6 Steps to Creating a Comprehensive Marketing Plan

If there’s been one buzzword in the pregnancy help community recently, it’s been “marketing”. A lot has changed in client marketing – a lot has gotten harder. But, no matter what strategy you are using to reach potential clients, having a well-rounded, comprehensive marketing plan is necessary. 

What is a comprehensive marketing plan? A comprehensive marketing plan should include your goals, your audience, your budget, and all the ways you plan to execute your marketing strategy. 

1.     Purpose – Start by identifying the purpose of your marketing plan, or your goals. What do you hope to accomplish through your marketing efforts? Your purpose will be largely shaped by your mission and vision. Does your organization have a clear mission and vision? If not, Heartbeat can help with that! Having a focused purpose for your marketing endeavors is vital to creating a comprehensive marketing plan.

2.     Person – Who are you trying to reach? If you don’t know who you are trying to reach it will be very difficult to reach anyone. Your target audience will shape every aspect of your marketing plan from your branding, messaging, and design to execution. Is your audience abortion-vulnerable? A teenager? Married? Educated? Churched? Where does she live? How does she get around? Where does she shop? What apps does she use? Where does she hang out? All these questions and more will shape your target audience and direct the rest of your marketing plan. Do not proceed until you have your target audience in place.

3.     Product – What do you have to offer your target audience? Identify the services you offer and shape your messaging around those services. Are you medical? Are you focused on abortion-vulnerable women? Are you primarily providing material aid? Do you have post-abortion care? Your marketing content needs to be in line with the products you offer. If do not offer medical services, do not include them in your advertising. If you are wanting to reach abortion-vulnerable women, try promoting your free pregnancy tests or ultrasound services. 

4.     Price – How much can you pay to reach your target audience? Whether your budget is tens of thousands of dollars or one hundred dollars a month, you need to have a realistic, educated understanding of what can be accomplished with that money. Budget matters in marketing and it’s important to make every dollar count. The competition is fierce, and it’s easy to be discouraged. Be sure your money is being spent wisely on the platforms that work best for you to maximize your return on investment.

5.     Platform – Diversify! There are multiple ways to effectively market your services to your target audience and you should be exploring them all. Do not put all your marketing eggs in one basket hoping that it will make your phone ring off the hook. Should you be running Google ads? Yes! Should you also be actively engaged in community events? Yes! You should have a website (or two), an Instagram, strong SEO, digital ads, and community engagement in place – and you don’t have to go broke doing it. Having  diversified platforms for executing your marketing plan will ensure that you are not dependent on one platform to accomplish your goals. 

6.     Payoff – Once you have your goals, your audience, your budget, and your platforms in place be sure to track your results. From your results or stats you can adjust your plan, budget, and timeline accordingly. Are your ads performing well? Consider adding more budget to your ads. Is social media taking off? Consider increasing the amount of content you are posting each month. With simple adjustments you can find the right formula to accomplish your goals and reach your target audience. 

One final note – give it time! Marketing, much like the stock market, is a long-term play. While stocks may go up and down over time if you are trending upward your investment is sound. Marketing numbers may fluctuate but consistent growth over time is key. 

If you want to explore ways you can diversify and strengthen your marketing plan, feel free to reach out. We are here for you and would love to partner with you to reach women when they need you most!