An effective marketing plan proposal needs to be accurate and detailed about its goals. For you to be able to come up with a solid strategy, you need to know what the essential components are for this plan. One of the best resources for proposal templates recommends five crucial elements that are found in every winning pitch.
- Pose a Problem
Before you can provide solutions for the issues that you or your clients’ business face, you need to identify what the problems are in the first place. Forming a problem statement aids you in recognizing the factors that are hindering you from exceeding sales targets and other concerns. The description should be concise and, preferably, within five sentences long. Depending on the problem, the statement may include facts from:
- Reports Data
- Statistics
- Customer Demographics
- Market Trends
- Information on Company Resources
While it may be tempting to place all related facts and figures on your marketing plan proposal, stick to key statistics that prove how severe the problem is. If you’re uncertain which points to put in, choose three figures that provide the best support for your argument.
- Recommend Solutions
After explaining the problem, you need to offer a list of possible solutions for the issue. Use language that your clients will understand. Avoid marketing buzzwords and jargons that will confuse the reader. Here are some tools that can aid you in deciding which solutions are the best for your marketing needs:
- Market Research – Every company should know their target audience. That way, you can tailor your marketing strategies to catch the interest of your potential customers. Identify their buying habits, your market size, and other developments in your industry. Also create a target market description, or buyer persona, that describes the types of people who will most likely buy your products and services. If you want to target millennials, market research will provide you with details on how to reach them, which is via social media.
- Market Positioning – Know how your customer sees you. If you own a clothing store, do shoppers go to you for the latest trends in fashion or do they come for the classic styles? Communicate clearly how you want to be distinguished from your competitors by improving your branding and marketing messages.
- Competitive Analysis – Recognize who the competition is and how you can differentiate their products from your goods. Identify the standard price point at which your competitors are selling and what sector of the market they’re reaching. Knowing how your competitors are doing can help you stay ahead of them by better positioning your business.
- Bring In the Big Guns
A detailed marketing plan makes it easy for you to come back after a while and check in on the progress that your company is making. Create a list of the specific benefits that you or your clients will get from the solutions you proposed aside from the obvious advantage of solving the issue. If the business is having difficulty in improving traffic to the website and you suggest promoting your content on social media, a bonus from gaining more organic visitors would be an increase in conversion rates.
- Budget or Pricing
If you’re creating a plan for your company, provide a month-by-month schedule of how much you’re willing to spend on your marketing strategies. Also, it’s recommended to have a “red light” limit. This is a metric for each tactic that will let you know when to stop investing in that method when it’s no longer producing enough return on investment (ROI).
If you’re proposing a plan to a client, write down your pricing fees. The information should be clear and easy to understand. Include a fee description associated with your proposed solutions so that the client knows what they’re paying for. It’s best to price your services in “fee packages” as opposed to individual fee items.
- Call to Action
For marketing firms working with clients, conclude your proposal with a concrete call to action. This way, you let your customers know what the next steps are so that the project can begin. Again, make it simple and clear to avoid any confusion and misinterpretations on the terms of the agreement.
Conclusion
A solid marketing plan ought to bring in more leads for you or your client’s business. It should also be detailed enough that every department can understand the necessary steps to gain more customers. After all, marketing and sales need to work hand-in-hand to bring in buyers and retain them.
