so you're ready to start marketing but you have no plan where do you begin what should you include how can you present it you have the questions we have the answers.

Hello world my name is mike plogger and here at visme

we aim to make your work life easier whether it's design presentations or marketing we have the tools to help you become a true professional marketing is a necessary operation for any business looking to take a leap towards success however if you don't have the proper experience you might be lost on how to create a marketing plan and these are extremely helpful when it comes to understanding your business clarifying your goals staying focused and keeping everyone on your team on the same page in this video i'll take you through the seven necessary steps to creating a winning marketing plan as well as share a number of templates you can start with right away.

We understanding the purpose behind a marketing plan is step number one ideally it should be used to help you set your goals understand your target audience and optimize the impact of your marketing campaigns communicating your big strategy or idea is what your marketing plan is all about in order to do this every marketing plan should consist of the following number one your short and long-term marketing goals number two a description of your target audience and their persona and number three one or more high-level marketing strategies and tactics.

This infographic template available on visme right now features each of these key details it clarifies the objectives the target audience and strategies in an easily consumable page if you wanted to go the extra mile and include even more detail you can also add an overview of the current market situation key performance indicators budget or financial considerations or a timeline on when the plan will be carried out typically all of this information is communicated on a pdf.

Just like the one we just saw but if you're feeling creative try creating an infographic a full presentation or an interactive web page to share your plan who knows it could be the difference between your plan and someone else's without further ado let's dive into seven steps for creating an effective marketing plan .

Step number one start with an executive summary this is essentially a brief summary or overview of your entire company and the key details of your marketing plan it highlights the function of your business and the purpose of your plan this shouldn't be very long the summary can include past achievements and the future direction of the company consider 

This template here the details are concise and to the point you want to tease your viewers on what's to come and get them on the edge of their seats it's not overwhelming just a quick introduction before you get into the meat of your plan revisiting your company's mission vision and values is important to highlight early on.

Why it'll provide clarity and answer any questions as to why your marketing plan is the way that it is it'll show viewers you had this in mind throughout your entire planning process templates like this can help because it'll educate or remind your viewers how your company got to the point they're currently at and where you're looking to be in the future one of the first steps with any plan is doing your research study the market study the competition what are others doing that's working and then what can you do to make it even better deeply analyze your own company's strengths and weaknesses touch on what you're doing well but don't be afraid to communicate what you think could be stronger a swot analysis or strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats is a great way to present your research you can visualize the company's path identify opportunities set goals and so much more this template right next to me can be edited in visme and is completely customizable from the text content to the colors fonts icons you name it you can edit all of our templates to match your brand you can do the same for your competitors compare your company with another one in the industry to see how they match up with one another side by side it can be eye-opening sure but take a hard look at the competition it's crucial if you want to compete in the market.

After identifying your competition you must identify your target customer this will allow you to create more informed and tailored marketing strategies vote a person from scratch how old are they what's their income what are their interests what do they value a template like this is perfect for putting that person you've built on paper and explaining him or her to your audience during a presentation or during a meeting or what's one way that's almost always used when someone wants to explain themselves for a job well a resume of course this template more closely resembles an actual resume it includes basic information a photograph personality traits a bio goals frustrations you can edit it however you see fit to describe your target audience and if your target audience is a mixture of different people try creating an infographic with data widgets you can break down how much you should cater to one group or the other there's a number of different charts and graphs you can use to help but this template went with pie charts to break down target customer percentages it's easier to understand than if someone was trying to explain it without a visual.