Developing a marketing plan allows you to think through how you’re going to get your products and services from the production/idea phase to the end user. The marketing plan outlines the marketing strategy, pricing and distribution, promotional, and advertising activities planned for the period. With a well-designed marketing plan, you can design more effective promotions, reach your customers with targeted advertising, and track the success of your efforts. For a developing business, it outlines how you will grow the business beyond family and friends. For an established business, it might include introducing new products or reaching a new target market or market area. It also establishes goals and benchmarks for the business.  

There are five key elements of a Marketing Plan: 

1. Description of the Business: This section describes the business, including products and services offered. This section also gives a brief history of the business and why the business is being started or expansion pursued. 

2. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) Analysis: The SWOT Analysis is used to evaluate your competitive position and to develop your strategic plan. It assesses the performance of the business. 

3. Pricing and Distribution Strategy: The Pricing and Distribution strategy outlines the key products, prices, and distribution strategies of the business. 

4. Marketing Strategy: The Marketing Strategy is your overall plan of action to promote and sell your products/services. Your marketing strategy determines who your current and prospective customers are and how to reach them. This section is the meat of your marketing plan and discusses key tactics you plan on using to promote your business and products.  

5. Budget: The marketing budget includes any spending you anticipate with marketing, including social media ads, website costs, promotional materials, influencer costs, events, etc. For a startup business, it might also include a capitalization plan. This would list the startup costs and a plan for how the business expects to generate the startup capital. For an expanding business, it will include what the cost of reaching new markets is.  

A comprehensive marketing plan makes it easier for a business to stay on budget when it comes to marketing activities as well as potentially receive external support, especially in terms of financing from potential investors, lenders, and grant sources. When you go through the process of planning and developing a marketing plan, it allows you to think through every detail of the business. KCARD has a Marketing Plan Development Guide to help you work through these elements. If you would like additional assistance in developing a marketing strategy or working through pieces of your marketing, give us a call at 859-550- 3972 or kcard@kcard.info.