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Marketing Manual - Marketing Plan Guide
Overview of the marketing plan processIt is necessary that anyone starting a business should have a very good understanding of the market to which he/she plans to sell. This
understanding of the market needs to be evaluated using marketing plans. The
preparation of marketing plans can sometimes be tedious but in the end is very
rewarding. Consider that the failure or success of a business lies heavily on
the ability to plan and implement strategies. Therefore we have formulated the
following marketing planning process that can be utilized by any small business. Marketing planning is the use of business resources so as to achieve marketing objectives. Although it may seem that at first marketing planning is a
simple step-by-step process it is in fact a more complex multi faceted business
discipline that requires patience to master. In this section we will briefly
outline the process that we recommend you adopt in creating your own marketing
plan. The following are the steps that need to be followed to develop
an effective marketing plan. Step 3: Strategy Formulation Goal Setting - Vision/ Mission for the businessYour strategic marketing plan should begin with a vision/
mission statement. This is for most businessmen the most difficult aspect of the
planning process since it forces you to decide the purpose of your business.
Further, it is also very qualitative and different people in your organization
may have differing ideas about what your company should be doing.
2. Business definition – It is important to define the
business in terms of the benefits you provide and needs that are satisfied –
avoid defining the business in terms of products being manufactured.
Setting Business ObjectivesThe business objectives directly flow from the overall corporate objectives. This is generally to increase profit to X amount. Which can be achieved by any number of ways including the following:
The Marketing AuditBasically, a marketing audit is a method that is used to review
how a business relates to its environment in which it operates. It is best
described as a means where a company identifies its own strengths and weaknesses
and then related then to external opportunities and threats. It is therefore a
method that you can use to position the business to its greatest advantage. SWOT AnalysesA SWOT is a summary of the marketing audit that has already been
carried out under the headings internal strengths and weaknesses as they relate
to external threats and opportunities. Detailed means of how to carry out a SWOT
analysis will be provided in the following sections. AssumptionsThere may be certain assumptions that need to be made in the
marketing planning process. It is always best to keep the assumptions to a
minimum. If many assumptions have been made it will become necessary to review
the plan periodically to check whether the assumptions are reasonable based on
the changing business environment. If the assumptions are proven wrong it may
become necessary to redo the marketing plan. Marketing Objective and StrategiesAn objective is what you want to achieve. A strategy is how you
will achieve the objective. Estimate expected results and prepare contingency plansPrepare forecasts of what will be achieved through the marketing
strategies. It is essential that you have in place a plan B just in case the
main strategy does not prove as rewarding as expected. The techniques and
tactics will be explained in the following sections. The BudgetAll marketing plans include a detailed break up of the costs
involved. It is necessary to ensure that every Dollar expended is bringing
higher return to the business. Chapter 1: Improve your ability to understand customers and markets
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