Marketing: What’s the Plan?
Nicole Prom, Marketing Manager
DoveLewis Annual Conference Speaker Notes
Having a marketing plan that aligns marketing strategy with clinic goals is important; making
sure your plan is implementable is just as important. In this lecture, Nicole will talk about how to
develop and implement a cohesive marketing plan. Tools and tips will be provided.
Your marketing plan aligning with clinic goals - section by section.
Summary: This is the last section completed in a marketing plan and it should give a high
level overview of the annual plan. It should focus on how the marketing plan aims to
achieve or assist with reaching overall clinic goals.
Current Market Situation: In this section you will gather and factual information about
the environment in which you are operating as well as forecasted information. While
obtaining pertinent information, consider and include factors that could have an effect on
overall clinic goals.
SWOT Analysis: Strengths and weaknesses are internal characteristics of your clinic.
Opportunities and threats are external situations that could have an effect on your clinic.
Make a list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Once you have your list,
consider each one and place the top 3 that align with overall clinic goals in your
marketing plan. This will allow you to focus your efforts on areas that align with clinic
goals.
Target Market: When defining your target market, consider not only your existing clients
but also who should be your target market based on clinic goals. When looking at your
products and services, who could your client be – who would benefit from what you
offer? It is not uncommon to find that you have target market segments, similarly
characterized groups, and not just a singular defined target market. Finally, determine
the size of your target market. (Suggested resources for data include internal client
surveys, factfinder2.census.gov, scarborough.com and AVMA U.S. Pet Ownership &
Demographics Sourcebook.)
Competitive Advantage: This sets you apart from your competitors. It defines what/how
you are doing that no one else is and that your clients value. Using this in your messaging
is important to let consumers know why to buy from you.
Marketing Goals: Take each overall clinic goal and support it with marketing goals. Your
marketing goals should also address items listed in your SWOT analysis. These goals are
more than simply making a statement, they must be supported by a timeline/completion
date and how it will be measured. Ensuring that each goal is quantifiable is imperative to
implementation and evaluation.
Marketing Strategy
Marketing Mix: This has been widely referred to as the four p’s: product, price, place
and promotion. As consumer demands become more influential in the
marketplace, organizations are beginning to consider these from the consumers’
point of view as the four c’s: client solutions, client cost, convenience and
communication. Look at each marketing goal and determine what marketing mix
you will use to achieve each individual goal.
1. Client Solutions (Product): What are you providing to satisfy a need or fixing
a problem? Grouping products and services will allow for a succinct
marketing plan.
2. Client Cost (Price): What pricing strategy or combination of strategies are
you using or plan to use? Consider ways that you could use these pricing
strategies to compel your target market to meet clinic goals.
3. Convenience (Place): Defined market area in which you provide services
and products. In order to define this, determine the average distance your
clients are willing to travel – region, county, city, neighborhood, etc. In
order to determining convenience consider the many things affecting
accessibility to you including hours of operation, ability to locate/signage,
parking and walk/transit score (suggested source for this information:
walkscore.com).
4. Communication (Promotion): Determine how you will communicate and
promote your services and products to your target. There are several tools
and aspects to communication including:
a. Collateral
b. Advertising
c. Sales Promotion
d. Selling
e. Events/Trade Shows
f. Social Media / Digital
g. Client Retention & Compliance
Implementation: A plan is just a plan. Implementation must happen for a plan to
work.
1. Marketing/Communication Calendar: Add each strategy and task to your
calendar, noting frequency (annually, quarterly, monthly, weekly, etc.) and
duration. Leverage seasonality and holidays when creating your calendar.
Tools for this can be as simple as iCal, Outlook Calendar or a calendar in
Microsoft Word or Excel.
2. Responsible Personnel: Determine which tasks will be completed by whom.
3. Monitor, Evaluate and Adjust: In your calendar also include the schedule to
monitor marketing activities, evaluation and reporting. This will allow you
to review regularly and adjust accordingly.
Marketing Budget & ROI: Create an excel spreadsheet to help calculate return on investment
(ROI) and what has been spent to date.