COUNTY MARKETING PLANS

All 92 counties in Indiana have unique programs, individuals, audiences and markets to those audiences, so no one marketing plan will work for every office. In fact, there should be 92 different marketing plans—one for each county office.

Why develop a Marketing Plan?
A marketing plan goes hand-in-hand with any organization’s business plan. It’s how you conduct business. A marketing plan will help you put into writing:

• Who’s your audience? What do you have to offer them?
• What do you have that’s unique to meet your audience’s demand?
• Your communication plan should let people know what you have.
• How you will evaluate your product, services and the plan to communicate that to your audiences.

What does it take to make a Marketing Plan?
With the four points above in mind, work through the following outline to develop your county-specific marketing plan. Larger counties may want to consider smaller marketing plans by topical area, but they should all work with the overall marketing plan.

1. What is your Purdue Extension county mission? (One paragraph)
2. What is your Purdue Extension county vision? (One paragraph. Where do you want your educational programs to be in 3 to 5 years?)
3. Who is your target audience? (One page. List and describe the audience’s demographics to help you understand who you are trying to reach).
4. What is the situational analysis? (Up to three pages. How will you meet the demand? Include in this description staff, development issues, monetary resources and product delivery).
5. What is the position statement? (One page. Describe what makes your product, program and service different).
6. What are vivid descriptors of your product, program or service? (Half page. Describe, in words your audience would use, your product, programs and services).
7. What is your promotion and communication plan? (List and describe the various media you can use to reach the primary and, at most, secondary audiences).
8. What are your plans for action, timeline and budget? (One to three pages. Decide on the best media, with your budget, to reach your audience. Write a plan with a timeline for media to use and include a budget of media placement).

With this information in hand, you can work with your Purdue Extension county board, media and volunteers to implement your plan. When you clearly define your goals and costs, you can appeal to funding agencies or donors to help fund the communication and marketing process.