Formulating and implementing a marketing plan is a very crucial part of any business. Having a promising product/service is just not enough. You’ll need to have a proper idea on how you are going to promote and sell the product. While formulating a marketing plan, you’ll need to focus on the 5Ps of marketing, i.e, Product, Price, Place, Promotion and Position. Also, not to forget the integration of aspects of digital marketing strategies in your marketing plan.

If you are creating a marketing plan to promote and sell in Nepal, it is highly recommended to consult with an agency dealing with digital marketing in Nepal. They will guide you in the factors from digital marketing that need to be considered while creating a marketing plan. Having said this, here we will guide you on the steps to create a marketing plan. Let’s get started!

5 Steps On How to Create a Marketing Plan

Simple Executive Summary

Even though an executive summary is the most important part of a marketing plan, it should be written at last, i.e., after you have completed your marketing plan. This is because, the executive summary should include and then summarize all the aspects of your marketing plan. While writing an executive summary, make sure that it is simple to understand and should not be more than 2 pages long.

The executive summary of a marketing plan should include information related to the current market situation, SWOT Analysis, marketing objectives, marketing strategy, market plans, budget, etc.

Outline Your User Personas

A buyer or user persona is a detailed description of someone who represents your target audience. So, he/she has the characteristics of a buyer who would like to buy your products/services. While outlining or developing a user persona, you’ll need to give it a name, demographic details and identify his/her interests. You’ll also need to find out their goals, pain points, and buying patterns. However, since different groups of people may buy your products for different reasons, you might need to create more than one buyer persona.

Research Your Competitors

While drafting your marketing plan, you should also identify your key competitors and how your products/services are different from the ones offered by them. You should also conduct a SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) of your products and services and compare it with them. Then, based on the results, you can work on differentiating your products and services.

Create an Actionable Marketing Strategy

The marketing plan you create should be realistic and actionable. Creating a vague marketing plan will be just waste of time and effort. Allocate your marketing budget and define specific marketing strategies that will address your goals, reach your target audience and build your customer base. Each marketing strategy should be related to a specific goal and should be made up of numerous actions.

Set Tracking or Reporting Guidelines

Finally, your marketing plan should also include a tracking and reporting guidelines for the actions being implemented. Develop an implementation schedule that will define what needs to be done by whom and when. The implementation schedule will also give you a basis on which to monitor the progress of your marketing plan. The tracking and reporting guidelines might be somewhat different for traditional marketing and digital marketing.

Following these guidelines will definitely help you in creating an effective marketing plan.  If you are new to digital marketing, you can always get help from the digital marketing agencies in Nepal. Companies like Elance Digital Media are very well known for planning and implementation of SEO in Nepal.