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Introduction The purpose of this document is to provide you with the basic framework for creating amarketing plan

by describing the intent of the marketing plan and describing the generalsteps youll need to take to create a marketing plan.Marketing planning is a complex, cross-functional process. It is made up of a series of interlocking activities and tasks. It should not be a hastily assembled set of programsthat are easy or convenient for the organization to carry out. For example, it is veryeasy to have a marketing communications group design and conduct a series of advertising activities to drive lead generation because the sales teams dont have enough prospects. However, if this lead generation activity is not considered within abroader context of marketing strategies, the outcomes may not yield results of anys ignificance to the firm. It should be understood that in marketing planning should be conceived and executed within a broad corporate or organizational strategic context. Whether youre running asmall business or you work in a big company, all businesses have some kind of strategy. To that end, if you are in a big company, there are typically higher level strategies (to grow our revenue by 25% in Europe within three years), to business unitstrategies (to create two new product lines to sell to consumers in France and one newline in the UK), to product line strategies (to use the new abc platform and designs toacquire new customers in market segment A and to target replacement purchases tomarket segment B).In an ideal world, strategies at all levels of the organization should be well articulatedand understood. Interpretation of these strategies can then result in realistic, well-defined marketing plans and programs which can be created and acted upon. In somefirms, strategies are not fully understood or are misinterpreted, leading to ill conceivedmarketing plans and programs.In todays competitive marketplace, consumers and businesses have many choicesavailable to them to solve personal or business problems. Organizations can have agreater chance of being successful if they develop deep understanding of markets andthe customers within those markets. Successful companies are expert at identifyingcustomer needs in a variety of ways. They just dont ask customers about their problems they observe, probe, and draw inferences from those observations. Thesesuccessful companies are acutely aware of their competitors and try to figure out, not just how to beat them but how to better satisfy the needs of those customers whoseneeds they believe are paramount. Market focus, therefore, is critical in the formulationof marketing plans. Deciding who to pursue runs as an undercurrent to all plans andprograms.

The marketing plan then, is a dynamic document which focuses on bringing marketingstrategies to life, serving as a roadmap for carrying out marketing activities andimplementing marketing strategies. It is a multi-step process, which considers thefollowing:1) Formulating a strategy of your company or your division and making sure thatappropriate linkages are made between company strategy and marketingactivity planning.2) Analyzing the environment within which you do business to make sure youconsider the marketplace, the industry, competitors, and other influences.3) Carrying out market profiling, enabling you to identify market segment, targetcustomer types, and overall demand. Additionally, analysis of the industry andcompetitors, coupled with analysis of customer types, enables the creation of demand possibilities and the resulting forecasts. It also allows you to formulateappropriate value propositions, and to position the products key benefits to thetarget audience, and finally, why a customer would choose your solution versusthe competition. and expressing key values and benefits to the target audience4) The marketing mix, which considers a combination of activities which cometogether harmoniously, in bringing the product to market and sustaining it whilein the market, which includes:i. Deciding on which products meet the need of identified market targetsii. Pricing those products so that the true, competitive value is recognizedby the market targets.iii. Defining promotional programs to reach those targets, which can includecommunications and advertising programs.iv. Creating channels to effectively distribute your products to your targetaudience.5) Determining who youll need to work with in successfully bringing the product tomarket, including sales teams (to make sure that volumes can be attained),6) Launching new products or product line extensions as needed.7) Training the sales force to competitively position the product or service.8) Budgeting of marketing programs so that the appropriate sales goals andcorporate strategies can be attained.9) Executing on the plan - creating marketing project plans, and understandingdependencies on other organizations. Also included are measurements todetermine the success of your marketing activities.10) Identifying risks. Each of these sections are covered in the pages that follow

Ten Step Marketing Plan Template 2006 Sequent Learning Networks, Inc.Page 4 Step 1 Define the Strategy Strategy is carried out as a multi-step process, defined as:1) Assessing the current situation (where you are)2) Identifying the desired end state or goal (where you want to be)3) Mapping a path to achieve the goal (the strategy)4) Creating measurements to determine success factors5) Re-assessing the situation and revise the strategyEach is described below:SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, andthreats. The overarching goal of SWOT is to determine where the companysproducts, services, or product lines fit within the context of the internal and theexternal environments. Conducting this analysis helps you to figure out where it istoday, and where it needs to be in the future. Use this table to organize the elements Strengths (what youre really good at) Opportunities (how to leverage your strengths) Weaknesses (where youre falling short) Threats (your vulnerabilities due to your weaknesses or competitor strengths) An outcome of the SWOT analysis is to help you define what youre good at and toleverage those strengths to determine the opportunities you might be able to takeadvantage of. Weaknesses reveal your vulnerabilities. By harnessing this data, youllhave a way to validate and guide your marketing investments. From this exercise, youcan also derive some key marketing objectives which carry through to the next exercise. The ultimate goal is to uncover opportunities on which your company can capitalize.

