Marketing Plan Outline (Knowledge) (1).pdf

Marketing Plan Outline (Knowledge) (1).pdf

1. MARKETING PLAN Marketing plays a vital role in successful businesses. How well you market your products or
services and achieve your sales targets will ultimately determine the su ccess or failure of your
venture.
The key element of a successful marketing plan is a simple but complex one – KNOW YOUR
CUSTOMERS. Marketing is based on relationships. You need to understand your customers’ likes,
dislikes and perhaps most importantly their expectations. Identifying these factors will help
prepare a robust marketing strategy that will allow you to develop and fulfil your customers’
needs.
Marketing is not an isolated business function within an organisation. It is important that
everyone in the business markets the business not just the marketing department. It should be
everyone’s responsibility in the business to be aware of what is happening in their sector and to
know how their particular job contributes to the success of the business.
The purpose of this document is to help you put together a marketing plan. Any such plan needs
to be placed in context of your overall strategy and business plan and it is important that these
are completed prior to undertaking the marketing plan.
To complete the plan in full will take time and effort, but the results will be worthwhile as you will
find that you have a much better understanding of your market and how best to attack it and deal
with competitor responses.
Finally, you may find that not all the questions are relevant to your business in which case please
ignore them and move on to the next question.

2. This MARKETING PLAN check
list is broken down into
t
h
e f
o
llowi
ng
secti
o
ns:

1.

V
i
s
i
o
n
an
d
Go
als fo
r
th
e Co
mp
any
2.

SWOT Analysi
s
3.

Market Research & Analysis
4.

Prod
uct / Servi
c
e Inf
o
rm
ation
5.

Pricing
6.

Sales Objectives / Activity
7.

Promoti
o
nal Pla
n

8.

Monitori
ng Perf
ormance & Eval
uation.

2

3. 1.
VISION, MISSION STATEMENT AND GOALS
This section asks you to set out
your company’s vision
and goals. This helps
to ensure that the
Marketing Plan is positioned within
the overall context of the Business Plan.
1.

What is your vision
? i.e. what do you really
want to achieve for the business/organisation?
2.

What are your long-term goals, say for two - five years ti
me?
3.

What are your short-term goal
s say for next six months ?
4.

What will be done with the profits?
Invested in new product developmen
t, new market entry strategies etc.
5.

Who is re
sponsible for the M
a
rketing f
unction w
i
thin your organisation ?

3

4. 2.
SWOT ANALYSIS
N
o
w th
at yo
u
have c
o
mp
leted S
e
c
t
io
ns
2
,
3
an
d

4 on the Products / Se
rvices, the Market yo
u
operate within and the
Pricing Policy you have,
you are rea
d
y to comple
te a SWOT analysis.

SWOT st
ands for STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPO
RTUNITIES AND TH
REAT
S and is a simple but

effective
method to summarise
where you sta
n
d
i
n
the marke
t
place i
n
term
s of your product
advantages and what threats you might face fr
om the com
p
etition. To com
p
lete the SWOT

diagram
ask the following questions:
STRENG
THS
•

What are your prod
uct / servi
ce advantages?

•

What does your company do
well?

•

Is your product / service relia
ble, do you ha
ve fe
w returns, good customer fe
edback etc?

WEAKNESSES
•

What could be impr
oved?

•

Are there issues about qualit
y and how returns are treated?

•

Do you have an effective sal
e
s staff?

OPPORT
UNITIES
•

Are there gaps in the
market that you can fill?

•

Do you have a particular price advantage as
a result of better / different processes?

•

Have you identified
a particular tr
end that you c
o
uld adapt your product or se
rvice to ta
ke advantage of?

THREAT
S
•

What obstacles do you face? Is changing
techno
logy threatening your position?

•

What is your competition doing? Are you aware
of new entrants coming in to the marketplace?


4

5. SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENTHS
WEAKNESSES
OPPORTUNITIES


THREATS

5

6. 3.
MARKET RESEARCH & ANALY
S
IS
It is important to understand th
e marketplace you are operating wi
thin. This proc
es
s s
t
ar
ts
by
undertaking research into your sector, what it
looks like, who the competitors are etc. The
questions listed below will allow yo
u to understand where your prod
uct or service is positioned
within t
h
e sect
or.
(Your nearest Sm
all Business Gatewa
y will have information on actual
businesses, keynote reports as w
e
ll as in
f
o
rmati
o
n on customers and com
p
etitors.
)

1.

