Want to get some outside help with building a strong marketing plan for 2017? Today's startups and other companies are looking closely at how to chart the course for marketing communications this year using marketing software tools.
Many new software products help businesses create actionable marketing plans and campaigns that will reach customers more rapidly. Here are five tools we've chosen that seem to deliver the goods where marketing plans are concerned:
MPlans - Lots of samples makes this tool a top pick for creating a marketing plan for 2017
A big part of the appeal of MPlans is that the tool offers dozens of templates that can provide a quick start to a marketing plan for 2017. This free marketing plan resource helps marketers choose from industry categories. It also offers various search features that make it easy to come up with a targeted plan for your business.
Take a look at plan samples for restaurants, hospitalities businesses, retail stores and other types of companies to see how versatile this marketing plan tool can be.
Marketing Plan App - Great mobile capability is perfect if you're always on your phoneHere's another one that really appeals to some of today's entrepreneurs, including millennials and others who are tethered to their smartphones. Marketing Plan App gets high marks from Entrepreneur magazine as a tool for helping to write a vision statement, perform market analysis, and create that perfect marketing plan based on resources and strategic business philosophy.
The price of this smartphone-based tool is $9.99 for iOS and $7.99 for Android devices.
MarketingPlanNow - Instructional videos help guide entrepreneurs
Like other kinds of marketing plan software, MarketingPlanNow has the templates and samples business users need to get started. However this tool also has quite a few other instructive features.
Anyone using a tool for the first time to create a marketing plan for 2017 will appreciate the instructional videos, detailed instructions and accessory information materials that come with this product. MarketingPlanNow also comes in two parts - a strategic planning component and a final action plan. This helps "phase out" marketing plan work and pin down those elusive elements of a concrete yet workable plan.
PlanBold - Great for the linear thinker
This unique marketing plan platform is a detail-based, information-rich system for marketers to build their plans incrementally.
PlanBold has functions for grabbing key data from outside parties. It also includes \ analysis tools for analyzing at a potential customer base and business pain points. Budget and priority tools are built-in and the platform also offers the unique ability to crowdsource marketing ideas. Another major feature is the use of "buyer personas" helpful in analyzing customer behaviors.
PlanBold costs $99 a month for up to 50 users.
FreeMind - If you know what you need to do, but just need a place to capture your marketing plan for 2017
The philosophy behind the free FreeMind marketing tool is that most of the information you need is already in your head. Put initial ideas together with this marketing plan documentation tool. It includes drag-and-drop and export features and the ability to bring off-line information onto the web in an accessible way.
What are your favorite marketing plan tools? Let us know in the comment section.