Any part of business management involves making plans to reach the next goal or level. Budgeting and executing a marketing plan is one of the most important. In order for your business or product to thrive you must be found and in order to be found you need marketing.

A strategic plan with targets, return on investment tracking and advert split testing are all important factors to consider. Marketing is not just a randomized attack of placing adverts or sponsoring events, it is a well executed plan of action to give the best results on the budget provided. The importance of marketing plans is probably the most overlooked aspect of a business; the truth is you can have the best product since the invention of the wheel, but unless people know about it you simply will not succeed.

In this article I would like to look at a basic marketing plan for a business wishing to brand its product as something special and spread the word about its unique qualities. A marketing plan should consist of at least 5 sections depending on the nature of business it is for.

A marketing vision; the nature of your business, the overall plan of the business and the target audience should all be mentioned in the marketing vision so that you do not lose track of what you are trying to achieve. Goals; this section can be broken down into: personal goals, business goals, strategic goals and tactical goals all of which need to be realistic and reachable but not overzealous. The purpose of your marketing plan; why you are writing it and what you expect it to achieve, maybe you want the marketing plan to document the success of the business as it hits the milestones it has laid out. The picture; is the overall picture you want your customers to see your business as and how people will view its products or services.

Finally you need to document the results of a marketing plan to see if it is working and whether certain aspects of it need tweaking in any way. The best way to do this is to have a ‘Gap Dashboard’ and a set time to review it e.g. once a month. The gap dashboard is the results of the goals that you set in the goals section. A few examples of these would be; did you spend as many hours as you set in your personal goals on marketing? The business goals can be tracked in the accounting to see if you hit the turnover expected in your business goals. Strategic goals; did you acquire the percent of niche market that you set in your strategic goals? Tactical goals; did you manage to send out the amount of newsletters you set in your tactical goals. All these are just examples of things that should be in your gap dashboard, goals will change depending on the business.

The importance of a marketing plan should become evident before you go into business, but it is never too late to get back on track.

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Many Las Vegas companies may decide to follow a shortcut method of planning their marketing communications strategy. Whether you’re an individual business or a company, skipping this step of business development will hinder your sales growth long term. It is important to recognize the focus on advancement by those that take the time to develop an effective marketing communications strategy. You will definitely spend several hours putting this together, but you will know that it’s useful because a marketing strategy provides you with a plan of how to handle projected successes and when it’s completed, you will have gained valuable intelligence about your target customers, brand strengths and weaknesses, competitive landscape, and finally the marketing objectives that will lead you to the top.

Start with what you know.

Take a few moments and capture your thoughts on the ideal target customer for your business. Write it down. Your final notes will give you the detail you need to formalize your Marcom strategy. Consider who you are and what you represent. What image would you like to project in the marketplace? What’s most appealing to your customer? This should be your perspective when putting a marketing communications plan together. Question everything from the customer’s point of view. Note common themes that come to mind – industries, trade associations, demographics, or anything else you notice.

Next, decide where you want to go.

Brainstorm ideas of how you can promote yourself to gain awareness of your brand as you advance through this process. Evaluate your brand’s strengths and weaknesses. Follow the basic marketing S.W.O.T. (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) formula by developing several bullet-point statements to define each section of the analysis. Create a list of competitors in your industry, region, or specialty. You may even wish to complete S.W.O.T.s for your top, three competitors as well. It’s good practice to spend the time getting to know your competitors and this will make you much, much smarter in the end. Everything you do should be viewed through your customer’s eyes. If you have more than one, majority-type of customer, include each perspective throughout your strategy.

Now map it out.

Now that you’re fully armed with detailed knowledge of your customer base, company goals, and strengths you are in a perfect position to map out the marketing venues that will lead you to success. Begin this process with what I call a ‘zero budget.’ Author your dream list. There are no monetary blocks here and this encourages you to consider all possibilities. Explore advertising paths, customer events, trade shows, associations and chambers of commerce. Refine this list with a dose of reality then put it into action. Remember to design your ad promos from the customer’s perspective. 

Try to have fun with this process and take some time to review these web sites for great tips and tricks:

More on marketing intelligence and considerations:
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_94.htm

Great tips for individuals looking to market:
http://self-employed-marketing.suite101.com/article.cfm/create_a_marketing_strategy

Marketing strategy formats with templates:
http://www.businessballs.com/freebusinessplansandmarketingtemplates.htm

For professional Las Vegas Marketing Communications consulting, contact Perkolate at 702.341.0085 or visit our website at www.perkolate.com.

When you started your Las Vegas business, you most likely created a business plan to map out the strategic business direction your company would follow and projected sales, profits, costs, etc. In the same vein, you need to create a basic marketing communications plan for your business as well.

The goal of a marketing communications plan is to make potential customers in Las Vegas (and beyond) aware of your business and its products and services. This is accomplished by creating websites, brochures, flyers, powerpoint presentations, press releases and more.

In order to write a meaningful marketing communications plan, you need to do research to understand your target market and target customer, what materials would be most appropriate to reach that customer and what budget and timeline will help you reach your marcom goals.

The following are some great links to help you understand exactly what a marketing communications plan is and some templates and information to help guide you along:

• What is a Marketing Communications Plan? – hutchinscrang.com
• What is a Marketing Communications Mix? – wikianswers.com
• Marketing Communications Plan Template – csumb.edu
• Integrated Marketing Communications Plan Outline – mcgraw-hill.com
• Creating an Integrated Marketing Communications Plan – rd-marketing.com
• How Marketing Plans Work – howstuffworks.com
• Marketing Communications Articles, Resources, Glossary – marcommwise.com
• Books on Marketing Communications – amazon.com