Business Plan

How to Create an Advertising Plan for a New Product

By Felicia Greene, Demand Media

Creating and bringing a product to market involves time-consuming preparation. Once the product is ready to launch, the manufacturer or distributor commonly develops an advertising plan to reach potential consumers. A knowledgeable marketing manager should oversee the advertising plan’s development, as the plan sets the tone for the product’s introduction. Although support staff feedback is valuable, strong individual leadership often facilitates a coordinated and effective advertising plan.

Step 1

List your new product sales goals and advertising budget. Work with your manufacturing department or subcontractor to develop a realistic product quantity estimate. Obtain break-even and profit projections from your accounting department. Develop measurable sales goals that reflect the product’s type, such as luxury vs. necessity, and the surrounding economic environment. Realistically divide your sales goals by an acceptable criterion. For example, assign a number of sales per salesperson or per month.

Step 2

List the product’s attributes and benefits. Define your product as it would appear to an objective observer. If you are selling an environmentally safe liquid cleaning product, for example, discuss the bottle’s appearance and size. Describe the liquid’s aroma, or lack of one. List the product’s cleaning benefits, including suitability for a home with pets and children. These attributes and benefits will form the basis for your advertising message.

Step 3

Create your target market profile. Gather detailed information about your target market. Learn about potential customers’ ages, incomes and education levels. Obtain information about your consumers’ leisure time pursuits, reading habits and dining choices. Most importantly, develop a profile of potential customers’ purchasing habits relative to the product you want to sell.

Step 4

Document your customers’ media use patterns. Complete your target market profile by identifying potential customers’ media preferences. For example, determine if your typical customer prefers a newspaper with his morning coffee or gets his national and business news from his favorite website. List the print magazines your typical customer receives, and find out if she belongs to a hobbyist book club. Obtain data on customers’ website-use patterns, but do not compromise customers’ personal information.

Step 5

Study the social media marketplace. Social networking websites represent a surprisingly formidable advertising medium. In May 2011, 88 percent of businesses marketing via social media reported additional exposure from this online message platform; 72 percent of online marketers reported higher traffic as a result of the business’s social media presence, notes Intuit Financial Services. Conduct additional research to analyze social media’s relationship with your specific product.

Step 6

Create an introductory advertising plan. Create monthly and quarterly advertising budgets. Review your product description and target market profile with your marketing team. Develop an advertising message you believe will resonate with your target market, and integrate that message into all advertising materials. Obtain rates and circulation data from print and electronic media. Select the appropriate advertising media, and specify ad size and frequency details. Arrange to work with a graphic designer who can transform your ideas into a polished, visually appealing finished product.