Marketing Plan
An overall business plan could include a marketing plan. A well-written marketing plan must have a strong foundation in marketing strategy in order to fulfil its objectives. A marketing strategy may include a list of tasks, but without a solid strategic base, it is of little service to a company.
The advertising and marketing strategies for the upcoming year are outlined in a thorough document or blueprint known as a marketing plan. It specifies the business operations necessary to achieve particular marketing goals within a predetermined time frame. An overview of a company’s existing marketing position, a discussion of its target market, and a description of the marketing mix it will employ to meet its marketing objectives are all included in a marketing plan.
Although a marketing strategy has a formal framework, it is quite adaptable and may be utilised as either a formal or informal document. It includes past information, forecasts for the future, and techniques or plans to accomplish the marketing goals. Market research is used to identify client demands, and marketing plans then focus on how the company can meet those needs while making a respectable profit.
Processes including market analysis, action plans, budgets, sales forecasts, strategies, and anticipated financial statements are included in this. A marketing plan can also be thought of as a strategy that aids a company in choosing how best to use its resources in order to meet overall goals. It may also include a thorough evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of a business, its structure, and its offerings.
The marketing strategy outlines the step(s) or actions that will be taken to realise the objectives of the plan. A marketing strategy can, for instance, call for a 15% increase in market share for the company. The objectives that must be met in order to attain the 15% growth in market share for the company would then be described in the marketing plan. The ways in which a business will employ its marketing resources to achieve its marketing goals might be described in the marketing strategy.
Markets are segmented, positions are determined, market sizes are projected, and a workable market share is planned within each market group. A thorough case for the introduction of a new product, a revision of the present marketing tactics for an existing product, or the creation of a company marketing plan for inclusion in the corporate or business plan can all be done using marketing planning.
Outline
A marketing plan should be based on where a company needs to be at some point in the future. These are some of the most important things that companies need when developing a marketing plan:
Market research: Gathering and classifying data about the market the organization is currently in. Examining the market dynamics, patterns, customers, and the current sales volume for the industry as a whole.
Competition: The marketing plan should identify the organization’s competition. The plan should describe how the organization will stick out from its competition and what it will do to become a market leader.
Marketing plan budget: Strategies identified in the marketing plan should be within the budget. Top managers need to revise what they hope to accomplish with the marketing plan, review their current financial situation, and then allocate funding for the marketing plan.
Marketing goals: The marketing plan should include attainable marketing goals. For example, one goal might be to increase the current client base by 100 over a three-month period.
Marketing Mix: The marketing plan should evaluate the appropriate marketing mix. This includes setting up the marketing 4 P’s the product, price, place, and promotion. These four elements are modified until the best combination have been found that will cater the needs of the product’s customer that would result to the maximum profitability of the company.
Purpose
Setting the business on a certain marketing course is one of the key goals of creating a marketing strategy. Usually, the marketing objectives are in line with the bigger business aims. For instance, a new business that wants to expand would often have a marketing strategy that focuses ways to develop its clientele. Among the goals that might be connected to marketing strategy include gaining market share, raising consumer awareness, and fostering a positive company image.
n order to accomplish the objectives outlined in the marketing strategy, the money and resources required are also laid out in the marketing plan. The marketing strategy outlines the goals the business has for itself within its financial constraints and enables its management to calculate the potential return on their marketing expenditures. The marketing strategy has several components that pertain to responsibility.
The marketing strategy is a general duty from business executives and the marketing team to steer the organisation in a certain path. Each job is given to a person or a team for execution when the strategies are devised and the tasks are created. Companies can monitor their milestones and connect with the teams throughout the implementation process thanks to the allocated responsibilities.
Company executives may design and monitor the expectations for their functional areas with the use of a marketing strategy. The business management may need to boost their sales team in shops to assist produce more sales, for instance, if a firm’s marketing strategy aim is to improve sales growth.
The marketing strategy provides a special chance for an insightful conversation between staff members and company executives. It promotes effective internal communication. The marketing team may analyse previous choices and comprehend outcomes via the marketing strategy in order to better plan for the future. Additionally, it enables the marketing staff to monitor and research the environment in which they work.
Marketing planning aims and objectives
Though it’s not clear, behind the corporate objectives, which in themselves offer the main context for the marketing plan, will lie the “corporate mission,” in turn provides the context for these corporate objectives. In a sales-oriented organization, the marketing planning function designs incentive pay plans to not only motivate and reward frontline staff fairly but also to align marketing activities with corporate mission. The marketing plan basically aims to make the business provide the solution with the awareness with the expected customers.
The marketing objectives must usually be based, above all, on the organization’s financial objectives; converting these financial measurements into the related marketing measurements. He went on to explain his view of the role of “policies,” with which strategy is most often confused: “Policies are rules or guidelines that express the ‘limits’ within which action should occur. “Simplifying somewhat, marketing strategies can be seen as the means, or “game plan,” by which marketing objectives will be achieved and, in the framework that appears here, are generally concerned with the 8 P’s. Examples are:
Price: The amount of money needed to buy products
Product: The actual product
Promotion (advertising): Getting the product known
Placement: Where the product is sold
People: Represent the business
Physical environment: The ambiance, mood, or tone of the environment
Process: The Value-added services that differentiate the product from the competition (e.g. after-sales service, warranties)
Packaging: How the product will be protected
The most important element is, the detailed plans, which spell out exactly what programs and individual activities will carry at the period of the plan (usually over the next year). Without these activities the plan cannot be monitored. These plans must therefore be:
Clear: They should be an unambiguous statement of ‘exactly’ what is to be done.
Quantified: The predicted outcome of each activity should be, as far as possible, quantified, so that its performance can be monitored.
Focused: The temptation to proliferate activities beyond the numbers which can be realistically controlled should be avoided. The 80:20 Rule applies in this context too.
Realistic: They should be achievable.
Agreed: Those who are to implement them should be committed to them, and agree that they are achievable. The resulting plans should become a working document which will guide the campaigns taking place throughout the organization over the period of the plan. If the marketing plan is to work, every exception to it (throughout the year) must be questioned; and the lessons learnt, to be incorporated in the next year’s.
Content of the marketing plan
A Marketing Plan for a small business typically includes Small Business Administration Description of competitors, including the level of demand for the product or service and the strengths and weaknesses of competitors
- Description of the product or service, including special features
- Marketing budget, including the advertising and promotional plan
- Description of the business location, including advantages and disadvantages for marketing
- Pricing strategy
- Market Segmentation
Medium-sized and large organizations
The main contents of a marketing plan are:
- Executive Summary
- Situational Analysis
- Opportunities / Issue Analysis: SWOT Analysis
- Objectives
- Marketing Strategy
- Action Program (the operational marketing plan itself for the period under review)
- Financial Forecast
- Controls