What market rese
arch have you carried
out?
Do you have a budget for marke
t
research?
2.

Do you have a process in-house to col
l
ect market
information and distribute
this to the sales team?
3.

What are the market trends, by sector, by product, by service?
4.

Describe the present market for the product. e.g. is the
focus on premium prices an
d high qual
i
t
y or budget
price and volume ?
5.

Have you
entered this mark
et becaus
e you see a gap that
your product / s
e
rvice can
fill? O
r
do you know

that you can compete more e
ffectively?


6

7. SEGMEN
TATION, TARGETI
N
G & POSITIONI
N
G
Who are your cust
omers? Complete
th
e table below to identify the key m
a
rket segments you will be targeting.
C
h
e
c
k
e
a
c
h
s
e
c
t
o
r
y
o
u
w
i
l
l
b
e
s
e
l
l
i
n
g
t
o
,
w
h
a
t
p
e
r
c
e
n
t
a
g
e
o
f
t
o
t
a
l
t
u
r
n
o
v
e
r
i
s
e
x
p
e
c
t
e
d
f
r
o
m
t
h
e
m
a
n
d
n
o
t
e

whether there are any characteristics pa
rticular to tha
t
market sector. The sa
me table
may be used after changi
ng

the sector name in column one to focu
s on diffe
rent indivi
duals segments
or business segments
Market Sector
Check Box
Product / Servic
e
% o
f

Turnover
Segment Characteristics
Private Sector
a.

Corporate
b.

SME’s




Government




Not for Profit Organisations




Young Professionals




University

Stude
n
ts





Golden Age (50+ Years old)




Other (specify)





7

8. COMPETITOR ANALYSIS It is very important to unde
r
stand who your co
mpetitors are and have a strategy ready fo
r
competing with them. Yours s
ales team will need to understa
nd exactly how the product or
service they are responsible for se
lling differs from the competition.
C
o
mpleting this analysis will
enable you to prepare a sales plan
that f
o
cuses on the ke
y benefi
ts
of your p
r
od
uct or service and

provide your sal
e
s staff with the
ma
terial to defeat the competition.
In the following table list you
r
main competitors, provid
e an analysis of their capa
bility
in terms of product,
pricing, resources and market perceptions. Finally, rate the scale of their threat to
your business from
the following scale.

Major threat
Medium
risk
Low r
i
sk

1



2
3
Competitor Analysis
Competitor Name
Analysis of
capability
Scale of threat










8

9. For all those competitors that you have rated 1 -
a ma
jor t
h
reat - describe how you will compete? What will
differentiate your product or service?
Competitor Name
Product
How will you differe
ntiat
e
& Posit
i
on your product or servic
e









Are any new major competitors likely to
enter the market in the next 12 months?
Is your
pr
oduct or s
e
rvice at
risk f
r
om a new prod
uct or se
rvice being introd
uced in the near future?

9

10. 4.
PRODUCT / SE
RVICE INFORMATION
This section looks at the range of
prod
uct
s
and se
rvice
s
y
o
u provi
d
e. Complete the table below by
considering the following questions: 1.

What are your Com
p
any’s products or services
?

2.

What are the USP’s
(unique selling points
) of your products or services? .
3.

What do customers perceive are the bene
fits of your prod
ucts / services?
(It is important to ensure that you
ask your customers this prior
to sta
r
ting your business.
4.

Are your products consumab
le? If so
over what period of time? (need
for fre
s
hness, expiry date
s, etc)
5.

What buying channels are availabl
e to your cust
omers e.g. retail, wholesale, mail order, web etc ?
6.

How often
do customers normally repurchase?

10

11. PRODUCT / SE
RVICE INFORMATION
P
r
o
d
u
c
t

U
n
i
q
u
e

S
e
lling
Point (USP)

Customer Benefits

% o
f
tot
a
l
Sales
Delivery Channels
Repurchase cycles































11

12. 5. PRICE Y
o
u
r
pr
ic
ing
s
t
rateg
y
is an
o
t
h
e
r
mar
k
etin
g
tech
n
i
q
u
e yo
u
c
a
n u
s
e to imp
r
o
v
e yo
ur
o
v
erall
competitiveness. Some of the st
anda
rd pri
c
ing strategie
s
are:

