Strategic Marketing Plans

Are you looking for the cheapest
marketing plan. . .or the best?

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, almost half of all new businesses fail after just four years. More than 40,000 corporations went bankrupt last year — and that doesn’t include the thousands of sole proprietorships and partnerships that also closed their doors.

While writing a marketing plan doesn’t guarantee success, the absence of one certainly accelerates an organization’s journey towards failure.

Unfortunately, today’s popular business literature has created the impression that a marketing plan simply requires some software, a word processor, and the ability to fill in the blanks. That misconception can be fatally dangerous to the health of your business.

Many online and “do-it-yourself” marketing plans are nothing more than good intentions combined with wishful thinking. The marketing strategies — if there are any — are flawed and the plan’s “numbers” are vague guesstimates. We would never try crossing the ocean in such a flimsy vessel, yet many business owners and managers risk their life savings and futures on a boat that’s sinking even before it leaves port.

Our comprehensive, disciplined approach — combined with 25 years of marketing experience and strategic insights — gives you a real plan, one that you can rely on to guide your business into the future.

It’s more than a marketing plan. . . it’s your company’s future.

At the Marketing Taxi, we excel in two areas that are critical to the success of your company. First, we are strategic thinkers. Sound strategy means understanding the rules of competitive marketing and knowing when, and how, to implement them. Over the last 25 years, we’ve learned and mastered those rules.

Second, we develop effective marketing plans that provide immediate results, and also set the stage for future market growth.  Using an approach we call “whole brain” marketing, we combine creative strategic insights with practical, quantitative analysis to achieve outstanding results for our clients.

The $200 difference is strategic.

Consider this analogy. You need heart surgery. Your first option is a cardiologist with 25 years experience as a heart surgeon and selecting the best treatments for the patients.  Your other option is a general practitioner who knows how to use a scapel but has little experience diagnosing heart problems once the patient has been opened on the operating table. Most people would choose the cardiologist who knows what to do once the patient has been opened.

What makes the Marketing Taxi worth more is not just our 25 years of marketing experience. What matters is our expertise in interpreting marketing information in order to choose the best strategies for your business. In other words, while data gathering tends to be time and labor intensive, the real value of hiring an objective, experienced marketing planning consultant, is strategic.

So, you can spend less for your marketing plan. You could even do it yourself using marketing software. If you never actually intend to use your marketing plan, then we suggest that you go with the cheapest plan you can find. On the other hand, if you want a plan that provides both sound maketing analysis and practical, intelligent strategies that you can use, we urge you to consider the Marketing Taxi.  Our goal is to get you where you want to go!

A $695 investment in the future of your business.

We know that there are cheaper marketing planning services out there. The well-tested adage, “You get what you pay for,” certainly applies when it comes to investing in the future of your business. Our strategic marketing plans are not meant to sit on a shelf in your office or used simply to impress bankers or investors — although our plans are certainly impressive!

Many online marketing planning services use a “cookie-cutter” approach. They simply insert your data and answers to a basic quesionnair into a template, print it out, and call it a marketing plan. There is no real analysis by a marketing expert, no real strategic recommendations.

The reason for getting a strategic marketing plan from the Marketing Taxi is to have a well-researched, logical, intelligent plan that can guide your business in the months and years ahead. We use a “disciplined” approach to strategic marketing planning. That means we provide you with a rigorous quantitative analysis of your market situation, and then develop smart strategies based on that analysis. For $695, we think that is a bargain.

Here’s what we include in your strategic marketing plan. . .

INCLUDED	MARKETING PLAN SECTION	WHAT’S IN THIS SECTION
	Executive Summary.	A one-page overview of your marketing plan, main strategies and objectives.
	Mission/Vision Statement.	A guiding statement about your business and what you plan to achieve.
	Business and Industry Review.	In-depth review of your business and industry, including significant trends and milestones.
	Situation Analysis.	Complete analysis of company performance, strengths and weaknesses, environmental factors.
	Market Analysis.	Market trends, growth rates, product analysis, target market performance.
	Competitive Analysis.	An analysis of your major direct and indirect competitors, strategic implications, and their potential influence on your marketing strategies.
	Market Opportunities and Challenges.	Summary points describing the market opportunities and challenges that emerge from the business review and which serve as the basis of the marketing plan.
	Quantified Marketing Objectives.	A marketing plan is not really a plan unless there are specific, measurable objectives. These can be expressed in terms of sales volume, number of units, etc.  Your marketing strategies and tactics are developed to reach these objectives.
	Target Market Profile(s) and Objectives.	Defining and profiling the customer groups that will fulfill your  objectives. Marketing objectives are established for each target market detailing the desired market behaviors.
	Branding and Positioning Strategies.	We analyze your potential branding and positioning strategies with the goal of developing a sustainable competitive advantage.
	Marketing Mix Strategies and Tactics.	Action plans that achieve your marketing objectives and strategies. Each tool (product, pricing, channel, advertising, promotion, etc.) has its own objectives and strategies.
	Integrated Marketing Communications Strategies and Objectives.	An analysis of all potential methods of communicating with your target markets, selection of specific communications tools, with quantified objectives assigned to each tool.
	Budget, payback analysis, & calendar.	The cost of implementing your plan, the plan’s projected revenues v. expenses, and the schedule of tactical activities.
	Professionally formated, approximately 30 – 40 pages long. Includes numerous charts and tables to illustrate main points.	Your finished plan will be emailed to you as both a Word document and PDF file.

Ready to get started?

Click here to send some basic information about yourself and your business. Within 48 hours or less, you will receive a strategic marketing planning guide and questionnaire that we will use to start working on your plan.