You’ve probably heard that your business plan should project out 5 years and that you should review it annually to stay on course, but how many of you have looked at your marketing plan lately? Do you even have one? Hopefully the answer is “yes” and things are humming along, but in the case you don’t have a plan, here’s a little help.

The first part of developing a marketing plan requires you to do some Research and to think about Market Segmentation. You’ll do this in order to determine your niche that you wish to fill. Breaking down the market of consumers as a whole will help to determine who you are going to sell your wine to. Through personal exploration of your winery or business with a tool such as a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) Analysis, you will more clearly be able to chart your course.

From your research you’ll determine your Targeting and Positioning. In most cases, it isn’t enough to simply say you are going to produce great wine. With 6,000 other wineries in the U.S. (Wine Institute) also making “great wine” you have to narrow your focus. By determining who you want to sell your wine to and by examining who might be the best customers, you will hone in on where you need to spend most of your energy. Additionally, the unique characteristics of your wine – your Product Differentiation – is going to help you stand out amongst your competition and appeal to your target.

Next is my favorite part, the Marketing Mix. Here you’ll determine The Four P’s; Product, Price, Place (Distribution) and Promotion. Your marketing mix is going to be determined by your target market. Simply said, if you want to make green wine (the color that is) you might be best off targeting the Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. While each of the 4 P’s needs to be thoroughly addressed, the most detail will likely go into your Promotion Plan. This segment of your plan covers how you will communicate about your product to your consumer via Advertising, Sales Promotion, Public Relations, the Sales Force and Direct Marketing.

Finally, you need to Implement your plan and place some sort of Control mechanism. One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is ignoring their hard work and not putting their plan in to action. I suggest using a calendar to plot your actions and make sure you follow through with your great ideas. At the same time, I recommend using a system of accountability to control your spending and gauge your success. Using simple checks and balances will measure the success of a particular promotional program and hold people accountable for producing results. It is with this feedback that you can also revisit your plan and make necessary adjustments. Much like sailing, you may need to alter your course a bit as the winds of change can affect not only your product in particular, but the market as a whole. Being able to adjust in short notice or the ability to react quickly will be in your best interest.

As you can see, there are numerous components of a marketing plan and this quick article merely brushed the subject. The process of developing your plan can be challenging but in the end you’ll have a direction to follow and a map to get there.

Best Regards,

Scot Burns, Owner - Redbarn Marketing

Scot Burns is owner of Redbarn Marketing, a marketing communications company specializing in the wine industry. Scot has over 15 years of experience in marketing everything from energy drinks to video titles. Redbarn speciliazes in providing unique, outside-the-box approaches to market brands that want to stand out from the crowd.

This entry was posted by admin on Thursday, September 25th, 2008 at 5:47 pm and is filed under Marketing, The Industry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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