•

Retail cost and pricing
•

Co
mp
etitive p
o
s
i
tio
n
p
r
ic
in
g

•

Pricing below the com
p
etition
•

Pricing above the com
p
etition
•

Multi
p
le pri
c
ing t
o
target differe
nt
market segme
n
ts
It is critical to ensure that your
pr
ic
in
g r
e
flec
ts the co
s
t
s
o
f
pro
d
uc
ti
on and is in line with what the
market will bear. The key to success is to have
a well-planned strategy, to establish a clear

pricing policy and to constantly
monitor prices and operating co
sts to ensure profitability.
Complete this table usin
g the following criteria:
•

Product/Service: Us
e a separ
a
te lin
e for each product or s
e
rvice
•

Price Charged: Mai
n
price for the product or service
•

Discounts available: List the discounts available
and the circumstance in which they operate
•

Payment terms: e.g. 30 days
from date of invoi
c
e
•

Is credit p
r
ovided: is it through your compan
y or via a
third party e
g
Bank, Finance House
•

Price required to break-even: a break-
even analysis is
a
method of calculating how many of the
product or
service
must be sold for yo
ur costs t
o
be covere
d.

12

13. P
r
o
d
u
c
t
/
S
e
r
v
i
c
e

P
r
i
c
e

c
h
a
r
g
e
d

Discount
s

available

Payment

Terms
Is credit provided?
Price required to break-even


















Are there any planned changes to
the pricing strategy for each
of th
ese products / servi
c
es?

13

14. 6.
SALES (Distribution) OBJECTIVES / ACTIVITY
This section looks at your presen
t and f
o
recaste
d
sales a
c
t
i
vity.
Use the first grid to set out your present sales activity
(if possible during the last tw
elve months
) and the second
grid to se
t out fore
cast sales.
Are sales seasonal?
i.e. do you sell more
at particular times in the year? Ar
e
there key purchasers involve
d
in the
buying decision? P
r
o
d
u
c
t
/
S
e
r
v
i
c
e

S
a
l
e
s

V
o
l
u
m
e
e.g. no of units

Sales Value
Timescale
Source o
f

sales





















14

15. 7. PROMOTIONAL
PLAN
Promoti
n
g your busine
ss is key to its successful
development. You may have the best product o
r

servi
c
e possi
ble
,
but if people
don’t k
n
ow about it
or aren’t convinced of its value then it is
wort
hless.
Using the following table list the core m
a
rketing and
communications message to each t
a
rget customers.
Use the analysis completed in Sectio
ns 2 and 3 to assist with this.
Target customer group
Key Messages
Media to be used to deliver these messag
e
s
Timescale
Responsibility
How will you measure
the
success of the camp
aig
n
?































15

16. 1.

What are the main priorities for promotion?
2.

What mus
t
happen to raise m
a
rket awareness, create inte
rest, stimulate desire and
initiate customer action?
3.

Describe any plans you have
for sales promotions?
4.

What advertising is planned?

5.

Do you plan to employ a sales force?
If so, on what terms will they operat
e e.g. basic salary plus On Target
Earnings?
6.

What public relations activity is planned?
7.

Do you plan to undertake an
y direct marketing?
8.

Do you plan to create a recognisable brand? If so descr
ibe the attributes you want to
be associated with your
brand.
9.

What cha
nnels will you use t
o
deliver
your prod
uct / service e.g. direct sa
les, wholesaling, third party ven
d
or,
agents, web site etc.
10.

What is the rationale behind
the preferred route(s) ?
11.

Are there price differentials
for the diffe
rent routes?

16

17. 8.

MONIT
O
RING PERFO
R
MANC
E & EV
ALUAT
I
ON
Preparation of the Marketing Plan is a key activity ho
wever, it will only be of use if it is continually

monit
o
red, evaluated a
n
d t
h
en update
d to refl
ect
the changing nature of
the marketplace.
It
should be a w
o
rking document used by all invo
lved in the marketing
and sales function and
shared with everyone in the wo
rkplace. Use these questions to
determine how you will do this
and how
you mi
ght set up p
r
oce
d
ures t
o
make the pla
n
a dynam
i
c document.
1.

Do you plan to hold a monthl
y marketing meeting?
2.

If so, who will be involved?
3.

Is this marketing pl
an to be
used as key control document?
4.

What are the prime
indicators that are going to be
monitored e.g. enquiries,
proposals
,
orders, r
e
peat
business, referrals,
returns.
5.

Do you maintain and analyse records of cust
omer trading history, buying behaviour?
6.

Do you conduct reg
u
lar cust
omer satisfaction surveys?
7.

How do you continuously review an
d analyse c
o
mpetitor behaviour?
8.

How do you share feedback withi
n
your organisation?

17