About Objectives of Your Marketing Plan

Your marketing plan needs to be based on your objectives or goals. The tactics and strategies that you put in your plan are supposed to "do" something that in turn fulfills the objectives you've outlined.

It's impossible to make up a map of where you want to go if you don't know your destination! What objectives and goals you choose to focus on - both overall and for specific periods of time - will determine what you include in your marketing plan.

You can have different kinds of objectives - some that are very specific and some that are more general in nature. For example, you may decide that you want to increase sales of your main product by 20% (a very specific goal) and increase your level of exposure in your local market (more general).

A marketing tactic that could fulfill both objectives may be public speaking. You will get better known in the geographic area you choose your venues in, but you can also "sell" your product at each of these speaking engagements.

Another example could be in terms of your product offerings. Your specific goal is to increase the overall percentage that the sale of your information products contributes to overall revenue. A general goal is to be seen as "the" expert in your field.

A marketing strategy that could fulfill both the specific and general goals would be to conduct bi-monthly teleseminars. You will be demonstrating your knowledge and expertise and also be able to "sell" your ebooks by weaving in mention of them throughout the teleseminars.

Your objectives and goals for your marketing plan can depend on many things:

- What stage of the marketing process you're stuck in and want to zero in on.
- What line of your business you are focusing on, i.E. Specific products and/or services.
- Your financial goals and budget.
- Which target group or niche you want to appeal to.
- Introducing new products or services.
- Changes in the competitive environment.
- Going after a new audience or portion of your target group.
- Want to expand your reach into other geographic areas.
- Try out new marketing directions, i.E. Put on a workshop, start public speaking, build an online presence, and so on.
- Changes in your industry.
- Your strengths and weaknesses - personally and for your business.
- New opportunities that are offered or found.
- Change in your business direction and business model.

Take the time to get really clear on what objectives you want your marketing plan to address and fix. This will help you pinpoint more easily which marketing tactics and strategies would be the best to include in your plan.

by Jody Gabourie

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