Ten Step Marketing Plan Template 2006 Sequent Learning Networks, Inc.Page 4 Step 1 Define the Strategy Strategy is carried out as a multi-step process, defined as:1) Assessing the current situation (where you are)2) Identifying the desired end state or goal (where you want to be)3) Mapping a path to achieve the goal (the strategy)4) Creating measurements to determine success factors5) Re-assessing the situation and revise the strategyEach is described below:SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, andthreats. The overarching goal of SWOT is to determine where the companysproducts, services, or product lines fit within the context of the internal and theexternal environments. Conducting this analysis helps you to figure out where it istoday, and where it needs to be in the future. Use this table to organize the elements Strengths (what youre really good at) Opportunities (how to leverage your strengths) Weaknesses (where youre falling short) Threats (your vulnerabilities due to your weaknesses or competitor strengths) An outcome of the SWOT analysis is to help you define what youre good at and toleverage those strengths to determine the opportunities you might be able to takeadvantage of. Weaknesses reveal your vulnerabilities. By harnessing this data, youllhave a way to validate and guide your marketing investments. From this exercise, youcan also derive some key marketing objectives which carry through to the next exercise. The ultimate goal is to uncover opportunities on which your company can capitalize.

Ten Step Marketing Plan Template 2006 Sequent Learning Networks, Inc.Page 5 Step 2 Business Environment Analysis Analyzing the business environment is situated as Step 2 in this template toemphasize its importance in data gathering. Steps 1 and 2, formulating strategy andbusiness environment analysis can actually go hand in hand. The reason is thatthese are surveying techniques that allow you to put the information into perspective.Business environment analysis actually can help feed SWOT analyses. The reasonfor this is that the business environment influences your strategies. For example, ancompetitive threat influences how you identify or prioritize new opportunities.Marketing professionals often refer to environmental analysis as scanning. Businessenvironmental analysis is not a one-time event; it is an on-going effort. It is incumbenton team members to adopt a focus on scanning the horizon and be constantly on thelook out for shifts and changes. Since the marketplace is always changing, your awareness helps you to understand business drivers and evolving customer needs,which leads to the identification of market opportunities, alert you to potential problemswith customers, competitors, and the industry in general. Another area on which youmay with to

focus when deriving strategies for products or markets has to do withunderstanding of Key Business Issues what are the compelling issues impactingcurrent marketing strategies and programs? Are there overwhelming issues relating tounmet demand or business need which has been uncovered?To help understand or visualizing business issues is to organize them in a table like theone shown below. List each key business issue and each possible marketing strategywhich could be considered in relation to each business issue and then list anyresource requirements. Summarize these in the table below:Business Issues Summary Matrix Business Issue Possible MarketingstrategyResource requirementswhen the marketingprograms areassembled Finally, write your business environment analysis based on the data you collect and make sure its aligned with the opportunities identified in your SWOT.

Ten Step Marketing Plan Template 2006 Sequent Learning Networks, Inc.Page 6 Step 3 Market Profiling Market profiling involves the market research that needs to be carried out. Theultimate goal is to identify the attractiveness of the marketplace and the competitiveposture you wish to assume. From this, you can determine the ultimate demand for your product or service with respect to market share, revenue potential, andultimately, the profitability of your products and services. Market profiling is made upof the following activities:1) Analyzing the industry in which your company compete. Here are someapproaches to identifying the characteristics of the industry:a. Identify if there are any political issues in the geographic area of interest.b. Determine the general state of the economy.c. Understand any of the societal trends or issues which may be prevalent inyour area of interest.d. Consider the state of the technologies used in this market spacee. Secure actual growth rates of the industry using visuals to show the trendlines.f. Find out if there are any trends you can discern being used within thisindustry space.g. Determine how products and services are actually delivered from supplier to customer.2) Understanding the competitors with whom you compete. In order to carrythis out, here are some suggestions:a. Make a list of competitors, along with the products they offer. Can youdetermine the total revenue of all competitors combined? This couldgive you a rough estimate of the size of the overall marketplace.b. Determine the brand images of each of the competitors.c. Identify how each of the products are positioned in the market and withrespect to other competitors.d. Find out who their suppliers are.e. Determine the number of employees on staff, and whether they arehiring more people or cutting back, and why.f. Make a list of the kinds of activities they engaged in over the past year or two. For example, did they introduce new products, adjust their prices, embark on advertising campaigns, etc.i. Take this list and figure out what you think they might do next,andii. Make a list of the kinds of things you might want to compete.g. Use the following table to create a profile for each

competitor:

