A marketing plan is an essential means to assist with identifying potential new markets;
understanding customer needs and wants, and to create a strategy that will allow one to
make necessary improvements for the purpose of increasing profits. A Consultant
Marketing Plan strategically helps to prevent unpredictable, haphazard, and random
marketing. This Consultant Marketing Plan can be customized to provide for any
additional industry specific language that may be necessary. Use this form to determine
how to increase the profits of a small business
How to Write a Marketing Plan
A marketing plan is an essential means to help you identify potential
new markets; understand customer needs and wants; and to create a
strategy that will allow you to make necessary improvements to increase
profits. The plan is a way to let everyone know what part they need to
play, and what needs to happen in order to ensure that everything gets
done. It is also a way to show what you are doing so that you can see
where things need to be improved. The sample strategy below will cover
market research and analysis, product development, pricing and
advertising for a consultant company.
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Basics
All successful marketing begins with a plan. The right plan will help to optimize your marketing
strategy and avoid wasting limit resources on ineffectual random marketing activities. It will also
enable you to clarify your company’s strengths and weaknesses, and in taking stock, enable you
to set up helpful goals.
The Best Marketing Plans Include Five Things:
1. In Clarifying your company’s strengths and weaknesses, the plan will help you
differentiate your resources and assets.
2. It will also help you to pinpoint your clients’ needs (what problems are they coming to
you for? What do they need from a consultant?)
3. It will help you put together an action plan to address your clients’ needs (and to
overcome any client mistrust or uncertainties)
4. Produce an effective action guide with timetables.
5. Help you assess any activities that were not productive In order to revise the plan.
Simple Steps for Writing your Marketing Plan:
1. State Your Desired Outcome
Begin by outlining your marketing goals. These goals could include concrete sales goals
and/or market share aims
Summarize the strategy: include market strategy, pricing, image, promotion and/or
service strategies
Include time lines with specific goals
2. Understand Your Target Market
Identify potential customers
Differentiate your existing customers from 1) potential customers 2) competitors’
customers 3) industry as a whole (ie, what is the size of the total market?)
It is important to understand target market. Different types of clients will react differently
to different tactics. So, get censuses on the specific target. This will help you to form a
picture of the types of ads you want to place, and perhaps where to place them.
© 2011 Docstoc Inc.
The importance of understanding your potential market cannot be stressed enough.
Support or focus on your target selection. For example, if your company’s strength is in
technology industry consulting services, it makes sense to target relevant joyrnals and
tradeshows.
3. Place Your Business in a Category of One
It is essential that you understand and build on your strengths. Consider that one of your
strengths could be a passion for one phase of your work.
Build a marketing strategy that presents your consulting practice as “one of a kind” for
that particular market.
4. Add Every Ounce Of Proof You Have
Collect testimonials, develop case studies, capitalize on your credentials, mention
published articles, don't let appearances on TV go unnoticed, etc.
5. Choose Your Marketing Tools
Based on the above, come up with a marketing strategy.
Your marketing program should inc