The Best Implementation of a Marketing Plan
After weeks or months of developing your marketing plan and creating digital strategies across your various platforms, you may feel stuck on what to do next. To receive the results you’re expecting, the implementation process of a marketing plan is the most critical step. You could have the most thought-out, organized, fool-proof marketing plan, but the program will be of little help to your company if it is not implemented correctly.
For this reason, you should be allocating a substantial amount of time towards seeking out adequate resources and expertise. We will provide you with some of the best ways to implement a marketing plan and how it can benefit your business.
Why is the implementation of a marketing plan important?
A marketing plan outlines the marketing strategies that will take place in the coming month, quarter, or year. It typically consists of an overview of your marketing and advertising goals, market positioning, a timeline for your tasks, and consumer needs. Writing a marketing plan will help your business create an effective marketing strategy and a well-defined plan to reach its goals.
Creating a marketing plan and implementing it are two separate things. A practical implementation plan will indicate what projects are coming up, the allocated amount of time per task, who will be responsible, and the process of how you will do it. Deciding upon these responsibilities essential to ensuring your marketing plan is successful and beneficial.
How can the implementation of a marketing plan benefit your business?
If a marketing plan is implemented correctly, it can be highly beneficial to the future success of your business. It will provide you with an organized structure for your company. Additional benefits include:
Provides an outline for changes necessary for business growth
Creates a framework for making any decisions related to your plan
The plan will account for short-term and long-term developments
Your business will have clear objectives and timeframes
Customers and competitors will be taken into consideration with every decision
How to implement a marketing plan:
After you’ve created your marketing strategy, it’s time to set yourself up for success. Here are some of the best ways on how to implement a marketing plan:
1. Communicate
Whether you are a small business consisting of a few employees or a large corporation, communication is key. All members involved should be aware of the marketing strategy and understand what the company’s short and long-term goals are. Don’t limit the procedures you’ve created to only the marketing team since others can benefit from the information. That way, everyone is on the same page and working towards a sole objective.
2. Secure resources
In some cases, a manager will be responsible for facilitating the implementation process. While this isn’t always necessary, it can be helpful to designate someone with the right skills for the task. Some of the abilities that will come in handy during the implementation of a marketing plan are:
Communicate effectively with others
Ability to decide where resources are needed most
Focus on critical aspects
Able to handle confrontation with problems and adapt as needed
Understand the goals of the company
Knowledge of competitors
3. Set realistic expectations
Although your marketing plan may be well-thought-out, detailed, and include a thorough analysis of the company, it still won’t provide you with results immediately. If you want to see a return, it’s essential to set realistic expectations for when your business may begin to experience any kind of momentum.
Most companies, depending on the plan, might expect a timeline of 6-12 months before seeing any kind of impact. It’s also advisable to communicate these expectations with the rest of your team.
4. Create timelines
Your marketing strategy should include a timeline for tasks, and if not, it’s essential to create one. The best way to manage your projects is by dividing them into smaller tasks, designating a timeline of how long it should take to complete, and a strict deadline. By doing this, you or your team will better manage and prioritize the projects at hand. It can also be beneficial to use project management software to ensure your team members are organized and know what needs to be completed.
5. Track your progress/success
As you begin implementing the various marketing strategies, you’ll want to ensure you measure your progress with proper tracking tools. If efforts are not recorded, there’s no way to know what is or isn’t working and necessary changes.
The elements that need to be measured will depend on your company and its goals. Nevertheless, the metrics should align with your business’s overall objectives. An additional way to measure your success is by using key performance indicators (KPI’s) for the metrics. A KPI is a quantifiable value that evaluates your progress in fulfilling your business objectives and will be very useful when tracking the development of your marketing strategies.
6. Monitor and adjust as needed
With the ability to measure your progress, monitoring and checking your results regularly will be critical in seeing results. It’s vital that either you or your team can understand what is measured and why it matters to your business. Weekly or monthly progress checks will allow you to see issues that need attention and make appropriate changes.
7. Focus on the end goal
Sometimes, it can be easy to lose sight of the main objectives when working through your marketing strategies. When revisiting your marketing plan and making changes, keep in mind your company’s primary goal and what you hope to accomplish. Focusing on your goals will set you apart from your competitors and ensure you aren’t doing what every other company in your industry is doing. To implement your marketing plan effectively, focus on what makes your company unique and what you have to offer that others don’t.
8. Create a contingency plan
When going through your marketing plan and implementing the strategies, keep in mind that it may not always work out as planned. Even the most precisely implemented and organized projects can need modifications. For this reason, creating a contingency plan will ensure you’re able to adapt and change as needed.
Developing a contingency plan can either shorten or extend your timelines and deadlines, add more steps towards an activity or redefine your objectives, and ensure they match the overall business goals.
9. Seek advice
If you or your team is unsure how to implement a marketing plan, it’s always a good idea to seek advice from professional marketing services. It’s better to have the experience and expertise on your side rather than miss out on opportunities or making avoidable mistakes. A specialist will provide you with the resources, knowledge, and advice on how to go about implementing a marketing plan and how to make it benefit your business.
How to determine if a plan is successful
As we’ve established, implementing a marketing plan is a critical part of ensuring your marketing efforts pay off. There are a few ways to measure your success and determine how the plan is progressing:
Return-on-investment
The end goal of any marketing plan is typically to make a profit. To find this out, you will need a measurement to assess the amount spent compared to the plan’s benefits. However, keep in mind it can take several months to see results, so don’t expect huge returns early on in the process.
Sales Performance
If your marketing plan is having a positive effect, you will see your revenue increase. Take a look at your sales before implementing the marketing strategies and compare it to afterwards. If there are no other external influences, then you can deduce that your plan is working. In addition, checking your sales conversion rates can be the best indicator of if your lead to customer rate has improved.
Customer Response
The way customers respond to your marketing efforts is a clear indicator of what is working and what is not. The amount of online engagement, click-through rate, and feedback from customer service will reveal how customers are thinking and feeling with the new marketing plan implemented. Online efforts with customers can go a long way, and you’ll want to optimize the customer experience continuously.
Market Reaction
Analyzing the actions of your competitors will provide insight into opportunities, issues, or gaps in the market. If your competitors are being affected by your marketing plan, they will quickly make changes to stay relevant. If your campaigns are going unnoticed, then this could be an issue indicating something is wrong. How the market reacts to implementing your marketing strategies will dictate what direction to proceed with and to either keep going or adjust the plan.
Your Marketing Plan Matters
After creating a marketing plan that aligns with your objectives and goals, the implementation process is critical to ensuring the procedure is successful. With the information provided, you have the necessary background knowledge on effectively implementing your project and making positive changes for your business.
FAQs
What is a small business marketing plan?
A marketing plan is a road map that outlines strategies that align with your overall business plan. A specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely (SMART) plan will provide a strong foundation for short and long-term objectives. A small business marketing plan has the same fundamentals as one for a large enterprise but will be more specific to your business’s goals.
Why do I need a marketing plan?
A marketing plan is a detailed outline of your marketing initiatives. It will plan for growth, allocate resources, and identify the target market. A marketing plan is essential for any business in understanding past decisions and strategies and how to move forward with your business. It is an organized and specific way to reach your goals that is critical to guarantee future growth.
How to create a small business marketing plan?
While creating a marketing plan for your business, some resources and services can provide you with the best possible expertise and direction. Before getting started with creating a marketing plan, decide if working with a professional is the right decision for you and how it could benefit your company.
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