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Use this marketing plan example to generate sales for your small business. This document is a sample marketing plan template that will help you create your own strategy quickly. It contains text, charts and graphs to help you model your own plan. You can also download this marketing plan example in Microsoft Word format to edit it and create your own marketing plan.
How to Use This Marketing Plan Example
Here's how to use this sample marketing plan template to generate leads and sales:
- Download this Marketing Plan Example free for easy editing in Microsoft Word, Google Docs or Apple Pages to edit it and create your own marketing plan
- Use a spreadsheet to create financial and sales charts to embed in this marketing plan template.
Sample Marketing Plan
1.0 Executive Summary
Mobile News Games LLC (MNG) develops mobile games relating to current news events. This marketing plan example illustrates our market segments. It also discusses the strategies we are employing to get customers and create a solid revenue stream. We are not just any mobile game developer. Our unique focus on creating games with a new twist gives us an advantage over our competitors by giving customers a new outlet to enjoy mobile games. This fills a real need for traditional gamers. It also expands our reach to people who would normally not play mobile games yet are amused by the comical angle we use.
We will fund development of our own games by providing consulting services to create similar games for corporations who are looking to create mobile games for promotional purposes. These consulting assignments will come from advertising sponsorship relationships. We will market to companies who are interested in embedding their brand and offers inside our games. We will also target those who would like something more custom to offer as their own game. In the first 3 years of the business, we expect consulting to constitute a large portion of our revenue stream.
1.1 Vision
Our vision is to provide people with a brief escape of fun over the course of their normal day. We do this by providing them with timely interactive games that they can access on their mobile devices. We make games that are easy to play and have some connection with current pop culture news.
MNG leverages our team's software development experience to create timely games quickly. As highlighted in this marketing plan example, our primary challenge is to attract visibility quickly. We intend to accomplish this by leveraging a multi-pronged approach that involves social media, email marketing and search engine optimization strategies to gain market share. As we gain traction in the marketplace, word of mouth will lift our game downloads significantly.
1.2 Objectives
- Generate over $400,000 in sales by the end of year 1.
- Increase sales by 100% by the end of year 2.
- Land 4 custom consulting game development projects within 12 months.
2.0 Target Markets
Our ideal customer is between the ages of 13 and 25 who enjoys playing video games and has a mobile Android or Apple smartphone. They often have an Xbox, Wii, Playstation or other TV-based video game unit at home. They may also have a portable gaming unit such as the DS/DSi and other portable gadgets such as an iPod.
Customers are typically single and male and own or have access to a home computer, PC or Mac. They have a wide range of disposable income. Some are teenagers living at home. Others are college students or those who have joined the workforce in the last 5 years.
Our ideal game design consulting customer is the VP of marketing or equivalent position of a medium to large organization. They are looking for creative promotional methods for their products and services.
2.1 Market Definition and Segmentation
We target two segments in this sample marketing plan: mobile game users and organizations that want to reach them. In both of these segments, customers are computer and mobile phone savvy and enjoy creative experiences.
1. Mobile Game Users
There are two types of customers that define the demographics of mobile gamers: teens (including pre-teens) and young adults. For the purposes of this marketing plan example, we include teenagers age 18 and above as young adults. The primary difference between the two demographic segments is who provides the money for game purchases.
Free mobile games:
- We offer trimmed back versions of our games for free. This way, users can get a taste of the full game without committing any money up front.
- Some features of free versions are disabled. We display advertising in strategic locations within the game so users are not bothered or distracted by the ads. For example, a soda company may pay for a sponsorship to embed their name as a clickable (tappable) billboard that appears as if it is part of the game itself.
Paid mobile games:
- Our paid mobile games contain a broader set of features. The price range is between $1.99 and $4.99 in order to create very low price resistance for customers.
- Paid games are also monetized via clickable (tappable) ad sponsorships embedded within the games.
Games are available via instant download on their appropriate mobile platform (i.e., Apple's Appstore for the iPhone).
2. Organizations That Want to Reach Youth and Young Adults
There is one type of customer who purchases custom mobile game development services: VP of Marketing or Chief Marketing Officer.
Their intent is to promote their brand and products to the demographic that overlaps with mobile game users.
