By: Sandy Barris, ZBN Contributing Writer

If you’ve ever wondered how to streamline the marketing plan development process, here are seven simple questions to help you expedite the creation of your next marketing plan.

You’ll need to take out your notepad and pen. It’s time to start answering some key questions to help you focus your marketing plan efforts. You’ll want to give each question some serious thought in order to develop a plan that anyone can follow. Your goal is to provide the “what, when, where, who and how” of marketing your business.

Question #1: Do I really need a marketing plan?
You may not. If everything you are currently doing to bring in all of the business you want is working, then don’t change a thing – even if you and your staff are bored with it. Let your methods keep profits coming until you see a need for change. If customer base and bottom line are not what they should be, proceed to Question #2.

Question #2: What do I want my marketing plan to do for my business?
Many marketing plans are written as part of a business plan, and are often written when looking for new or additional funding. Most marketing plans are created as a road map or guide to the next 12 to 18 months of promotions.

Question #3: What is my Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?
Develop compelling reasons why anyone would choose your products, services or ideas? In other words, what makes what you have to offer unique or essentially better than that of your competition?

Question #4: What is your “Irresistible Offer?”
Business and marketing are all about offers. “You give me this and I’ll give you that.” Keep in mind that without an offer, no business transpires. Think of the many times you’ve seen an advertisement or marketing message and couldn’t figure out what was being offered. Don’t make this critical mistake. Your marketing plan should state exactly what you will offer.

Question #5: Where is your ideal future client or customer?
You have to determine who is an ideal fit for your products, services or ideas – and where to find them to be profitable. Once you identify where they are, walk in your future clients’ shoes for a week to identify their hopes, aspirations, desires, fears and problems. This process is necessary to allow you to determine how your product, service or ideas can address their needs.

Question #6: Where are you going to spend your marketing budget?
You must decide on which marketing media options you’ll want to test:
Direct response mailing campaigns
Yellow page ads
Email marketing
Telemarketing,
Newspaper display ads
Webinars
Networking
Social media marketing
Pay-per-click marketing

We could go on and on, but you get the idea. Go for what is most effective. Just because you’ve always imagined seeing your company name in the local newspaper doesn’t mean this form of advertising is appropriate for your budget or target audience. Do your homework to avoid wasting money.

Question #7: How are you capturing the personal information of new clients?
Obviously, I don’t mean their shoe size, waist size or height (although you may need these depending on what you’re selling). Are you asking for their names, email and snail mail addresses? If not, how will you communicate with them in the future to inform them of special promotions, new products or added services?

If you really do your research to answer these seven questions, your responses should provide you with much of the data you need to develop your marketing plan. To find more marketing plan ideas and tips, visit www.zananetwork.com.