
them
9= months "mount of
store sales,
and if they
have
increased or
decreased
since the
billboard
purchase
-prout
loud
A
month
s
"mount of
sales in that
time period
=
months
"mount of
sales in that
time period
(ne year )otal
increase in
average
sales per
month
compared
to previous
months
taking into
consideratio
n economic
stability
!phone6an
droid app
A
month
s
"mount of
sales off of
the app
=
months
"mount of
sales off of
the app
(ne year )otal in app
purchases