Know-How Exchange : Strategy

You asked "Can anyone point me to resources that might be helpful in writing the marketing plan?"...

There are many articles on my sites about marketing plans. In general, https://www.MarketingPlanArticles.com has some articles about writing and implementing plans.

Coming at it from the Web site marketing angle, there are several articles here (scroll down to "Marketing Plan"):
https://www.websitemarketingplan.com/Free/FreeContent.htm

Regarding the marketing mix, here's an article about including both short term and long term programs in your plan:
https://www.websitemarketingplan.com/Arts/MarketingMix.htm

You may get some more ideas by look at an example planning process here:
https://www.websitemarketingplan.com/Free/SamplePlan.htm

There are some sample *business* plans here. There are some under "Internet and Technology" that deal with online businesses. Each of them touch on marketing, so you may find some tactical ideas in one or more of these:
https://www.businessplanarticles.com/ExampleBusinessPlans.htm

I hope this sends you in the right direction. Good luck!

Bobette Kyle

dc:

Although I don't have any sample marketing plans to offer, I do have some tactical advice that you may want to consider for your plan.

Of course you will want to identify your audience and decide how best to get the word out, but there are many ways to go about this. More and more cause-oriented marketers and political groups are using e-mail, rich media, and banner advertising to engage people and draw them into their site. The trick for this tactic is to be memorable. I would advise you to consider the current anti-smoking ads on TV. In addition, take a look at www.themeatrix.com to see a great execution of a memorable and effective campaign. Although you may not have a budget for mass media, you can model your promotions with these campaigns in mind.

In your website, make sure to offer some innovative content that will keep people interested. Maybe they sign a virtual petition. Anything that will make people want to refer the site to their friends.

Also, don't be shy about approaching new media agencies and Web developers about handling your online marketing plan. Some may be willing to offer pro bono work if they have a chance to push the envelope and get recognition.

Finally, on the traditional side, it never hurts to hit the newswire and press editors. This approach can be taken from mass media to local and regional press.

Good luck.

My top tips:

Establish credibility - use a little of your PR budget to get yourself known (include your website address), start this as soon as you have your first good article.

Forums - use forums and newsgroups to start discussing, use every chance to promote your website address (add it to your MP bio!).
NOTE: I think the use fo forums and newsgroups is critical for you to build respect and trust amongst your target audience.

Get added to search engines - use someone like addme.com for ease, but you are best doing the job yourself.

Link Popularity - Get people to link to you, that way your website will recieve better ranking in places like google. I am sure that there are similar sites who would be happy to link to you.

Meta Data/Titles etc - ensure you check all your meta tags and titles are in place, there are lots of SEO resources on the web today.

DO NOT use banner adds or pop ups that promise more traffic, they actually do bring more traffic to your site, but people hate all those cheesy traffic generators and visitors may not return!

Hope that helps a little!