How to create a Marketing Strategy for your business? [Free Marketing Plan Template Included]
The word strategy means “plan of action” almost always for some period of time. If you are a business owner or a marketing head who handles the marketing side of any business, you must have a plan of action. Any good plan has a backup plan, and a marketing strategy is nothing but a marketing plan of action.
Any good marketing strategy has a specific set of goals. Goals look like
- Target audience/ buyers?
- What is our positioning in the market?
- What types of spending can we expect?
- How can we handle emergency situations financially?
- What is the expected ROI?
- When will these expenses occur?
- What is our Market Research Strategy?
- Which are our distribution channels?
- What is the price like for us vs the competition?
Your major company goals must be like this:
- Company: To be the # 1 food outlet that provides food with multiple cuisines with the best quality and quantity.
- Market: To become a global outlet within 2 years, use advanced food technology and 80% organic ingredients.
First, understand your company,
- What is your business?
- Why are you the one they should choose and what do you offer that the others do not?
- Are you a well-known brand? Do you or your brand have any good reputation?
- What’s your life cycle influence?
Tips for creating a good marketing strategy:
- Create SMART goals to stand out from your competitors.
- Do not create a marketing plan that has to be changed every year (no good plan must change unless the entity has different values and goals)
Analysis
Situational Analysis or SWOT Analysis
Create this for both your organization, your competitors, and the market, this will help you understand the influence your product and company have over potential customers.
For example:
-How close is your food outlet to your target audience?
-How aware are the potential clients of your outlet?
-In which way can your clients get in touch with you to provide feedback?
-How close are your suppliers to you?
-Do you provide home delivery? In what way can you make your client’s life easier?
Opportunity Analysis
From the SWOT analysis, we can figure out the weakness, but how do we protect ourselves from external threats? Therefore, it is important to create a plan for both opportunities and threats that may arise from external forces
Sales
Any business without specific ROI plans is bound to go under within a few months, having a clear sales and marketing plan is just as much important. Sales can be increased in say one quarter by giving out offers or different types of advertisements.
Types of events to include in your marketing plan (examples)
- Sales events- Table events, sale (50% off, 20% off on purchase above $200, Birthday coupon on purchase above $100)
- Unit sales.
- Goals for sales ( for example X amount to be sold by Y year)
- Expense for sales
- Quarter Goals
- Consider Break-even point
Some businesses consider lead generation, deals closed, etc as their measure for success.
Target Buyers
Target buyers can be categorized into two sub-categories:
- People-Centric
- Market Centric
People-Centric
This describes data on demographics, customer trends (buying habits), economical conditions, technology, political climate, social media, social circle, demand and supply, and its impacts.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Demographics are nothing but their location, country, state, kind of area/community, etc.
CUSTOMER TRENDS
What kind of food is trending right now? Vegan? Protein-Rich? Meat-free? Buying habits describe the way they make their choices. (Do they end up making the purchase if they buy offline compared to online shopping?) — this could easily fall under the market research category as well.
TECHNOLOGY
Is there an online food delivery option? Are you dependent on that? Do you serve food in person at a restaurant?
POLITICAL AND ECONOMICAL
What is the political state of not just the country but the world? Will that affect the economic conditions? Is there a war? Any food/ingredient scarcity due to lack of export/import?
LEGAL
Is the restaurant legally allowed to sell food? Do regular food inspections happen? Is the restaurant insured?
These are just a few things to consider while creating a marketing plan. Comment below on what else can we add to this.
- Anusha
Find the marketing plan template here.