A marketing plan is a comprehensive blueprint which outlines a organization's overall marketing efforts (Wikipedia)
Essentially a marketing plan sets out how you are going to put you marketing 'strategy' into physical practice and ensures that everyone within your creative business (if not freelance) understands your goal and their role in helping to achieve it.
What is a business strategy?
A business strategy is the means by which you set out to achieve your business objectives.
A business strategy often includes:
- What your business is about (your business 'mission')
- Your key business objectives which you desire to achieve
- Your broad strategy for physically achieving those objectives
PEST and SWOT
What is PEST Analysis?
A PEST analysis is a business measurement tool that is also an acronym for the different factors used to assess the market for a business or organizational unit:
- Political and legal changes (such as new regulations)
- Economic factors (such as interest rates, exchange rates and consumer confidence)
- Social factors (such as changing attitudes and lifestyles and the aging population)
- Technological factors (such as new materials and growing use of the internet)
What is a SWOT analysis?
A SWOT analysis, also another acronym, is a structured planning method that evaluates these four basic elements of a project or business venture:
- Strengths
- Weaknesses
- Opportunities
- Threats
A SWOT analysis can be carried out for anything with regards to products, places, industries, or people.
Marketing Objectives
What are Marketing Objectives?
What are Marketing Objectives?
Marketing objectives are business goals set when promoting the likes of products or services to potential consumers/clients. These particular objectives should be achieved within an appropriate time frame.
Your objectives themselves should always be SMART:
Your objectives themselves should always be SMART:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Realistic
- Time-Bound
Once deciding upon your marketing objectives and setting the basis for your overall marketing plan it is important to then create a strategy for meeting them. Having this particular aspect planned out will help ensure you make your objectives are met and your plan becomes a reality.
Your marketing plan alone should do much more than just say what you want to achieve - it is essential that it also includes how you are going to achieve. A schedule of key tasks will not only set out in detail what will be done and when but it will also keep you on track and at a steady pace. Without such a schedule it becomes easy to dismiss certain tasks and risk your success. When writing a marketing plan you should always:
Your marketing plan alone should do much more than just say what you want to achieve - it is essential that it also includes how you are going to achieve. A schedule of key tasks will not only set out in detail what will be done and when but it will also keep you on track and at a steady pace. Without such a schedule it becomes easy to dismiss certain tasks and risk your success. When writing a marketing plan you should always:
- Set clear, realistic and measurable targets
- Include details such as deadlines for meeting particular targets (to make sure you don't fall behind)
- Provide a budget for each marketing activity
Potential marketing strategies for freelancing creative workers:
- Consider your audience. All of your communication must be directed towards your intended audience to ensure the effort you're putting in to reaching out to potential clients does not fall on deaf ears. To ensure this it's important to do up to date research of your audience and potential clients and maintain a list.
- Contact Databases. These types of databases offer you potential clients and customers withou the research on your behalf but at a price. They can be useful but expensive and may not be a realistic option for newly graduated creative workers or those just starting out. They are, however, something to consider within a more stable future.
- General research. Doing regular research on things such as industry developments and who is working where allows you to gain a vast knowledge of industry trends and broaden your client list. It can seem tedious and dull but in the long run doing your research is always worth it further down the line.
- Mail shots. Printed promotional material such as postcards, business cards, brochures, stickers, pins, or any other general little freebie that fits in an envelope or packet and is your own work is a great way for branching out and giving potential clients a piece of what you have to offer for them to keep or even pass on - gaining you a wider audience. It also depicts you as a social and approachable creative worker.
- E-mailing. Sending an e-mail with a link to your online portfolio or website is a simple yet effective way to promote yourself and again reflects you as a sociable worker within the creative industry - it's also a good way to get into contact with others. And remember, links are more polite than attachments as it gives your recipient their own choice to click the links or move on to the next e-mail.
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