Market Plans

Change everything or one thing?

Determine scope early

Early in the marketing process, determine the scope of the planning that you hope to accomplish. For example:

• Are you looking for a long-range strategic plan for library-wide marketing, something to keep you on track and allow you to accomplish major goals in minor stages over several years?

• Does the library need a short-term plan, e.g. for a single year to coordinate with a budgeting process, or to accomplish a specific goal in the library's strategic plan?

• Perhaps the results of your audit and market research have helped you target a specific group or a single product to market that will provide the most benefit in the shortest amount of time.

Whatever the scope, the market plan is based on your audit and research, and supports the library mission.

Goals and action plan

So far you have been learning about the marketing planning process. With the results of the first steps, you are now ready to write a market plan that establishes goals and spells out the actions you need to take to achieve your marketing goals. The goals are based on your mission and the results of your internal and external research into what customers want.

Goals and objectives should be specific and measurable. For example, your goal could be to establish an annual event for the YA market. One objective would be to attract 50 people to the event. Another objective would be to get all of the attendees to sign up for a library card.

What's in a plan?

Many web sites describe the contents of a marketing plan. Suggested components include the following*:

1. Executive Summary or brief overview of the plan
2. Information about the planning group
3. Market audit section with your internal strengths and weaknesses, and the environmental analysis.
4. Market research section provides analysis of customer needs.
5. Challenges and barriers section identifies possible barriers and ways to overcome them.
6. Goals and Objectives section defines the goals and specific measurable objectives.
7. Marketing strategy section outlines the approach that will be used to achieve the plan’s objectives. Discussion includes the marketing mix, i.e. the 4Ps of product, place, price, & promotion. (Module 3 and Module 4)
8. The action plan details programs and promotions designed to meet the objectives, with timelines and assignment of tasks.
9. Budget section details any financial constraints or profits.
10. Evaluation section provides measures of assessment and feedback.

[*Suggested in: Lee, Deborah. "Marketing For Libraries: Theory and Practice." Missisippi Libraries 64 no. 3 (Winter 2000): 101-3.]

Whatever the scope of your marketing plan, completing all the steps in the marketing process will allow you to set realistic goals and devise the best possible plan of action to achieve them.

Develop the marketing plan -- the ultimate result of the marketing planning process. You may print the market plan worksheet or copy it into your word processor if you have not done so already.

• Write a goal for your plan.

• Include at least two objectives for the goal.

• Your goal for this small marketing sample plan should be restricted to one specific product/service to be promoted to a specific user group. For example, if your goal is to bring in more retirees to an event, an objective might be to state the total number of expected attendees and the percentage of those who will be retirees. On the other hand, if the event doesn't attract retirees because it isn't helpful for them, the objective could be to change the event to be more suitable for retirees.

• If you do not have access to a library marketing plan, look at sample library marketing plans from Module 2 or Sample Marketing Plans from NSLS and Members. You may also look at online plans for several types of business available on a commercial site. Choose one or two of the non-profit plans to scan. These plans are more complex than the plan you will be working on in this module, but will give you an idea of the way that marketing audits, market research, and the whole planning process are reflected in the final marketing plan.

     Evaluating the plan