Ten Step Marketing Plan Template 2006 Sequent Learning Networks, Inc.Page 7 Name of Competitor Name of Productor ProductsEstimated MarketShare (andsupportingassumptions)What is thestrategy of thiscompetitor withrespect to thisproduct?What are theweaknesses of theproduct? Is thecompetitor vulnerable?Why should a customer choose our product over the competition? 3) Identifying market segments and ultimate customers to pursue. Marketsegments represent groupings of customer types who have similar needs.Market segmentation helps the product manager or marketing manager to tailor aspecific marketing mix to satisfy the needs of a group of customers (a segment).Market targets are sub-groups with similar needs. For each of the followingexercise, you may be broadly defining market segments, or defining markettargets within those segments. The more finely focused your efforts, that is, onyour target markets, the more focused your marketing programs will be. Sincecustomers are driven by needs (problems that need to be solved), your completeunderstanding of these segments, and the targeted groups will help you withmore finely tuned marketing programs. Use this questioning technique to helpyou: a. Name the segment or segmentsi. Use age, geography, or other means Example People living in the northeast statesb. Define the targeti. Use more detailed categorizations Example Employed males aged 50-60 living in New YorkState with incomes over $75,000c. Define the buying process. Depending on the kind of product and themarket (business to consumer products versus business to businessproducts), you need to be able to define how people make purchasingdecisions. In businesses, the decision maker may be different than theactual user of the product. Consumers, depending on whether the productis a daily staple, durable necessity (cars, appliances, etc.), or impulseitem, the buying process is different

Ten Step Marketing Plan Template 2006 Sequent Learning Networks, Inc.Page 8 4) Forecasting sales volumes and market share . Most people equate forecastingto short-term estimates of sales or unit volumes. Forecasting to evaluate marketopportunities and potential profitability is a long-range planning activity and ismore complex. The reason becomes clear when considering that all businessestry to create forecasts so they can put business and marketing programs intoperspective. For example, marketing programs may require periodic investmentsor product groups may be considering the launch of a new or improved product,or businesses may be considering expansion into new markets. Therefore, keydecisions are made based on forecasts. Unfortunately, most forecasts areinaccurate. Thats because they are forecasts. It is a difficult task at bestespecially in industries where market conditions can change rapidly.However, we can try to minimize

the errors of forecasting by trying to understandas much about the market environment as possible so that we can determine if there is a market for a product or service, where that market is and how much of it can be captured over what period of time? Once the market is understood andbelieved to be attractive, one can then determine what investment should bemade in marketing activities to access that market. Your market share forecastsmay be driven by some of the following (although these will vary by industry andmarket):a. The maximum number of customers in a market areab. The number of customers whose needs create an interest in specificproducts and servicesc. The rate at which customers actually use productsd. The affordability of products being offerede. The value and benefits of the products being offeredIf you were running an airport and wanted to find out the probability of successfor a retail store selling travel supplies and impulse items, you might need tofind out how many passengers go through the airport every day. You wouldneed to understand the number of planes, their capacity and schedules inorder to figure out how many people would actually be passing through agiven area, and then make assumptions about the number of people whowould have an interest in shopping in that store. Further, you would want tofigure out how much an average purchase might be in that store and multiplythat amount by the number of people who you believe might go into that store.This is just the beginning Without further elaboration, it can be seen that the research involved in market profiling is critical. You need to understand the industry, the competitors and potential customers to understanding the size of the market for the opportunities inwhich you are interested.

Step 4 Marketing Mix Once the market segments and the market targets are determined, actionable elementsof the marketing plan can be uncovered. The Marketing Mix is a commonly used termappearing in many marketing publications and is used widely by marketing managersand product managers to describe the framework for actual marketing plans andprograms for a company. To describe the marketing mix, one expression has becomepredominant the 4Ps, which include: Product a complete description of the product, its attributes, and how itsbenefits and value are positioned in the marketplace. Price A translation of the value or willingness of a customer to pay for theproduct. Promotion how customers are informed about the product or how businessescommunicate benefits, value, pricing actions, or product attributes. Place (distribution channels) the manner in which businesses deliver productsto customers.The marketing plan should contain a description of all of the elements of the marketingmix. Imagine that each P is a lever in a marketing machine. As the product movesthrough the market, the product team and/or marketing managers will be makingadjustments to those levers of the marketing mix. The goal for this section of themarketing plan is to define each of the elements of the marketing mix and how thoseelements will come together in a cogent plan.In managing the Marketing Mix, it is important to understand that no one

lever is pulledon its own. These levers are adjusted in a synchronized, holistic manner in response toa variety of observed conditions or data about market conditions. For example, your promotional mix may be made up of a series of print advertising campaigns, events, andemail advertising. Your pricing programs may include promotional tie-ins and discounts,and your promotional campaigns may focus only on select channels..Additionally, your marketing mix activities should be accompanied by market drivenmetrics. Metrics may focus on things like customer satisfaction, revenue growth, marketshare, customer retention rates, etc. Your company may establish many metrics whichmay need to be modeled or analyzed using simulations or sensitivity studies to showhow one specific marketing mix model and the variables which may influence marketoutcomes.Key practices to consider in the marketing mix are the creation of value propositionsand in positioning the product. The Value Proposition is used to define and prove theeconomic or strategic benefit of the product or service for a given target market. It mustbe expressed in the customers terms. The proof should be expressed clearly (e.g.,improves revenue, saves time by, improves operating efficiencies by., enablesmore rapid decision making withensures higher levels of quality or integrity

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