Getting Started with Online Services & Databases

Starting a Business. Step 3: Create a Marketing Plan

March 30, 2024 | Information Services Team | Comments (0)

The Library’s series of guides, Starting a Business, follows the City of Toronto’s 9-step guide, How to Start a Business:

Step 1: Conduct Market Research
Step 2: Prepare a Business Plan
Step 3: Create a Marketing Plan
Step 4: Choose a Business Structure
Step 5: Register Your Business
Step 6: Secure Your Financing
Step 7: Choose Your Business Location
Step 8: Apply for a Business License
Step 9: Determine Tax Requirements
Other Considerations

Table of Contents

What is a marketing plan?
Learning about marketing and marketing plans
Creating a marketing plan
Sections of a marketing plan

What is a marketing plan?

“A marketing plan details the strategies that will be used to target and promote your business to potential customers.” How to Start a Business (City of Toronto)

“A marketing plan is like a GPS for your business: it shows you the best way to reach your sales and revenue goals while avoiding any time-consuming and costly errors along the way.” How to write a marketing plan (BDC)

“Marketing takes time, money, and preparation. One of the best ways to stay on schedule and on budget is to make a marketing plan. It describes the actions you’ll take to persuade potential customers to buy your products or services.” Marketing and sales (U.S. Small Business Administration)

Learning about marketing and marketing plans

Books (and eBooks)

Search the Library catalogue with the following subject headings.

Periodicals

Select Marketing.

Select Business and Economics, under Browse Topics. Then select Marketing.

Videos

Select The Business & Management Collection. Enter “marketing plan” in the search box. OR select Marketing & Sales under Subject Areas.

For single lectures, select Lectures. For courses of lectures, select Series. Case studies analyze particular situations.

Enter “marketing plan” in the search box. OR Select Business under Browse, the select Marketing under Business Topics.

See also:

Select Business, then Sales and Marketing. OR enter “marketing” in the search box.

Select Topics, then Business, then Marketing. Select Course or Video from the Formats menu.

Enter “marketing” in the search box.

Websites

Branding
Customer loyalty
Digital marketing
Distribution channels
Market research
Marketing budget
Marketing plan
Measuring results
Optimizing strategy
Target market
Traditional marketing

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Creating a marketing plan

Plan template

Websites

Executive summary – what is my overall plan?
Your business
Describe the product or service
Identify your target market – who are your customers?
Know your competitors
How will I deliver my product to my cus-tomers?
Group your marketing activities
Plan for problems
Indicate your price or pricing strategy – how much should I charge?
Projections and long-term goals
Provide a review date

Types of Marketing Plans

New Product Launch: This is a marketing plan that outlines how a new product will enter the market, who it will target, and in what way advertising will be done.

Social Media: A social media marketing plan focuses on the advertising strategies on different social media platforms and how to engage with the users on these platforms.

Time-Based: Time-based marketing plans, such as those that are executed quarterly or annually, focus on the time of the year, the current condition of the business, and the best strategies in that period.

Use these sections in your marketing plan:
Target market
Competitive advantage
Sales plan
Marketing and sales goals
Marketing action plan
Budget

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Sections of a marketing plan

What sections a marketing plan has differs according to different resources. See the FedDev Ontario “Marketing plan outline” and the U.S. Small Business Administration “Make a marketing plan” above.

According to the City of Toronto’s guide, How to Start a Business, marketing plans “typically consist of the following sections and information”:

Executive Summary
Market Research (see Step 1: Conduct Market Research)
Target Market
Product
Competition (see Step 1: Conduct Market Re-search)
Mission Statement
Marketing Strategies
Pricing, Positioning and Branding
Budget
Marketing Goals

Target market

“A company’s target market is the set of customers it chooses to serve out of all the possible customers it could serve in a given area.” Target market (BDC)

“A target market is a group of people that have been identified as the most likely potential customers for a product because of their shared characteristics, such as age, income, and lifestyle.” Target Market (Investopedia)

“Market segmentation is a way of aggregating prospective buyers into groups or segments, based on demographics, geography, behavior, or psycho-graphic factors in order to better understand and market to them.” Market Segmentation (Investopedia)

“There are two general approaches to marketing: mass marketing and market segmentation. In the mass-marketing approach, businesses look at the total market as though all of its parts are the same and market accordingly. In the market-segmentation approach, the total market is viewed as being made up of several smaller segments, each different from the other.” “Market Segmentation,” Encyclopedia of Business and Finance (Gale eBooks)

Books (and eBooks)

Encyclopedias
Sample target markets
  • Business Plans Handbook, in Gale eBooks [TPL database]

Select Business, then Business Plans Handbook. Enter “target market” in the “Search within series” search box. Scroll down to the Target Market section in the plan.

  • Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Strategies, in Gale eBooks [TPL database]

Select Business, then Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Strategies. Select Book Index, then select T (for Target markets) and scroll down to Target markets.

Periodicals

Select Thesaurus. Enter “target marketing” (or “market segmentation”) in the search box. Tick the box next to the subject heading, e.g. Target marketing. Select Add. Select Search.

Select Marketing, then Target marketing (or Market segmentation). Filter by Article and Brief article under Document Type.

OR Select Subject Guide Search and enter “target marketing” in the search box. Select e.g. Methods under Subdivisions.

Case studies

Select Subject Guide Search and enter “target marketing” in the search box. Select Case studies under Subdivisions.

Videos

Enter “target marketing” or “market segmentation” in the search box.

Additional guides

  • Marketing > Filter by topic = Target market (BDC)

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Product

“In marketing, a product is an object, or system, or service made available for consumer use as of the consumer demand; it is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy the desire or need of a customer.” Product (business) (Wikipedia)

Books (and eBooks)

Encyclopedia
  • “Product Development” and “Product Management,” in Encyclopedia of Business and Finance. Gale eBooks [TPL database]

Periodicals

Select Thesaurus. Enter “product development” in the search box. Tick the box next to the subject heading, New product development. Select Add. Select Search.

Select Marketing, then Product development. Filter by Article and Brief article under Document Type.

OR Select Subject Guide Search and enter “product development” in the search box. Select e.g. Methods under Subdivisions.

Videos

Enter “product marketing” in the search box.

OR select Business, then Product Manager. Scroll down to see topics under “Top Product Manager skills.”

Enter “product” in the search box, then filter by Courses or Videos.

OR select Business, under Topics; then select Product Management; then select Course or Video, from the Formats menu.

Enter “product” in the search box.

Website

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Marketing strategies

According to the City of Toronto’s guide, How to Start a Business, marketing and promotion strategies include:

Networking – go where your market is
Direct marketing – sales letters, brochures, flyers
Advertising – print media, directories
Seminars and training programs (to increase awareness)
Write articles (blog), give advice, become known as an expert
Direct/personal selling
Media – publicity/press releases
Trade shows, events and conferences
Website and social media

Books (and eBooks)

Subject headings
Encyclopedia
Sample strategies
  • Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Strategies. Gale eBooks [TPL database]

Periodicals

Select Marketing, then Marketing strategy.

Videos

Select The Business & Management Collection. Then select Marketing & Sales. Enter “strategy” in the search box.

Select Business. Scroll down to Marketing (under Business Topics). Select Show All. Select a topic, e.g. Advertising and Promotion, Marketing Strategy.

For topics that aren’t listed, search by keywords, e.g. business networking.

Websites

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Pricing, positioning and branding

“The sale price of the product reflects what consumers are willing to pay for it. Marketing professionals need to consider costs related to research and development, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution—otherwise known as cost-based pricing. Pricing based primarily on consumers' perceived quality or value is known as value-based pricing.” Marketing Mix: The 4 Ps of Marketing and How to Use Them (Investopedia)

Books (and eBooks)

Encyclopedias
  • “Brands and Branding” and “Pricing,” in Encyclopedia of Business and Finance, in Gale eBooks [TPL database].

Select Business, then select Encyclopedia of Business and Finance.

Videos

Select The Business & Management Collection. Then select Marketing & Sales. Enter “pricing” or “branding” in the search box.

For pricing and positioning (advertising), enter “pricing strategy” or “positioning (market-ing)” in the search box.

For branding (marketing), select Browse, then Business. Scroll down to Marketing, select Show All and then select Brand Management.

Websites

Cost-plus pricing. Calculate your costs and add a mark-up.

Competitive pricing. Set a price based on what the competition charges.

Price skimming. Set a high price and lower it as the market evolves.

Penetration pricing. Set a low price to enter a competitive market and raise it later.

Value-based pricing. Base your product or service’s price on what the customer believes it’s worth.

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Budget

Videos

Search keywords = marketing budget.

Website

  • Marketing > Filter by topic = Marketing budget (BDC)

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