The Importance of the Marketing Plan
First of all, whenever we talk about a Marketing Plan in the Real Estate Business here, we are mainly referring to companies. However, understand that everything said here also applies to professionals who want to enhance their careers.
That being said, the importance of Marketing in the real estate business is indisputable. Advertising is a necessity to reach the desired audience and consequently achieve market success. But contrary to what many think, things do not happen by mere chance!
Planning your marketing actions is essential to have a perfect vision of all the actions to be taken, as well as their phases and expected results. This document should be produced by a marketing professional and will be part of the company’s strategic actions.
Respecting the Company's DNA
A well-made plan starts with an in-depth study of all the company’s routines, businesses, products, services, and financial situation. This is because everything the company does and possesses will directly impact the evaluation of the famous 4Ps of Marketing (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion).
At this point, it becomes clear that no plan is the same as another, because companies are different, even if they belong to the same commercial sector and have similar structures.
Resources and people employed will never be the same, so it’s necessary to precisely capture the needs and possibilities of the corporation to outline a feasible and suitable Plan according to its conditions.
In the marketing world, the practice of Benchmarking is widely used, and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, simply “copying and pasting” the actions of other companies is a gross mistake. Instead, necessary adaptations should be made so that the objectives are feasible and realistic for each company.
This reaffirms the theory that each Marketing Plan is unique and must respect the DNA of each company.
Giving Time Some Time
As with everything in a company’s life, time will tell if a plan was well executed or not. However, the Marketing Plan needs time to mature and produce the much-desired positive results.
Currently, many companies choose to adopt digital marketing as their main market strategy. Much of this is due to the much lower advertising costs compared to mass media (radio and television). However, this cost reduction comes with a price: a longer time to impact the audience.
A good timeframe for a Marketing Plan is 12 months. This cycle is important to measure results and draw precise conclusions from all adopted strategies.
Within the plan, there will be smaller cycles that will help guide more immediate actions, but definitive conclusions will only come at the end of the 1-year cycle.
But be careful! The ideal is that the Plan includes forecasts for 2, 3, or even 5 years, as large companies do, undergoing necessary adjustments in the cycles established in the project. But for the vast majority of cases, 365 days is a very reasonable period.
There is No Recipe for a Marketing Plan
I would love to leave here a Marketing Plan template that everyone could follow and project their future success, but that doesn’t exist. As mentioned above, each Plan is unique, just like the companies. However, there are many templates available online that can help give you a good idea of what a Marketing Plan looks like.
But it’s very important to hire a marketing specialist to create the document specifically for each company, respecting its specificities and capabilities.
In conclusion, we can affirm that the Marketing Plan is very important and should be part of a company’s Business Plan. This helps in the future success of the company.