2.2 Target Market Segment Strategy
Our strategy in this marketing plan example focuses on developing an initial set of libraries containing game attributes that are combined to create new games. Once we launch our first set of games, we will stay in touch with our customers via social media and email marketing. After creating these libraries and games, we will be able to market fast-turnaround consulting services to organizations who would like their own promotional games.
2.3 Target Market: Mobile Game Users
Our mobile games have a timely connection to current news events. We release new games within two weeks of major news stories. For example, if a politician is involved in a scandal, we can leverage one of our current game architectures and customize it with the names of people involved in the scandal.
We can even make a comical interactive spoof out of events. If a celebrity makes a foolish comment, we can quickly create a game that pokes fun at the celebrity. The mobile game user market enjoys interacting with games that give them a sense of power and excitement, allowing them to live vicariously through the game.
2.3.1 Needs and Requirements
Mobile game users get tired of games quickly and are constantly looking for new games to play. With the plethora of news events always in circulation, we will target the news media. The goal here is to get the media to discuss games related to the stories they are covering. Our games relate to stories covered by media outlets who target the same demographic as we do.
The users in this segment also have limited financial capacity. Teens typically get their money to make game purchases from their parents. This money comes from gifts or allowances, or from low paying jobs. Older teens and young adults also have limited financial capacity. Yet they choose to spend part of their disposable income on games as one of their sources of entertainment.
Very frequently, these customers talk to each other about which games they enjoy. These dialogs include strategies for playing and winning. They also participate in online forums and discussion groups to gather tips and other information to help them play or to find new challenges.
Additionally, they enjoy being listed as the "high score" when there is a public setting available for players. We intend to offer this public setting so customers can upload their score to our website for each game. The highest scores will be posted, giving the player worldwide "bragging rights". As a result, the word of mouth potential for timely games is explosive.
2.3.2 Distribution Channels
iPhone games are distributed through the Appstore which is currently controlled by Apple. One of the obstacles we have to overcome is the speed with which Apple approves applications for downloading. This is important since our games have a time-sensitive nature to them. They will be popular only as long as a news story is in circulation.
Google's Android offers an open source model. We expect Android usage to surpass the iPhone in the number of applications downloaded. This also eliminates the need for review and allows us to post new applications quickly. As more applications come out for this device, it will gain market share. We want to be positioned so that we provide excellent games for this community.
2.3.3 Competitive Forces
There are many mobile game developers. However, few are actual companies. Most games are developed by one person who does not have the marketing savvy to integrate advertising sponsorships into their games as we have outlined in this sample marketing plan. Our unique twist on the types of games is also an advantage. This means that we will not have to spend as much time and energy thinking of the game themes. The news of the day will provide that fodder so our efforts can be concentrated on developing that real-life story into a game.
2.3.4 Communications
We will leverage social media and word of mouth for the vast majority of our marketing using platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram. These platforms are widely used by the customers in our demographic market. We will make announcements via regular posts and updates to our pages on these social platforms.
The newsworthy component of our mobile games also makes it enticing for traditional media to publicize a game that is related to a trending news story.
We will use our email marketing list to send alerts when we release new games. We have segmented our email list so that we can send appropriate emails to media and different ones to actual gamers, our customers.
2.3.5 Keys to Success
There are many benefits of using social media to market our small business. Each of our postings to social media sites will include a trackable link. We need to know how many people click on each post. Using online tools like link redirectors (i.e., bit.ly, tr.im and others), we can also see how many of readers and followers repost or forward such links. We will also include trackable links within our email marketing messages.
Those who click to find more information about a game will be directed to landing pages. These are web pages containing more information about a specific game, including details and links to download the games.
We will optimize these landing pages for search engines (we have SEO, search engine optimization, expertise) so that when Internet users search on various keywords, our pages will rank highly in their search results. Our preferred SEO tool is SEMrush (affiliate link), which provides in-depth keyword, search volume and ranking analysis.
Using online analytics tools, we will be able to see how many people click on various links in our media campaigns to go to the landing pages and how many click to download each game. However, online clicks cannot track users who use their mobile phone to download the apps directly, which may comprise the bulk of our downloads. For those, tracking of downloads is provided by the platform such as Appstore.
