Achieving results in online businesses is not something that can be done improvising, proof of this is that thousands of entrepreneurs have “thrown in the towel” for not seeing results; and beyond the various reasons that led them to make this decision, one of the fundamental ones was that they did not have a marketing plan solid that would allow them to move forward and work towards specific results.
This brings us to a fundamental point, before we talk fully about the points that a marketing plan with a high probability of success should have at least, this is to answer the question Why do I want an online marketing plan, if what I want is to earn money?
First
A marketing plan is the map of your territory, without it you would not be able to move in a firm direction, what you would achieve is to carry out actions that are not coordinated and that do not have a specific purpose, since they are not part of a larger plan, for so to speak.
Second
A marketing plan Not only does it give you the direction for your actions, but it also includes what you will need in your journey, resources, tools, skills that if you do not have them you will have to acquire them or subcontract someone to do that work for you.
And third
A marketing plan allows you to visualize a certain result from now on, it is true that at this moment it is not real yet, however it already prepares you for when this is your reality. Many people do not give importance to this point, visualizing where you want to be, or visualizing the results in your mind beforehand; However, it is more than proven that you can have the knowledge, the tools, the resources, but if you lack vision, the right mentality, you will not be able to go far.
The 7 steps to a successful marketing plan.
– Definition dand objectives
The first thing is to define what we want to do, creating an online business is not an objective, an objective is based at the beginning on the skills I have or that in what I want specialize or learn, build an Internet business.
For example, if I am a carpenter, I may want to take my business to the web and offer the products that I create or offer custom furniture creation services, if I like animals I may want to create a website that offers information about animals and offer products of affiliates relating to pets or dog training, for example. There may be thousands of options.
– Definition of your avatar or target audience
Once you have defined what you want to do, it is time to specify your ideal audience, who your products or services are for, who are the people who are interested or who help your products or services.
It is important here to establish the main benefit of your product or service, in what way it contributes to improving the lives of your potential customers, since that is what they are looking to buy.
– Definition of your brand or online presence
This section defines the way in which you will present yourself on the web, social profiles, web pages or blog, etc. Although you will start step by step, the important thing many times is to create your marketing center, the space from which you will go to the other sites; in a physical business this can be your office or business premises, online is your blog or website; your virtual office.
– Define your services or products
According to your skills, tastes, etc., you will define your market, for example in the previous case of the carpenter if he defined a specific audience, he also needs to define which products they are looking for the most, they buy the most as, it is not a matter of starting chairs and what they are looking for the most are tables or kitchen furniture.
There is a question here that we must consider, is it our product or the customer first? First is the customer, when we have an audience we cannot go and offer what we think they are needing, we must listen to what they are asking for and only then look for the right product to solve that need or create a product or service if it is that does not exist yet.
– Creation of the marketing strategy or systems
We know what type of business we want to create, in which we want to use our life time, we know what audience or public are interested in or are looking for what we have, now we have to unite the product with the clients; This is achieved through a content strategy, online advertising or actions on social media.
Although the center of your business is based on the system you use to achieve the sale, each of the steps are essential for the marketing plan to work in its entirety.
– Measurement of results
Your strategy, the actions you implement must be measured, you need to know if what you are doing is giving the expected results, and if it is not, you can make changes along the way to try to reach the expected results.
Always remember, what is not measured cannot be improved, you can even have losses and not know in which part of your system to make the corrections to obtain better results.
– Constant update
Every business implies knowing, knowing how to carry out the various processes or steps, which is why training is necessary not only before starting your business, but during the entire time you are working in an online business.
More on the Internet, where resources, tools and processes are constantly changing, if we do not keep up to date, other businesses or entrepreneurs that are doing so will take your place.
The creating a marketing plan It is not something that must be created only once at the beginning of your business and forgotten in a drawer, it has to be constantly reviewed and updated, since all planning must be flexible to changes or variations. In this sense, we can change the means, the resources, the tactics, but the final goal, the objective we want to achieve, that never changes.
I hope this article is useful for you, I invite you to leave your comments or share this article with other people who may find it useful.
Successful Marketing Plan Infographic
Personal Marketing Plan Infographic
