A marketing plan is a useful tool for marketers who want to make their brand or product successful in the market. Companies and marketers use a marketing plan to achieve their marketing objectives successfully. The main objectives of a marketing plan is to develop a roadmap to the achievement of market goals successfully. It includes everything from attracting new customers, to engaging and retaining customers, as well as increasing brand awareness.
However, while marketing plan objectives are different from marketing goals and marketing plan objectives generally deal with short term marketing objectives, marketing goals are broader and long term. It is important to have marketing plan objectives so that everyone in the marketing team can stay together and understand his/her role towards the achievement of common marketing goals.
Marketing plan objectives can differ from organization to organization. However, there are still some common marketing plan objectives that marketers can use to reach their marketing goals.
Some examples of marketing objectives:
Improve brand awareness:
Improving brand awareness is a key marketing objective that is commonly used across big and small organizations. Brand awareness is key to growing sales and revenue as well as market share. It is why companies strive to improve their brand awareness to increase their competitiveness even after they have achieved a solid market position. Even an established company launching a new product invests in increasing brand awareness since it is key to gaining more customers and growing sales.
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Generating leads:
Lead generation is also an important marketing objective. Every company strives to attract new customers. Lead generation means acquiring potential new customers. Lead generation is generally measured by using the number of new leads or the percentage increase in leads compared to the previous campaigns. Marketers may also want to anticipate the cost per lead in order to realize the number of leads to be generated in order to achieve a profit.
Increasing sales and revenue:
Marketing also strives to increase the sales and revenue of the company through promotions and other methods. Increasing sales and revenue is also an important marketing objective. Marketers focus on selling more of their existing products to achieve this objective. Companies also try to increase sales by incentivizing every purchase through a complementary offering or by another method.
Build authority in the sector:
In several sectors, it is important to build authority to achieve a stronger competitive advantage and to grow sales. It becomes especially essential in the services sector. Companies strive to build authority which is generally possible by showcasing their expertise and superior technical capabilities to prove and establish their authority in the industry. When a company or brand has established itself as an authority in a particular sector by proving its expertise in a specific area, it inspires higher confidence and trust among the customers. It also helps the company differentiate its brand from the competitors and grow their influence.
Success of a newly launched product or service:
Another important marketing objective is to make a newly launched product successful in the market. Launching a new product successfully, attracting customers and making the product gain market share involves a lot in terms of marketing. From targeting the right customers to creating excitement about a new product, pricing and marketing communications, there is a lot to be done in terms of marketing when it comes to launching a new product and creating an impression on potential customers. Companies strive to do everything to set the product/brand apart from the competitors.
Expand market share:
Marketers and businesses also invest in marketing to expand their market base and improve market share. Companies that are interested in achieving this objective carry out the research to know the market share of their competitors and their own business. However, they must set realistic and achievable goals in this regard if they want to grow faster. It is important to know about the level of market saturation in order to set proper goals for expanding their market share.
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Improve marketing ROI:
Companies invest large sums on marketing and promotions. They also want to achieve solid results from their investment. One of the most common marketing objectives is to increase the return on marketing investment. There are several ways to measure marketing ROI. Businesses adopt one or the other based on their type of business, budget size and other factors. Measuring the return on their marketing investment enables them to analyze their marketing and promotions strategy and find out the issues due to which their ROI maybe low. They can create better strategies to boost marketing ROI.
Improve website traffic:
With the increased use of digital technology, there are a large number of companies conducting their business through their websites and apps. Once the website has acquired sufficient authority and grown popular, it receives organic traffic. However, companies also invest in marketing to grow the traffic they receive on their website. They invest in search advertising, social media promotions, and other methods like affiliate marketing to grow the traffic they are receiving on their website. Many digital businesses also promote their products through other websites and apps, which is called affiliate marketing. Some of them also depend on influencer marketing to grow their traffic. Improving website traffic is also an important marketing objective. However, this goal should also be realistic and achievable. Sometimes, companies want more targeted traffic that what they generally receive through organic channels and they may adopt special methods to get such traffic.
Penetrate a new market:-
Companies enter new markets with their products to grow their sales, acquire new customers and improve market share. Suppose a business operating in the US sees an opportunity to sell its products overseas in the Europe and Asia Pacific. Penetrating new markets is also an important marketing objective. In order to achieve this objective, companies may need to analyze the new market, the competitors operating there and their distribution channels to set up and strengthen their own presence in a new market. Apart from it, businesses also need to decide on the most effective promotional methods to reach their target market in new geographical regions. It is mostly the case with established or fast growing businesses that want to exploit their existing brand awareness and popularity to reach new customer segments in new geographical markets.
Earn higher customer loyalty :-
Another important marketing objective is to increase customer loyalty and grow product sales among existing customers. Companies that have grown their customer base and achieved a large market share invest in building customer loyalty. Higher customer loyalty means higher sales and improved revenue. More loyal customers make more repeat purchases. Companies use various strategies like reward and loyalty points, member discounts, and other techniques to improve retention and grow the level of customer loyalty. Moreover, companies may need to spend less retaining their existing customers that attracting new ones. When trying to improve customer loyalty, companies need to focus first on customer experience and improve it at all touch points. Companies also invest in strengthening their customer relationships and the level of customer engagement through marketing. Customer loyalty offers several beenfits apart from increased sales including less competitive pressure and less spending on marketing and customer retention. Businesses must research methods that can help them improve customer satsisfaction which is usually a great method to boost customer loyalty.
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Abhijeet Pratap is a passionate blogger with seven years of experience in the field. Specializing in business management and digital marketing, he has developed a keen understanding of the intricacies of these domains. Through his insightful articles, Abhijeet shares his knowledge, helping readers navigate the complexities of modern business landscapes and digital strategies.