Know-How Exchange : Strategy

I don't believe in using any of the fancy tools for creating a marketing or business plan - the main benefit of doing these is to go through the process and do the thinking about the business that they make you do.

I would make up a set of headings in a Word file and then start filling in blanks. Write down what you know, and then figure out how to get information for what you don't know right away. You wont get 100% full, but you should get a lot of it filled in. Focus on the who/what/why you are before you start in on the steps you will take to market to these customers.

Here are some headings I would use:

Market Analysis (Brief description of market, major influencers, competitors, etc.)
· (insert brief description of market here)
· Why I believe there is a market for my service
o
· Competitors – direct and indirect competitors.
o
· Target Customer:
o
· Benefits of my service to these target customers:
o


Marketing Plan (4-Ps, channels)
· Product
· Price
· Place
· Promotion

I've recently been put in charge of the same task so I know exactly how overwhelming it can be. I don't know about you, but I had no background in marketing so it was very difficult.

Online templates and resources are a good place to start but,in my opinion, you will probably only find the fake cookie-cutter plans and templates online. These resources give you the basics, but they are often much more simplistic than what you will need for a real-world business. I found this resource helpful: https://www.knowthis.com/principles-of-marketing-tutorials/

Unfortunately, you get what you pay for when it comes to free online resources. They may help you get started, but they won't help you do the whole job.

After searching online, I found that marketing textbooks are the best way to go. A good one to start with is the Marketing Plan Handbook. You can find it on Amazon for a reasonable price: https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Plan-Handbook-Premier-Package/dp/013513628... It helps explain the basics of writing a marketing plan in non-technical language.

Finally, I would suggest moving on to a college/grad school level textbook. I have found Philip Kotler's Marketing Management to be an excellent resource. Again, you can find it on Amazon used for a very reasonable price: https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Management-12th-Philip-Kotler/dp/013145757... You will have to hunt through the book for the chapters or subjects you need. In other words, it doesn't give you a step by step guide like the Marketing Plan Handbook, but it does clarify a lot of things.

Writing a marketing plan is difficult because every marketing plan is different. There is no one template that will 100% work for your business. Using a free template and simply throwing together a plan is definitely not a good idea because it won't take into account your business's specific needs.

For my plan, I had to do a lot of research and then use my own knowledge of my company to put together a format right for me. It was a lot of work, but it's helping my company to understand issues we had never even considered before. Good luck and I hope this helps!