THE MARKETING PLAN

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THE MARKETING PLAN

Creating a good marketing plan is the best thing that you can do to help assure a new web-based business’s growth.

Your marketing plan should be your guide on which you base your marketing decisions and it will help to ensure that everyone involved in marketing your website works toward the same goals.

A properly drawn up and instituted marketing plan not only provides a guide for the growth of your web-based business, but also how to spend your promotional dollars.

Optimally a marketing plan and its budget (which is an integral part of your business’s overall budget) should cover promotion and advertising for 6 to 12 months.
Don’t forget to include in your plan’s budget a sizable allotment for market research.

What you know about your target market and the information gleaned from marketing research will give you the basis for your marketing strategy.

Research is the only way you will know what is necessary to design your marketing plan to reach the 25-35% of your website’s customers that are not brought to your site by search engines and directories.

The plan should lay the groundwork for campaigns that will encourage customers to place an order, or to take some kind of action, that will allow you to respond — thereby establishing a relationship with another potential customer.
Preparation

Develop market objectives that are realistic and specific. If possible, hire consultants to assist you in identifying the available market, to understand who will be competing with you for that market share, and to formulate a realistic projection for your share of that market. Most of this information can be gathered from:

• Your internal records.

• Published market information from government statistics, chambers of commerce, newspapers, magazines, trade journals, banks, utility companies, city and county planning organizations, colleges and universities.

• Surveys, mail responses, telephone and personal interviews, opinion polls, market testing, and customer feedback.
Analyze your site from a promotional point of view. Then, with your marketing hat on, look at your site with a fresh eye and consider:

• What would a visitor consider as the main purpose of your website?

• Who would be interested in your website?

• How does your website stand out from other websites?
Now look at the competition:

• Are potential customers using the Web now?

• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the competition?

• What can be done to make the campaign’s overall message superior to your competition’s message?

• What message would be most effective in drawing potential customers to your website?

• What would cinch the conversion of potential customer into an actual customer?

This research will give you a good idea as to how you should go about reaching your current and potential customers — in other words, where you should spend your advertising dollars: banner ads, targeted opt-in email, newsletters (online or email), surveys, traditional advertising methods (print, radio, television), and incentives such as discounts, gift certificates and contests.

Now you have a good starting point for your strategic marketing campaign.

As you formulate your marketing plan consider:

Competitive Forces: Who are your major competitors now and who is likely to be your major competitors in the future? What response can you expect from those competitors to any change in your marketing strategy? How does the structure of the industry affect competitive forces in the industry?


Economic Forces: What is the general economic condition of the country or region where the majority of your customers reside (demographic research)? Are your consumers optimistic or pessimistic about the economy? What is your target market’s buying power (demographic research)? What are the current spending patterns of your target market? Are your customers buying less or more from your website and why?


Socio-cultural Forces: How are society’s (and your targeted market’s) demographics and values changing and how will these changes affect your web-based business? What is the general attitude of society regarding the Internet, your business, and its products/services? What ethical issues should you address?


Legal and Regulatory Forces: What changes in various government regulations (domestic and foreign) are being proposed that would affect the way you operate? What effect will global agreements such as NAFTA and GATT have on your web-based business?


Technological Forces: What impact will changing technology have on your target market, if any? What technological changes will affect the way you operate your website, sell your products/services, and conduct marketing activities?


Identify Target Market: What are the demographics of your target market, i.e., characteristics such as, sex, age, income, occupation, education, ethnic background, family life cycle, etc.?

What are the geographic characteristics of this market, i.e. its location, accessibility, climate? What are the psychographics of your niche market, i.e., attitudes, opinions, interests, motives, lifestyles? What are the product-usage characteristics of this market?


Needs Analysis: What are the current needs of your target market? How well is your website and its products/services meeting these needs? How are your competitors’ meeting these needs? How are the needs of your niche market expected to change in the near and distant futures?
 
