All business decisions are made upon good information. This includes drafting a marketing plan. To have a positive affect on your bottom line you need to know your market place, who your customers really are, your product life cycle, and more.

1. Know your product/service. A marketing plan will help you to define your product/service and be sure you are up-to-date. Adjustments might be necessary. Things to look at include pricing, packaging, new product development, and the product life cycle.

2. Understand your competition - You can't effectively compete without understanding your competition. It is important to identify and become familiar with their marketing strategies and goals. Knowing their message and how they communicate it will provide you with information you need to know where opportunities for you exist.

3. Know your environment. Small changes in the big picture affect your business. Knowing the big picture, the macro environment, is essential. Several factors to be aware of include technology, government regulations, demographic shifts, cultural issues and the economy. Any or all of these factors might have an impact on your business.

4. Identify your target. Do you know who is buying your product/service? A marketing plan will help identify your target market. It will also enable you to have a good understanding of who has the potential to become a customer.

5. Recognize your strengths and weaknesses. Once you have done this you are in a positive position to capitalize on your strengths and improve your weaknesses.

6. Identify opportunities and threats. You will be able to take advantage of markets your competition is missing, look at untapped areas that can help you grow, and pinpoint threats to business growth.

7. Set goals. Written goals are more achievable than non-written goals. A plan will help you define those goals in terms of market share, sales growth, number of new customers, income levels or whatever goals your determine are appropriate for your business. Your marketing goals simple and easy to achieve from month to month.

8. Develop your strategy. This is how you will achieve your goals. For example, if your goal is to increase your sales to customers your strategy will be quite different from your activities in gaining new customers.

9. Identify advertising and marketing options. Enables you to explore your advertising and promotion options. You will be able to determine if your advertising and marketing efforts are reaching your target. You can determine if your current programs are providing maximum effectiveness, and you should be open to new media ideas that can help your company grow.

10. Evaluation for desired results. A marketing plan will give you a means to evaluate if your program is giving you the desired results and you can prepare to make changes if necessary. A marketing plan strategy must remain flexible and ready to make changes when necessary.

Once you have done your research and found how all this information can affect your business, it is time to draft a well thought out plan. This plan has specific goals and timelines o you will be able to determine if your are reaching your goals,, ad thus, building your business.