As a business owner, you want to plan what your marketing will look like in the future. You need to know how to create a marketing plan for 2021. Also, about the marketing strategy at different stages of the company and how it will evolve. This article can make the creation of such a plan easier so you can communicate it with others and implement it as quickly as possible. Your marketing plan can be used for specific clients and situations to help you with distinct marketing goals 2021.Â
Depending on your objectives, you may find a particular person to let you know how to create a marketing plan 2021. This can be a small business owner or a person in charge of your social media platforms. You may also find it helpful to have an “owner” who oversees all your marketing engagement activities. If you are ambitious, you may want to assign every task to your higher-level employees to ensure they don’t get overworked.
What is a marketing plan?
To begin with marketing plan 2021, it is crucial to know what a marketing plan is. A marketing plan is a set of strategies for how you want to engage with clients and market your product or service. It is an organized set of projects that are outlined in a logical progression, and it maps out what your engagement goals are for the day, week, month, quarter, and year. It is a way for you to communicate that with your team, and it is a way for you to track your progress over time. More importantly, it is a plan that can be updated and changed over time as needed.
Do not confuse this plan with a budget. A marketing plan for 2021 outlines what you intend to do to reach your marketing goals 2021 while leaving money and time for unforeseen issues that may arise. The best strategies for creating a marketing plan 2021 often come from other sources than money, such as relationship building or search engine optimization.
How to create a marketing plan 2021
For a small business, you may want to use an Excel spreadsheet. You may want to use a similar tool called the Goal Setting and Progress Tracking Tool (GSPT) for more prominent brands. Using a marketing plan can also be helpful for medium-big size companies with multiple teams working on different projects. Let’s begin understanding the marketing plan 2021 and its components.Â
1. Marketing Goals
This is the section where you will list your marketing goals 2021. It is good to have a few small and achievable ones to gauge your progress towards those goals as soon as possible. It is also essential to keep in mind that your business will be different in 6 months than in 3 months.Â
The most crucial part of how to create a marketing plan 2021, is setting the goals. If you don’t have any clarity about your marketing goals 2021 at the moment, you should include them as goals and refine them later. For example, if you are going to introduce a new product line in six months, then your dream, for now, should be to have it ready for your client’s consumption.
2. Market Research and Analysis
This is the part where you will take another step to know how to create a marketing plan 2021. You will outline the current state of your target audience and product or service, as well as your brand awareness. You want to identify what the marketing needs are right now and make sure they are aligned with your strategies. If you find that they aren’t aligned, you need to devise new marketing strategies in 2021.Â
3. Roles and Responsibilities
In this section for how to create a marketing plan for 2021, you should list your roles and responsibilities. This will determine who is responsible for what part of the process. You can create as many positions as you need or keep it simple if your business doesn’t have much need for hierarchy within your marketing team. For example, in a small business, you may only have one person that handles social media campaigns. At the same time, four different people are assigned to other parts of the same social media campaigns in a large company.
4. Action Plans
The action plans are where you will list out what you will do to achieve the marketing goals 2021. This is yet another step to accomplish how to create a marketing plan 2021. For example, if your goal is to publish an article every week on a particular topic, then this is where you would outline what that article will include and who will be responsible for writing it. You can also list out the things that you will do shortly and the things that you will do at a later time.
5. Measurement and Adjustments
This is where you will describe your measurement tools, as well as how to measure your progress. This definitely defines one other important component for how to create a marketing plan 2021. Then, make adjustments to your strategy if needed. For example, if you find that you are spending too much money on advertising, then make sure that your campaigns have no other changes to cause this overspend.
6. Additional Information
Depending on your business, you may include several other things in your marketing plan. For example, if you expect a website redesign in six months, you will want to outline when your new website will be launched and how it will differ from the original one. You don’t need to limit yourself to just what I have talked about here, either. There are many other things that you can include as well if they apply to your product or service or your brand awareness.
7. Next Steps and Timelines
This is the last section for how to create a marketing plan 2021 that you should include in your marketing plan. It is here to list out what needs to be done next and who is responsible for each task. You don’t have to make this section super detailed, but you should at least lay out some timeline for when different things need to be completed. You can also include what kinds of resources or tools will be required and any obstacles that may arise.
Marketing Plan OutlineÂ
Marketing Plan- [Name of Project]
Marketing Goal
[Set short-term and long-term marketing goals 2021. Include KPIs, KRAs, timelines for the project based on the planned goals]
E.g., Achieve $375,000 in sales for the Ameza Tote bags within the next five months of the launch period.
Market Research and Analysis
[Describe the marketing needs and target audience for your product and services. Also, do a thorough research about the competitors’ product and strategy to highlight the same here]
E.g., The primary audience is 25-35-years-old females who are working in corporate offices and headquarters. They’re not highly competitive, but they divided compartments with huge carrying capacity. Other bags are small and not sturdy enough to carry the weight of the bag’s contents.Â
Marketing Budget
[Breakdown budget for marketing campaign and allied steps]
E.g., A total of $55,000 can be spent on launching the product. Nearly 40% of the total budget should be allotted to social media marketing and PPC campaigns.
Marketing Tactics
[Include various marketing channels suitable for your product to reach the target audience]
E.g Social Media Marketing: Target female influencers as Facebook and  Instagram strategies with paid ads featuring the endorsed tote bag.
Email Marketing: Email existing customers with a 10% discount code on the new Ameza tote bag collection. Email potential clients with a link to the product webpage with a 5% discount on registration and free shipping for Rs. 2999 and above orders.
Roles and ResponsibilitiesÂ
[Prepare a list of tasks and roles involved in the project and assign personnel(s) for it]
E.g., Design and integration of assets- Caroline Baker
Product page and guest blogs- Josey Frankfinn
Beta tester outreach- Zoe Li
Social media marketing campaigns- Aira Mitra
Project manager- Richard Koch
Marketing Timelines and Measurement
[Highlight project start dates, project end dates, crucial deadlines for each milestone]
E.g., Launch Day: 7 September
Collect assets: 28-30 September
Release Teaser: 12 October
Product Beta Tester Final: 30 October
Written Content Creation Period: 5 November
Project Kickoff Meeting: 6 November
Conclusion
When confused about how to create a marketing plan 2021, you may find this blog a helpful guiding tool. You can use tools like Excel or Google Drive to organize your marketing plan. Just make sure that you don’t overwhelm yourself with all of this information and stay organized to get your marketing plan for 2021 done on time. If this is something you haven’t developed before, you should start with small projects first.
Let us know how you create your marketing plan for 2021. Comments below.
