Marketing plans are needed for virtually every business from cleaners to nonprofit organizations to banks. But if you have never created a marketing plan before, a sample marketing plan is an excellent tool that will teach you create your unique marketing plan. It is important to make sure you find the correct sample marketing plan for your business, and it is important that the sample marketing plan that you choose to refer to has the key components of a good marketing plan.
Finding the Right Sample Marketing Plan
The best way to get a good marketing plan written is to find a good example that is similar to your business. For example, if you are selling a product, you want to find a marketing plan designed around a product. If you own a service company such as a cleaning company or plumbing company, then you want to look for sample plans that focus on service marketing. Likewise, if you are starting an Internet business, then you want to find a sample that illustrates a marketing plan for an Internet business.
Where to Look
It can be very easy to find sample marketing plans online. To find specific marketing plans using a search engine such as Google, try to write your search terms so that they are specific to what you are marketing, for example: "plumbing sample marketing plan" or "photographer sample marketing plan." Once you narrow down your results, you can start browsing through plans to find one that will work for you.
Free Sample Marketing Plans
There are many sample marketing plans available for you to view that describe a sample business (for instance, morebusiness.com--see Resources). You might see several results that will outline and explain the essential elements of a marketing plan. These options are usually free.
Sample Marketing Plans for Downloading
There are also several options of sample marketing plans that you can view, and if they are correct for you, you can purchase them and download them onto your computer--for instance, mplans.com (see Resources for a link). This allows you to delete the sample information and replace it with your own information.
What Should be Included
When you are looking for sample marketing plans, there are several components that must be present no matter what you are marketing to make it a good marketing plan, including an executive summary, target markets, objectives, opportunities, competition, steps to success and budget.
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