Marketing Plan Consulting Services

Some say the marketing plan is dead: the world just moves too fast. Just throw stuff out there; it will all work out.

We say good luck with that.

Successful business owners never stop gathering information – about their customers, their competitors, and their industry – that will help them succeed in the marketplace. They use this intelligence to retain existing customers, reach new customers, and increase their market share.

Ask Yourself:

• Are your marketing efforts delivering results?

• Could you adjust your mix of social media, SEO, PR, PPC, etc. to better engage your target audience?

• Does your marketing budget support your business objectives (and match your competitors)?

• Are you moving forward, or falling behind?

• Do you have a marketing strategy, or are you just trying tactics and hoping something works?

 

A Marketing Plan is More Important than Ever

Even the most efficient business will struggle to succeed without a detailed, strategic and tactical marketing plan – one that’s flexible enough to adjust to fresh realities.

With technological, social, political, legal and regulatory changes occurring constantly, businesses today have to adapt much faster than before.

So creating a 5- or 10-year marketing plan and tweaking it every few years will leave you far behind your more nimble competitors.  Solid marketing plans benefit from a cursory review with minor updates every quarter, with a major review (and possibly major adjustments) once a year.

Benefits of a Solid Marketing Plan

• Higher marketing ROI — your marketing dollars go much farther
• Increased customer retention — which lowers marketing and sales costs
• Lower management costs — you spend less time chasing “new opportunities” and more time on sustainable business growth
• Improved business intelligence — you understand your competitors and your customers better, so you make better decisions
• Higher profits — position your business as a market leader, not a follower

Our Process

Our marketing planning process has four key stages:

Market Research

Accurate, current market research is vital. Without it, you risk wasting money and time delivering the wrong products at the wrong price with the wrong message to the wrong customers. Our market research  will help your company pinpoint opportunities.

Analysis and Planning

We’ll develop a marketing strategy that differentiates you from your competitors. We’ll analyze and synthesize findings; position your business in ways that matter to customers; determine your target markets through data mining; define (or refine) your company’s value proposition; align your organization to close performance gaps, and help you deliver the value you promise.

Once the marketing strategy is in place, we’ll build a tactical plan to execute it. Our tactical plan features a detailed schedule of actions for customer segmentation, marketing channel selection, product/service mix, price, promotion, processes, and customer service.

Implementation

We’ll help you execute by translating your marketing plan into action through all aspects of the marketing mix: search engine marketing (SEM), direct marketing, advertising and promotions, event planning, earned media initiatives,  pricing, and sales support materials.