2.4 Target Market: Organizations Who Want to Reach Youth and Young Adults
Mobile game users consist of young people. Since the youth and young adult demographic is so large, it is also very lucrative. There are countless products targeting this demographic, from soda manufacturers to clothing designers to hair product companies. This segment can also consist of recruiters, which can be for military service or other jobs. Companies who already spend millions of dollars on marketing to this group are regularly looking for newer, more creative ways to reach this market to reinforce their brand and sell products.
2.4.1 Needs and Requirements
Organizations who want to reach males (and females, though it is a smaller proportion of our defined customer base) between 13 and 25 realize that this group has a lot of spending power. This age group is not yet used to saving money so they typically spend a lot of what they earn. Vice Presidents and Chief Marketing Officers of these organizations want to reach this market early and need to do so in catchy, creative ways.
Much to the dismay of an older generation, teens and young adults are reading less and spending more time in front of a screen, whether it be television, a computer or a mobile phone with a variety of applications. The VP or CMO needs to reach their target market where they hang out. They typically have large budgets to spend on marketing and are not afraid to try new things, as long as they show results.
The typical tenure of a VP or CMO is about 3 years so there is a good deal of industry churn. This is a good thing for us in the sense that when a senior executive like this leaves to go to another company and they have had a good experience with our products and services, they are likely to hire us to create similar results for them in their new
position.
Our job is to make them look good to their superiors by getting them more entrenched with the demographic they are trying to reach.
2.4.2 Distribution Channels
Reaching senior marketing executives is typically done through a variety of means. Since we have limited resources and need to manage our finances very effectively, we will focus on two: advertising and networking. The advertising will primarily be online via search engine. This way, we can see the results within days instead of not knowing whether a print ad has any effect.
We have identified 4 trade shows and 3 conferences that these executives typically attend over the course of a year. Part of our marketing plan is to attend these events to network with these potential buyers. We also will submit responses to calls for papers to be speakers at some of the events when possible.
2.4.3 Competitive Forces
As with the mobile game user segment, there are a lot of software developers targeting organizations to build custom games. Some are developing games overseas at lower costs. Even some of the larger domestic companies outsource portions of their game development. In order to keep up with pricing pressures, we have established ties with two overseas organizations to help us with game development. That will enable our domestic staff to focus on marketing and project management. As a result, we can release new games and component libraries faster.
2.4.4 Customer Communications
In order to get these high-level executives, we will develop an online ad campaign with landing pages containing lead generation forms that visitors can fill out to get guides on using mobile gaming to attract customers. These guides explain how we can embed advertising within the games and examples of custom games we develop.
We also will network at major trade shows and conferences. We will get speaking engagements where we can discuss case studies to expose our concepts and strategies to the right level of buyer.
Additionally, we are creating a customer advisory board so that we can hear directly from clients about their experience with our service. This board will consist of 10 customers who will meet confidentially every quarter via Zoom. Our goal is to share our roadmap and solicit candid feedback about their experiences with us. We will also ask for input on new products and services they would like to see, which will help us refine our strategy in this marketing plan example.
2.4.5 Keys to Success
The primary key to success is showcasing studies in which other companies leveraged the power of mobile games to reach their market. We track this using metrics such as the number of times a gamer clicks on an ad embedded into a game, the number of custom game downloads or an increase in sales of a promoted product. We can also track success by industry buzz.
For example, several years ago fast food chain Burger King created a Facebook application that allowed users to earn points for "unfriending" one of their friends. The application would show the image of the friend burning. Upon burning 10 friends, the user would be entitled to a free burger. Word of this application spread very quickly and quite a few Facebook users enjoyed participating.
This marketing campaign did two things: generated traffic into restaurants and generated a tremendous amount of media buzz. It cost significantly less than a paid advertising campaign involving television time purchases.
3.0 Marketing Plan Strategy
Gamers like to share notes with other gamers. On our website, we will create a forum where people can post and respond to comments freely. We will also encourage them to provide suggestions for new games.
