Saturday, May 23, 2020
10 Steps to Design a Successful Marketing Plan
Generally, companies are broken down into four levels of hierarchy, the corporate, the division, the business unit and the product level. The overall plan of the company is designed at a corporate level. As part of this planning, each resource is allocated to each division of the company. Next, division level planning allocates resources to each business unit of the company. In addition, business unit planning designs a strategic plan for each business area, which determines each of the marketing objectives/goals, strategies and tactics, that have to be consistent with the overall strategic plan.
Therefore, a marketing plan, according to Kotler, is a "written document, which includes the objectives, strategies and action plans regarding the elements of the marketing mix which facilitate and enable compliance with the strategy dictated at the corporate level".
So in order to bring success to your business, you need a strategic marketing plan. Strategic plans are classified according to their time frame to long, medium and short- term plans. Usually long-term plans tend to be between 5-10 years at corporate level, medium-term plans 2-5 years and short-term consists of a time period ranging from 6 months to 1 year.
A proper marketing plan has 10 sections.
Executive Summary: the marketing plan like all the documents that are submitted to established executive bodies must begin with a brief summary of the whole plan, with basic numerical data and info.
Mission and Vision: the marketing plan includes the company's "reason of existence", values and its future intentions and strategic approach.
Situation Analysis: this section includes all the market research results with various subsections. It includes an external analysis (macro-environment and micro-environment analyses) and an internal analysis (with the assistance of various internal matrices such as BCG Matrix and General Electric Matrix).
SWOT Analysis: the company's strengths and weaknesses and environmental threats and opportunities for the company, this is the basis for defining the marketing objectives and strategies.
Objectives: the goals that the company plans to achieve, that can be classified based on their characteristics as quantitative or qualitative.
Marketing Strategies: based on the objectives, a marketing strategy is the roadmap to success.
Marketing Mix: one of the key points of the marketing plan is the design of medium and long-term approach of the 4 Ps (price, place, product, promotion).
Action Program: on this section all the actions to be performed are gathered with specific information, timetables and responsibilities among the personnel.
Provisional Income Statement: the plan must include an income statement with any inputs for which the marketing department is responsible for.
Monitoring and Control: the purpose of this section is to make sure that all 9 sections are followed and the proposed objectives are being achieved.
Apart from these 10 sections a marketing plan in order to be successful it needs to have 3 characteristics.
The plan must be flexible, because the business environment is changing rapidly and the plan needs to be able to adapt in order to achieve the objectives that have been set.
The marketing plan must be clear and precise in each section order to avoid misunderstandings within the department.
It has to be systematic and structured, written as a series of logical, organized steps and complete in regards to amount of information.
You can read more sports and business articles at: http://www.foxsportsstories.com
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Pavlos_Pavlidis/2493544
Article Source: https://ezinearticles.com/?10-Steps-to-Design-a-Successful-Marketing-Plan&id=9847303
Friday, May 22, 2020
Starting an Online Internet Business May Not Be As Expensive As You Thought
Photo by Peter Olexa from Pexels
Have you ever wondered how much it would cost to start your own internet business? This is one of the most commonly asked questions, and you may be surprised to know that you can start an online internet business quickly and for relatively very little money as opposed to having to come up with thousands of dollars to get started.
One of the reasons internet business is such a great business to pursue is because you can start your business fast and cost effectively. Also, your ROI (return on investment) is very fast with internet business versus other businesses which could take three years or more to start making a profit. Once you've made the decision to start an online internet business, there are eight important tools you will need to get started.
1. WEB HOSTING
The first is you will need to have a place for it to live online - a website. And with that, you will need a web address and hosting. The web address is what people will type in to find your business, and the hosting is where the site exists online. You can obtain your own web address for less than $10 and hosting will only cost you between $60-$100 per year (or less than $10 per month). This is incredibly cheap!
2. EMAIL LIST MANAGEMENT
Secondly, you will need a good email management system. Why? The biggest asset and money earner of your business are in the people who have found your site, expressed interest and signed up for your e-mail list.
