Marketing Planning Software

Before anyone can create a stellar marketing campaign, there needs to be a plan. Very few can implement a campaign without having some sort of idea of where they are going. Perhaps they can try, but the campaign may not yield the results the marketers may desire. That is why developing a marketing plan structure is critical from the beginning. By having a plan structure in place, marketing teams can create the outline, goals, and tactics of the campaign.

Though this may bring the question, ‘what goes into a comprehensive marketing plan structure?”. To find the answer, one must first determine the goals of the marketing campaign. What does the organization hope to achieve? Often one of these goals includes direct sales, but softer, indirect goals may also be present within a single campaign. Second, one should engage in thorough research including competitor analysis, the demographic data of the ideal buyer, SWOT analysis, and other forms of data. 

The Proof Marketing Planner has been developed natively on the Salesforce Lightning Platform and makes use of standard Salesforce objects like the Campaign Object. By using the Proof Marketing Planner, marketing teams can enjoy the benefits of an intuitive marketing planner. Marketing teams can also receive the functionality and flexibility of Salesforce to create special customizations.

In addition to a marketing plan structure, marketing teams tend to fare better when they operate off a marketing plan template. This is a checklist that helps marketing teams to more specifically define the plan for their campaign. According to Forbes, there are several items one should include in a proper marketing plan template

1. Executive Summary - This helps to provide a concise overview of the marketing plan at large.
2. Target Customers - This helps to determine what type of customers you are targeting for the marketing plan. 
3. Unique Selling Proposition - This helps a company to distinguish itself from competitors in a similar market. 
4. Pricing and Positioning Strategy - This helps to balance the price of the product with the company’s position as a strong authority within the industry.
5. Distribution Plan - This helps to explain how customers will buy the product/service from the company. 
6. Your Offers - This helps to bring customers to the product via free trials and other incentives. 
7. Marketing Materials - This helps to promote the product and the company to potential customers. 

Likewise, marketers fare well when they also have a media planning template, which is a template that zooms in on the media planning aspects of a marketing campaign, such as paid ads, social media, and other forms of digital exposure.

Marketing resources can comprise a variety of elements. They can refer to people, money, time, creative assets, digital assets, and/or software tools. Any resource that aids the conception, development, execution, and evaluation of a marketing campaign could be classified as a marketing resource. With so many stages present in the formation of a marketing campaign, it stands to reason that a wealth of marketing resources would be drawn upon to create a successful campaign. 

Time is one of the most valuable marketing resources that a business or organization has at its disposal. With the use of marketing software platforms, businesses can make the most of the limited time available to centralize all the tasks associated with a successful marketing plan. 

Marketing software platforms consist of digital tools such as customer segmentation, email marketing, marketing automation, and marketing resource management. The use of the latter maximizes the optimization of both the resource of time and the resource of staff. With one platform that marketing teams can refer to for every part of a marketing campaign strategy, the workflow becomes far more efficient and fluid, leading to better teamwork and collaboration for every step of the marketing plan. 

The mechanics of day-to-day operations also need to be maintained to ensure the execution of business goals, including marketing campaigns. Operations refer to the nitty-gritty details of business activity that are necessary to run a successful business but are tedious and can become overwhelming if not properly organized. That is why many organizations rely on marketing OPs software to streamline the tasks associated with marketing operations. The automation of tasks like demand generation and other initiatives allows for a marketing team to devote more time to strategic planning and expansion rather than monitoring the tiny details to ensure that their plan is being executed properly. 

It is known that operations relating to marketing are also greatly enhanced when marketers have access to strategic planning models. There are a wide variety of strategic planning models that have been developed and that marketers can choose from. Some of them include SWOT analysis, Porter’s Five Forces, the PEST model, scenario planning, and issue-based strategic planning. By having a strategy envisioned, all of the marketing activities can be based on that and thus foster more deliberate and intentional marketing campaign execution.

An organization does well to establish a budget for a specific marketing campaign while the project is in its infancy. It would not do anyone any good to create a marketing plan only for the financial team of the organization to realize that they do not have the monetary resources to implement said plan. 

Then, after a budget has been determined, the next step would be to devise a marketing budget allocation plan. This refers to exactly where and how funds will be spent to achieve the objectives of the marketing campaign. To that end, many organizations make use of marketing ROI software, which is software that analyzes the potential return of investment within any given marketing campaign. 

Marketing expense management is just as important as the creative project management associated with marketing campaign development. With Proof Analytics, the campaign’s budget and budget allocation plan can be accessed by all members of the marketing team. This allows teams to view financial data in real-time and make adjustments as necessary with everyone being updated on those adjustments by the nature of the data being housed in a centralized platform.