Building your marketing strategic framework starts by identifying the market segments you are targeting, opportunities you can capitalize on, threats you need to monitor and weaknesses you can turn into potential. Developing your marketing strategies also require you to identify the marketing mix available to you and setting out your financial projections for the year you are preparing your marketing plan.
An action plan in its simplest form takes specific tasks, assigns someone to that task and states when it will be completed include resources such as the people involved and budgets, which the teams have at their disposal to complete the tasks.
It is important that your team understands the strategies you are developing, and accept their role in the process. It is therefore, important that you delegate responsibility for some activities to your team, but you can never delegate accountability. Your job is to make sure that these strategies are realized. Keep in mind that marketing is not an event, but a process. It has a beginning, a middle, but never an end, it is a living element of your business.
The following are the steps to how to use your chosen marketing strategies to start your Action Plan for each strategic decision you have made:
1. Write the strategy in the "Strategy Column", eg. Know your Market
2. List the things you need to do to start moving your business in the chosen direction in the "Action Column", eg. complete a Customer Survey.
3. Allocate a person who will be responsible for the task in the "Person Responsible Column", eg. Store Manager
4. List the support required in the "Support Required Column", eg. Survey to be designed.
5. Assign a timeframe in the Review Date Column, eg. June 2011
6. Create a budget if necessary in the "Budget Column", eg. $00.00
7. Describe how you will measure the success of your action in the "Measure of Success Column", eg. Segments identified.
Continue this process until each member of your team has a part to play in the achievement of your Marketing Plan, and all of your strategies are being implemented.
While you are developing your Action Plan, take time to build on your strengths and to minimize the effects of your weaknesses by turning them into potential. Go back and review your Mission Statement based on conclusions you have drawn from your action plan and establish if your strategies are aligned with your vision and mission for the business.
It is not enough for you to analyze, develop and implement your strategies. You also need to articulate and monitor your progress. Without monitoring, your strategy the process could get out of control. An integral part of implementing your plan, must therefore include active periodic measurement of your Marketing Plan's Strategies.