Even if you do not have an email list yet, you will need to have a system in place even before your site goes live so that you can communicate with your community of followers. Try to steer clear of free or extremely cheap systems; you want a really good service that is reliable and trustworthy because after all, your list is the life of your business!
3. SITE DESIGN
The third tool you will need is to make your site "live" online. Don't become overwhelmed thinking you have to design and code the site yourself. A wonderful free tool called WordPress can do all the hard work for you, making it easy to update your website yourself, therefore eliminating costly web designers and programmers. Internet Business Mastery also has many tutorials to make the process headache free for you. If you still would like someone to do the entire setup for you, there are assistants who for $50 or less can help do the entire process for you.
WordPress offers many templates and themes which can give your site a customizable look of its own. Premium themes are also available which are an upgrade in design quality. Premium themes are also very affordable, only costing you between $70-$100.
4. PAYMENT PROCESSING
The fourth important thing to starting your own internet business is to have a good payment processing system in place. There will be a time when you will need to process credit cards and give people the ability to purchase things through your website. Having this system in place enables your business to work for you even when you are not - 24/7, 365, anytime. There are many free services such as Paypal, Ejunkie, and more that will process your orders for you, or you can upgrade later to something like 1ShoppingCart which will give you more functionality and features.
5. BUSINESS ENTITY
The fifth thing you will need for your internet business is to think about creating a business entity for yourself. The first kind of business entity is a self-proprietor in which you will do business through your own personal tax statements and all liability is on you personally. Another option is an LLC, which will protect your personal assets and family by keeping the business separate. An LLC is as easy to create as filling out the forms yourself for $20-$30. Or if you choose, you can have a lawyer file the paperwork for you for $400-$500 and give you the confidence that the paperwork is filed correctly.
6. YOUR PRODUCT
The sixth thing to think about is you are going to need a product to offer. Since we are talking about internet business, you may not need to manufacture and sell a physical product. Information products are a great idea and can eliminate production needs and costs. Everything is digital, and will only cost you your time. These types of products sell at a high margin, and can be delivered digitally to your customer.
7. TRAFFIC GENERATION
The seventh tool to get your internet business off the ground is getting traffic to your site. People need to be aware of your presence online! IBM's methods for getting traffic are either completely free or very inexpensive. Content marketing is where it's at - which means you are generating regular, authoritative content specific to your niche of marketing. This gets the attention of your market, and magnetically draws them to you. Some other methods to generate traffic could be through paid services such as Google Adwords, paid advertising on Facebook, mailings, or ads in magazines.
8. MENTORSHIP
The eighth and final tool you will need - and which is often overlooked - is mentorship. Mastermind groups can be a roadmap on your journey of internet business. The Internet Business Mastery Academy is a great place to go for invaluable feedback, guidance, and advice from those who have paved the way ahead of you in their own internet businesses. This will save you time and money in the future by avoiding pitfalls and mistakes. You can even receive a risk free trial membership to the IBM Academy to get you jumpstarted.
MASSIVE RETURN ON INVESTMENT
As you can see, owning your own internet business is very affordable, and something you can see results of in a matter of months instead of years. For as little as a few hundred dollars, you can have your own viable business versus $30,000 for a franchise or something similar. A couple hundred dollars for freedom and fulfillment are very worth the cost!
For a list of services we recommend as mentioned in this article, visit Internet Business Mastery's website.
Jeremy Frandsen is the co-host of the #1 internet business and marketing podcast, Internet Business Mastery. Jeremy is an expert on how to start an online internet business, as well as other internet business related strategies.
To learn more about how to start an online internet business and Internet Business Mastery, please visit http://www.internet-based-business-mastery.com.
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jeremy_Frandsen/521212
https://ezinearticles.com/?Starting-an-Online-Internet-Business-May-Not-Be-As-Expensive-As-You-Thought&id=3583617
Thursday, May 21, 2020
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