It’s confusing isn’t it? Do you need a Marketing Plan or a Business Plan. Are they the same? No. Do they have a cross over? Slightly.
Back in 2014 I wrote a blog post on:
The difference between Marketing Plans and Business Plans
Whilst they sound similar, they are in fact vastly different.
Business Plan
If you are starting out in business or have been running a business for a couple of years, you may or may not have a Business Plan. I would recommend all businesses have a plan.
Ideally there would be a breakdown of objectives, systems, processes, team, sales and marketing. You may already have a rough draft of this, but haven’t referred back to it for a while. In which case I highly recommend you review and update accordingly.
Remember a business plan is really there to outline your business direction. Ask yourself the following question; If a stranger walked into my business, would they be able to pick up the Business Plan and have a clear idea of what the business does, the areas that need to be addressed and also understand financialprojections and forecasting.
Some of you may work closely with your Accountant to outline this. Others may have a Coach they go to. It depends on the scale of the business.
If you’re starting out you may want to download a basic template, such as this one from the Australian Government, that will cover the basics and what you need.
Marketing Plan
A Marketing Plan is different to the above. You still begin with objectives, but from the perspective of, what do I want to gain from this marketing activity. e.g. leads, awareness, sales.
When the objectives are not set from the start, it can make it hard to measure. In order to assess performance, there needs to be a realistic outline to what’s expected.
Next on the Marketing Plan, we need to take a look at a couple of crucial factors, that will make the difference in how any Marketing Strategies perform.
- What is your WHY – Value Proposition
- Why YOU – Unique Sales Proposition
Once you establish how to position your business effectively based on what you do and why you do it, we can then work on the Marketing activities that will perform well, for your business.
There are a number of key factors when putting together both Business and Marketing Plans, however this article will clarify the basics and the difference between the two.
If you would like to speak with a member of our team, then please contact us – 1300367334 or info@puzzlemedia.com.au