Are you feeling mystified and intimidated about how to write a marketing plan for your business?

Here are some thought-provoking questions that might be useful discussion-starters (and ones to keep in mind constantly) when you're assessing your current and potential marketing strategies:

1. What is our product/service?
2. Who uses/buys our product/service, and why (and who doesn't, and why)? What motivates them?
3. When, where and how frequently do they buy? What benefits and results do they expect? What problems does our product/service solve for them? How does it make them FEEL?
4. What is our message? What do our audiences want/need to know about our product/service?
5. What is our perceived and desired brand?
6. Who do we want to communicate that message to, both within our organization and externally (e.g. existing, past and potential customers, members, shareholders, employees, volunteers, sponsors, investors and financiers; other like-minded organizations; competitors; service providers; industry and financial analysts; legislators; government bureaucrats; any people/organizations that we do business with; the media etc. etc.)?
7. What is the most effective way to reach/influence our audiences? How do they prefer to gather and assess information? Whose opinions do they respect? Which magazines/newspapers/newsletters/websites/blogs/books do they read? Which radio stations/programs do they listen to? Which TV stations/programs do they watch? Do they pay attention to posters, flyers and direct mail? What kind of business/social functions do they attend? What organizations do they belong to? Where can we find them?
8. How much will it cost, and how much are we willing to spend, to communicate our message effectively?
9. How much income/profit (if any) do we expect to earn as a result?
10. What other results do we expect (in terms of membership growth, attendance at our events, media coverage, brand awareness, staff recruitment and retention etc.)?
11. Who is actually going to DO the marketing tasks, and when? Do we need to call in some outside expertise?
12. How will we measure the qualitative and quantitative results of our marketing activities?

Marketing is a lot more than just producing a glossy brochure, building a whizz-bang website and placing occasional ads in the newspaper. So don't make the mistake of trying all sorts of inconsistent, short-term, panic-driven activities. Think strategically by asking intelligent questions, then stick to a plan.

Copyright Kay Ross

Author's Bio: 

Kay Ross is a Hong Kong-based marketing consultant & coach, editor and copywriter. She specialises in writing and editing compelling English-language marketing communications material that helps her clients to "sell more stuff" to more people, more frequently, more profitably. Oh, and she's also a stand-up comedian. Contact her at www.kayross.com/