Forums will require registration and users who post more frequently will be rewarded with a special tag, a gold star, next to their avatar to show other users that they are a "super contributor" to the forums. For our demographic, this is a badge of honor that they
try to attain proudly.
3.1 Emphasize Creativity, Service and Speed to Market
Since our games will be tied to current news events, we will emphasize our focus on creativity along with spectacular service and speed of development for our consulting clients. It is important for us to get to market quickly in order to capitalize on the news event that is associated with the game. The longer the delay between game conception and game release, the less the penetration of that game.
3.2 Emphasize Fun
Our goal is to establish a reputation for games that poke fun at what many would consider humorous or ridiculous actions by well-known people. In order to cross-promote our games, each game will contain a link to our website. It will also offer an option to view the same information within the app itself. This allows users can find out about more games and subscribe to our email list and follow us on social media.
Additionally, to help promote games via word of mouth, each game has the option to notify a friend. So, a user can send a text message to a friend instantly to share their excitement or recommendation about the game.
4.0 Expense Budget Summary
Marketing expenses are mostly for staff required to do the marketing activities listed. Most of the tools we need, like analytics and landing page creation, are inexpensive. The exceptions to this are for specific tools like email marketing and forums.
4.1 Expense Budget by Month – Year 1
We do not expect an increase in marketing staff requirements during the first year. One person can actually do a lot of these activities. Once they have put marketing plan processes in place, the marketing activities upkeep becomes easier. Junior staff can then handle it. Below is a breakdown of marketing expenses by month for year 1.
4.2 Expense Budget by Year
We anticipate second and third year marketing expenses to increase. This is mostly for covering the cost of additional staff for marketing activities. We expect sales and marketing expenses to be around 15% of total sales.
Table: Marketing Expense Budget
5.0 Marketing Plan Example – Sales Forecast
In this marketing plan example, our sales will come from three sources:
- Game downloads – this includes free and paid downloads. We monetize the free downloads from embedded advertising sponsorships
- Embedded Advertising Sponsorships – ads embedded in both free and paid games
- Custom games developed for companies – this would be consulting projects to
develop iPhone, Blackberry and Android promotional games
Sales costs relate to the fees charged by our channel partners for carrying the games, such as Appstore. This marketing plan example also includes our estimated costs for staff to sell ad sponsorships or develop custom games.
5.1 Sales Forecast by Month – Year 1
Below is our first year's sales forecast broken down by product type, estimated unit pricing and costs:
6.0 Progress Measurement and Monitoring
In order to make sure that we are on track, we have created a variety of key metrics for this marketing plan example. These may require adjustments and fine tuning as we progress. They are our best estimates based on currently available market research.
6.1 Key Marketing Metrics
We estimate that 1 of every 10 people who visit the landing page will download a game. Other metrics include the average sale price. In this marketing plan example, we estimate these numbers based on paid downloads as well as sales of advertising sponsorships and custom game development.
Table: Key Marketing Metrics
Below is a breakdown of key marketing metrics measured by month for year 1:
6.2 Other Marketing Plan Example Success Metrics
Other key metrics we will measure to monitor our success are as follows:
- Number of speaking engagements
- Five star game reviews
- Number of games developed
- Industry awards
- Number of game feature libraries created
- Number of deals with channel partners
- Email list size
In order to monitor our growth, we will track the number of followers on our social media accounts. Below is a breakdown of other success metrics by month for year 1:
7.0 Marketing Plan Organization
Even though Mobile News Games is a small company, we have high aspirations as this marketing plan example shows. Our management team is two unique individuals who have a solid background in mobile communications and marketing. Our team of local and international software development staff can launch many unique mobile games quickly.
Bill Philips, President, oversees the general management, including game development, of MNG. Prior to forming the company, he was Vice President of Products at a major wireless telecommunications provider for 5 years. He is also a member of the Mobile Marketing Association.
Donna Paster, VP Marketing, is responsible for all areas of marketing. She co-founded MNG with Bill Philips. Donna's prior experience includes developing the key marketing plan that launched several mobile versions of games for a large video game producer. Donna will be assisted by 2 marketing interns hired from local universities as co-op students throughout the year. While Donna focuses on the key strategic relationships, these students will handle the more routine aspects of the marketing efforts.
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