Introduction to Marketing Plan

More new businesses fail because of poor marketing than because of poor engineering or poor financial management.

These are some of the questions you must answer through market research:

Who are or will be your clients?

Why do they need your technology?

• What does your technology offer them (value proposition)?
• Why will clients choose your product (compelling reason to buy)?

What is the size of the market and future growth potential?

What price could you charge for your product or service?

What volume can you sell?

Who are your competitors and what are their products?

Who are your potential partners?

What new technologies and trends could impact your product/service?

MARKET RESEARCH SOURCES Potential customers Competitors Publications/Reviews Suppliers Consultants

For a more detailed description on Market Research please see Guide to Market Research Analysis (.doc).

You should also consider your overall Marketing Strategy (.doc) at this point.

The rationale behind capturing a share of any market must be clearly spelled out. The founders of new ventures frequently overestimate their market share in the early years of product introduction.

Future steps toward commercialization involve developing a marketing plan. This vital process involves reviewing the results of the market research to clearly identify messages about why your company's product or service is valuable to a specific target group. Building on the objectives of your current business plan, you schedule a comprehensive series of promotional activities for your company. For more details on a marketing plan see the next section on Marketing and Communications.

Marketing and Communications

Since more new businesses fail because of poor marketing than because of poor engineering or poor financial management, spend time developing marketing plans and activities. In simple terms, marketing is the way an organization communicates in order to achieve set objectives such as sales, collaborations or investment. Marketing consists of four key ingredients: audience, message, vehicle and timing.

It is important to realize that a company has several audiences, each requiring specific communications, and each is receptive to particular vehicles for carrying the messages. One type of message, conveyed in one format or vehicle will not effectively reach all your targets: customers or clients, potential investors, funding agents, collaborators, stakeholders:

Nevertheless, the core message about your company - perhaps a reflection of your mission statement - should remain consistent for all target groups, although the specific words, tone and focus of a message may vary between different audiences. This core message must be centred on the fundamental reason why clients or customers need your product or service.

In addition, the message delivered to each particular target audience must be consistent despite the various vehicles, which include promotional products, events and public relations. This message should be developed in the initial market research phase and refined regularly as the target market is more clearly identified.

Marketing Plan

The Marketing Plan is constructed using the time-sensitive objectives of the current Business Plan and the findings of recent market research. The Marketing Plan identifies several main objectives that will advance the goals of the company. It then outlines the activities that must be undertaken to achieve these objectives or overall goals. A crucial requirement of the plan is a schedule of a series of promotional activities, using several different media, reinforcing a clear message about the value of your products or services.

Please use the Marketing Plan Outline (.doc) as a guide for preparing your Marketing Plan.

Promotional Materials

The range of marketing and promotional products is extremely diverse. Market research and advice from communications professionals will help identify which materials are most effective for your target audience. Some of these communications tools include:

• Corporate web site
• Company stationary and business cards
• Promotional flyer
• Corporate brochure
• Fact sheet or corporate summary page
• Investment proposal or business opportunity document
• Visual presentation (PowerPoint)
• Business letter
• News release
• Office sign (corporate identity)

 

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