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Four Essential Components of a Marketing Plan

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Target Market

The diverse interests of and resources available to consumers makes it next to impossible to appeal to everyone in the market and folly to try to do so. In ideal circumstances, businesses and products get developed with a market segment in mind from the start. Demographic factors may determine the target market -- for instance, marketing luxury products to those with high incomes. Psychographic factors are another way to determine the target market, such as only marketing a product or service to those with certain lifestyles. The marketing plan needs to detail a profile of this target market to avoid delivering marketing messages to the wrong consumers.
Differentiation Strategy

When customers view products and services as generic, they tend to expect mediocre performance and often prove unwilling to pay premium prices. The marketing plan needs to set out a clear line of thinking about what differentiates your product or service from the others on the market and gives it an air of uniqueness. Pricing can offer a differentiation strategy, but technological innovations, product features and customer service can also provide effective differentiation strategies.
Budget

Like any other business activity, marketing should happen on a defined budget. In some cases, the business owner or management provide a budget cap and marketing efforts get built around that constraint. In other cases, the decision makers set out broad goals and the people in charge of marketing propose a budget to meet the goal. In either scenario, the marketing plan should include a budget that breaks down where the money gets spent, such as print ads, television spots and online marketing.
Price Strategy

The marketing plan must set out a price strategy for the product, service or business. Determining a pricing strategy depends in part of the business goals, market

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