Promotional or Marketing Plan

So, in this group of modules we set out to review the marketing, promotional and advertising activities that can be deployed to promote new and existing products, ranges or companies.

As you have seen the tools available are numerous, and the ones that will be selected for a given product or company will depend on a range of factors including the marketing strategy, the budget, and the target market. Whether the business sells or promotes itself online is also a significant factor in the design and implementation of a promotional plan

In the last few modules we have considered a plethora of ideas for your promotional plan, and you will be able to select the most appropriate for your product, market and platform.

Now you can begin to plan your campaign, detailing the tools you will use, and planning how you will communicate your message to the market, attract prospects and turn them into customers.
You will have identified your Unique Selling Points, and considered your competition. You have thought about your relative strengths and weaknesses and how you can exploit the former, and counteract the latter. Then you will have defined your target customer, and thought about the best way to reach them.

With all that in place you can specify the marketing mix, i.e. communication strategies, the tools and tactics you will use. You may design an email campaign, press or TV advertising, leaflets, billboards, PR, an online campaign, or you may use a mix of some or all of these.

If you need to produce a promotional plan, I suggest you go back through parts 5 to 8, and consider each promotional idea for your product in turn. Imagine how each one would play out for your product, and look for fun, innovative and memorable ways to launch your product that will grab the attention of your potential clients.

Then list the ones that you consider appropriate. Plan your strategy, perhaps using traditional methods, perhaps online ones, or maybe layer them both for maximum effect.

You will set your marketing budget and allocate spending across the channels you are using. If your plans exceed your budget, you will need to trim back on the ideas you consider will be least effective for your product until you are within budget.

Remember to build in steps that will test and measure the actual returns in terms of sales and gross profits against your forecasts. Each time you change a variable, evaluate the result, build on what works and discard what doesn’t work.

I think you can build a great plan from the ideas we have discussed here. Good luck, and enjoy!!