What are the key questions that should be answered when creating a marketing plan?

Whether your business is large or small, and whether you’re meeting your current business objectives, exceeding them, or falling behind, every business needs a comprehensive marketing plan to succeed and expand. While some businesses create that plan in-house, many turn to experts like Globe Runner. A professional marketing agency eats, sleeps, and breathes marketing so that you can focus on what you do best—providing second-to-none products and services to your customers. And what should you expect from your marketing consultants? First, you should expect them to have a list of marketing questions to ask their clients. From brand strategy questions to specific business objectives and goals, here are some questions you can expect to be asked by a marketing firm—or, if you’re creating a marketing plan in-house, questions to ask the business owner (or yourself). 

Marketing Questions to Ask Customers

• What business objectives does the marketing strategy need to support? Marketing for the sake of marketing doesn’t have a great ROI. A marketing plan to boost sales overall looks different than one to boost sales of a specific product. Having a concrete understanding of what your business objectives are will start you off on the right track. You can’t know what your target audience is if you don’t know what it is you’re trying to accomplish! Which leads to…
• Who is my target audience? Key to every aspect of a marketing plan, one of the very first things you need to know is who you’re trying to reach. Being as specific as possible is integral to this question. Basic demographics are important, but think beyond that. Are you looking to reach previous customers? New customers? Is the purchaser of your product or service the same person who will be using those services/products or different (e.g., women drive over 80% of consumer spending in the United States—making the purchasing decisions for their entire families)?
• What are the best ways to reach my target audience(s)? Once you’ve narrowed down that audience, you have to figure out how to reach them. A professional marketing firm has access to marketing data across the spectrum and can assist with ensuring that you’re taking your message to the right channels for your specific demographic.
• Does my marketing campaign strategy appeal to my target audience? It doesn’t help to get a message out to the right audience if it doesn’t resonate with them. Marketing firms also have a ton of data on what kinds of messages and marketing strategies are effective for different markets.
• What metrics determine success or failure? This relates directly to your business goals and objectives. If your marketing plan doesn’t include metrics, you can’t determine if it was successful. Make sure your marketing plan goals are SMART goals—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Bound.
• Who are my primary competitors? It’s important to be able to differentiate yourself from your competitors. If your campaign is too similar to others, it may have little effect (or adverse effects). It’s also important to know how crowded the field is—how and where are they marketing? Can they out-market you budget-wise? Can you break through their noise or should you focus on a different demographic or niche?

FAQs

What factors must be considered before writing a marketing plan?

The first factor to consider is the “Why?” What is it that you’re trying to accomplish? Are you expanding into a different market? Boosting sales? Of what and how much? Many people start with tactics and work their way backward. Tactics come last. Your goal should not be to “run Facebook ads for two weeks.” That’s a tactic. Once you’ve set your goals, then you can start looking at what target audiences you need to reach out to in order to meet those goals. After that, you can move on to tactics. And don’t forget the budget! You should know from the beginning what kind of budget you have to implement your marketing strategy—and be prepared to possibly have to shift either your budget or goals if they don’t match up. Check out how Globe Runner helped these businesses reach their goals!

How do you structure a marketing plan?

Your marketing plan should mirror the questions above. It should include your specific goals, a breakdown of your target audience, and the tactics to reach that specific audience along with a budget and timeline for each piece of the puzzle. There are dozens of great marketing templates available on the internet. We at Globe Runner like this template.

Strategic marketing choices belong in a written marketing plan, probably the most important document for every marketer who wants to work consistently and professionally. But how do you start with a strategic marketing plan?

How do you create a simple and readable marketing plan in which every dream becomes tangible? Get a grip on your future and actually achieve your goals.

This article wants to be a guide. I will give you a checklist, template or guide that will help you to write your marketing plan in no-time, simply by answering specific strategic questions.

How do you start? Copy and paste these strategic questions in a Word document and answer each strategic question them shortly and concisely. Give the document the name of your marketing plan and save it on a logical place on your server. But watch out! A marketing plan is a dynamic document that regularly undergoes changes. Give the document a regular update and give every update a number, for example version 1.4.

Do you want to go all the way? Use a digital marketing planner such as Husky. In it you not only write down the strategic choices from your marketing plan, but you can also manage projects, tasks, campaigns, budget and results.

Questions about your offer

1. What brand name(s) do I need to market?
2. What is my elevator pitch?
3. What products and services do I offer?
4. How do I make money with my offering?
5. What is the cost price of my offering?

Questions about your market

6. What is the profile of my (prospective) customer?
7. How big is the market?
8. What are the needs or problems of my customers?
9. What do I promise my customers?
10. Who is an influencer in the decision process of the customer?

Questions about your added value

11. What are my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?
12. On which strengths can I make the difference?
13. At what value(s) am I going to position myself against the competition?
14. What are my most important company values?
15. What are my vision and my mission?

Questions about your organization

16. Which sales channels are used to present my offering?
17. Who are my strategic partners?
18. Who are my key commercial employees?
19. How does the organizational customer flow look like?
20. What are my financial resources?

Questions about your online communication

21.What is the ideal layout and structure of my website?
22. How am I going to rank high in Google?
23. What social media channels will I use?
24. What email techniques will I use to communicate with customers?
25. How will I use mobile platforms such as tablets and smartphones?

Questions about networking

26. Which journalists do I need to network with to get press coverage?
27. Who are my prospective marketing partners within my network?
28. How do I share knowledge within my network?
29. What networking events do I need to attend?
30. Which network events will I organize myself?

Questions about advertising

31. In/on what media do I place ads?
32. What printed direct mail will I send?
33. What fairs should I attend?
34. How will I use posters in the point of sale and on the streets?
35. Who or what will I sponsor?

Questions about your customer experience

36. What experiential marketing actions will I take presales?
37. What experiential marketing actions will I take at the point of sale?
38. What experiential marketing actions will I take after-sales?
39. How do I turn my customers into ambassadors?
40. What branding tools do I need to touch the customer's heart?

Managing marketing strategy in Husky

Interested in knowing why Husky can be an asset to your strategy as well?

Read more about marketing strategy here, or book your online demo.

What questions should be answered in a marketing plan?

What 5 Questions should the marketing plan address?

What are key marketing questions?

What 5 main things are needed in a marketing plan?