Planning for success
A well thought out marketing plan – which does not have to be complex or lengthy – is essential. It will define what you want to achieve, how you will go about it, what resources are required and how they will be funded, and most importantly how you will measure the results of your marketing efforts. You can then clearly see what works and what doesn’t, and alter your tactics to suit your particular local area. Measurement also enables you to analyse the return on your marketing investment, ie how much new income is being generated as a result of your marketing strategies.
A marketing plan operates on two levels – strategic and tactical.
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the strategic marketing plan lays out the target markets and the value proposition that will be offered based on an analysis of the best market opportunities, ie what are you offering and to whom?
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once that has been decided, the tactical marketing plan specifies the marketing tactics, including product features, promotion, pricing, channels and service. |
Before beginning to write your marketing plan it’s a good idea to check that the current mission statement still fits with the direction and purpose of your organisation. Your scheme may be only a small part of a larger entity with diverse operations, eg a local council, but it’s still important to define yourselves within that entity.
Ask yourselves: What is our business? Who is the customer? What is of value to the customer? What is our business? What should our business be?
They sound simple, but these questions, answered thoughtfully and thoroughly are key to business success. Consider your business as a customer satisfying process, not a goods or service producing process. The old saying ‘build it and they will come’ has been replaced by ‘find out what they want and then build it to meet their needs’.
Steps in the planning process
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Analyse market opportunities |
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Develop marketing strategies |
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Plan marketing programs |
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Manage the marketing effort |
Access the Guide to Writing a Marketing Plan for your Family Day Care Scheme here.
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