THE MARKETING PLAN

Creating a good marketing plan is the best thing that you can do to help assure a new web-based business’s growth.

Your marketing plan should be your guide on which you base your marketing decisions and it will help to ensure that everyone involved in marketing your website works toward the same goals.

A properly drawn up and instituted marketing plan not only provides a guide for the growth of your web-based business, but also how to spend your promotional dollars.

Optimally a marketing plan and its budget (which is an integral part of your business’s overall budget) should cover promotion and advertising for 6 to 12 months.
Don’t forget to include in your plan’s budget a sizable allotment for market research.

What you know about your target market and the information gleaned from marketing research will give you the basis for your marketing strategy.

Research is the only way you will know what is necessary to design your marketing plan to reach the 25-35% of your website’s customers that are not brought to your site by search engines and directories.

The plan should lay the groundwork for campaigns that will encourage customers to place an order, or to take some kind of action, that will allow you to respond — thereby establishing a relationship with another potential customer.
Preparation

Develop market objectives that are realistic and specific. If possible, hire consultants to assist you in identifying the available market, to understand who will be competing with you for that market share, and to formulate a realistic projection for your share of that market. Most of this information can be gathered from:

• Your internal records.

• Published market information from government statistics, chambers of commerce, newspapers, magazines, trade journals, banks, utility companies, city and county planning organizations, colleges and universities.

• Surveys, mail responses, telephone and personal interviews, opinion polls, market testing, and customer feedback.
Analyze your site from a promotional point of view. Then, with your marketing hat on, look at your site with a fresh eye and consider:

• What would a visitor consider as the main purpose of your website?

• Who would be interested in your website?

• How does your website stand out from other websites?
Now look at the competition:

• Are potential customers using the Web now?

• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the competition?

• What can be done to make the campaign’s overall message superior to your competition’s message?

• What message would be most effective in drawing potential customers to your website?

• What would cinch the conversion of potential customer into an actual customer?

This research will give you a good idea as to how you should go about reaching your current and potential customers — in other words, where you should spend your advertising dollars: banner ads, targeted opt-in email, newsletters (online or email), surveys, traditional advertising methods (print, radio, television), and incentives such as discounts, gift certificates and contests.

Now you have a good starting point for your strategic marketing campaign.

As you formulate your marketing plan consider:

Competitive Forces: Who are your major competitors now and who is likely to be your major competitors in the future? What response can you expect from those competitors to any change in your marketing strategy? How does the structure of the industry affect competitive forces in the industry?


Economic Forces: What is the general economic condition of the country or region where the majority of your customers reside (demographic research)? Are your consumers optimistic or pessimistic about the economy? What is your target market’s buying power (demographic research)? What are the current spending patterns of your target market? Are your customers buying less or more from your website and why?


Socio-cultural Forces: How are society’s (and your targeted market’s) demographics and values changing and how will these changes affect your web-based business? What is the general attitude of society regarding the Internet, your business, and its products/services? What ethical issues should you address?


Legal and Regulatory Forces: What changes in various government regulations (domestic and foreign) are being proposed that would affect the way you operate? What effect will global agreements such as NAFTA and GATT have on your web-based business?


Technological Forces: What impact will changing technology have on your target market, if any? What technological changes will affect the way you operate your website, sell your products/services, and conduct marketing activities?


Identify Target Market: What are the demographics of your target market, i.e., characteristics such as, sex, age, income, occupation, education, ethnic background, family life cycle, etc.?

What are the geographic characteristics of this market, i.e. its location, accessibility, climate? What are the psychographics of your niche market, i.e., attitudes, opinions, interests, motives, lifestyles? What are the product-usage characteristics of this market?


Needs Analysis: What are the current needs of your target market? How well is your website and its products/services meeting these needs? How are your competitors’ meeting these needs? How are the needs of your niche market expected to change in the near and distant futures?

Well, i am also going to share some important information on THE MARKETING PLAN which would help others. Well, i also appreciate your work for sharing information on THE MARKETING PLAN.
 

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