The top 5 mistakes made in marketing plans
Every company, regardless of the segment, wants the same thing: to increase its revenue. For this to happen, it is necessary to carry out several actions and one of them is the creation of a marketing plan . But, first of all, it is important to understand what this term really means and its impacts on any business.
We know that marketing is a process that involves a set of actions that help generate business opportunities and the relationship between consumers and the company. The marketing plan is the way to develop and map the paths that must be followed for the defined strategies to be successful.
Through it, you will know where you are, where you want to go and what to do to get there. Drawing up a marketing plan requires some essential care, as, without it, it is very difficult to be successful and achieve effective results.
Therefore, we present the 5 main mistakes made in marketing plans that can undermine your strategy. Check out:
1. Not knowing your audience
If some time ago consumers did not have varied options of products and services, nowadays this has changed a lot. Now, the first step for a business to sell to someone is no longer what its product can offer, but rather the real need of that consumer.
And only by knowing your needs in depth will you be able to deliver more than a product or service — you will be able to deliver value to your customer. Therefore, not knowing the audience you intend to reach can undermine your planning from the beginning.
2. Developing marketing plans with unclear objectives
It’s very common to hear that the objective of marketing is to increase sales, bring in more customers or create greater brand awareness. This is not wrong, but, in well-designed marketing plans, the objectives need to be more specific and clear — for example: increasing sales by 20% in 3 months.
In addition to being more objective for the project, this will create a commitment among the entire team involved and will make everyone move in the same direction more effectively.
3. Not defining the structure for marketing actions
And when we talk about structure, we mean budget: knowing how much and where to invest is essential to optimize funds, but also to know what return each media or channel will offer.
A good option is to think about digital marketing , since the investment cost is lower and the ability to reach the right people is greater. Have well-defined values in your marketing plan and create an annual budget, bearing in mind that marketing strategies must be established in the medium to long term.
4. Not having a qualified marketing team
Your team’s qualifications go far beyond diplomas and certificates. These are essential, but one thing that is very important is to think that engagement with your brand goes beyond your customers. It starts with your team.
A qualified team committed to the company’s purposes is the starting point for a successful strategy. There is no point in having the best team in the world if there is no motivation to carry out the work. And be sure that achieving good results takes work.
5. Not monitoring marketing plan actions
Carrying out a well-designed marketing plan, having a defined budget and having a qualified team is of no use if you don’t monitor the results of activated campaigns.
Keep in mind that, just as your audience’s needs are constantly changing, strategies also need to be adapted. In the case of digital marketing, there is an advantage, as the response time and monitoring of results is very fast — which is very good for different segments, such as e-commerce and retail companies.
Paying attention to mistakes made in a marketing plan can help a lot to achieve effective results in your campaigns, but it is essential that everything done is evaluated and updated. Through this type of evaluation, you will be able to know what worked and what can be further improved in your marketing plans.