Developing a marketing plan can be adifficult process if you don’t have anytype of guidance. But efficient and effective planningis critical to the future of any company or organization.

With a marketing plan in place, you have better control of the required action items, resources and budgets needed to be successful. You are also in a better position to execute and put those requirements in motion.

Also, for any marketing plan, it is always beneficial to have agreement from all employee levels. While top management should take the lead, it is the employees that drive the efforts.

With all that in mind, the following five tips will help you be successful in implementing and following your marketing plan:

Tip #1: Conduct an

AssessmentThe first tip is to conduct an assessment of all existing marketing materials within the company. Evaluate what is working and what needs to be improved or eliminated. This will help you to determine how effective your marketing efforts have historically been and the results related to those efforts. While engaging in this tip, find out how your clients perceive the company. The way the company views itself may be completely different than the way it is viewed by its clients.

Tip #2: Set ReachableGoals with

TimeframesAnother critical tip is to have a reachable goal in mind. Without any type of goal, there is no method of measuring success. The goals must aligned with the objectives of the business and be specific, measurable and obtainable. Setting unrealistic goals does not help the situation. The goals of the plan must show a target return on investment but must also be flexible enough to change in the name of making better progress. While setting goals, assigning a timeframe will help to ensure they are met.

Tip #3: Determine

your AudienceIn order for the plan to be successful, you must determine your target audience so you know how to reach them through marketing efforts. There are many products and services available which are geared toward a varied audience while other products target a niche market. You must know as much about your target audience as possible to be successful.

Quality research efforts can go a long way and result in success. Hard work and extensive research conducted at the beginning will significantly help during the creation of the plan later. Research is tangible feedback so without knowing this information you are guessing about which steps to take next. If research is not performed, it is easy to miss your target audience — which can lead to missed opportunities and sales down the road. Focus groups, surveys and the Internet are all excellent sources of research.

Tip #4: Conduct Research

Tip #5: Determine your StrategyThe final step is to determine your strategy

which is the logic by which goals and objectives are achieved. The strategy will highlight how a specific product or service will be promoted to the identified client. Marketing strategies are utilized by all companies to drive brand and product awareness, increase sales, launch new products or services and provide profit to the business. Depending on the route you have determined to be the most successful, there are number of strategies that can be implemented, including:

· Brand expansion· Differentiation· Maintenance· Market penetration· Segment expansion· Skimming· SWOT analysis

These are the key considerations whendeveloping a plan. The plan must bebuilt with an end-result in mind andbe tailored to specific markets.

Creating a successful marketing plan is a lot of upfront work. However, once all existing marketing materials have been assessed, attainable goals have been set with reasonable timeframes, a target audience has been identified, research has been conducted and strategies implemented, being successful is much easier.