Marketing Guide

A Marketing Plan is a written document that details the actions necessary to achieve a specified marketing objective(s). It can be for a product or service, a brand, or a product line. It can cover one year (referred to as an annual marketing plan), or cover up to 5 years. A marketing plan may be part of an overall business plan. In general terms, it must:

• Describe and explain the current situation
• Specify the expected results (objectives)
• Identify the resources that will be needed (including financing, time, and skills)
• Describe the actions that will need to be taken to achieve the objective(s)
• Devise a method of monitoring results and adjusting the plan where necessary

There are many formats for marketing plans and every company does it a little different, but the outline that follows is a very complete format. Using this format will produce a 30 to 40 page plan. Many companies prefer an abridged format that would yield a 10 to 20 page plan.

1. Title page
2. Executive Summary
3. Current Situation - Macroenvironment
   • Economy
   • Government
   • Legal
   • Technology
   • Ecological
   • Sociocultural
   • Supply chain
4. Current Situation - Market Analysis
   • Market definition
   • Market size
   • Market segmentation
   • Industry structure and strategic groupings
   • Porter 5 forces analysis
   • Competition and market share
   • Competitors' strengths and weaknesses
   • Market trends
5. Current Situation - Consumer Analysis
   • Nature of the buying decision
   • Participants
   • Demographics
   • Psychographics
   • Buyer motivation and expectations
   • Loyalty segments
6. Current Situation - Internal
   • Company resources
     • Financial
     • People
     • Time
     • Skills
   • Objectives
     • Mission statement and vision statement
     • Corporate objectives
     • Financial objective
     • Marketing objectives
     • Long term objectives
   • Corporate culture
7. Summary of Situation Analysis
   • External threats
   • External opportunities
   • Internal strengths
   • Internal weaknesses
   • Key success factors in the industry
   • Our sustainable competitive advantage
8. Marketing research
   • Information requirements
   • Research methodology
   • Research results
9. Marketing Strategy - Product
   • Product mix
   • Product strengths and weaknesses
     • Perceptual mapping
   • Product life cycle management and new product development
   • Brand name, brand image, and brand equity
   • The Augmented product
   • Product portfolio analysis
     • B.C.G. Analysis
     • Contribution margin analysis
     • G.E. Multi Factoral analysis
     • Quality Function Deployment
10. Marketing Strategy - Market share objectives
    • By products,
    • By customer segments,
    • By geographical markets
11. Marketing Strategy - Price
    • Pricing objectives
    • Pricing method (eg.: cost plus, demand based, or competitor indexing)
    • Pricing strategy (eg.: skimming, or penetration)
    • Discounts and allowances
    • price elasticity and customer sensitivity
    • Price zoning
    • break even analysis at various prices
12. Marketing Strategy - Promotion
    • Promotional goals
    • Promotional mix
    • advertising reach, frequency, flights, theme, and media
    • sales force requirements, techniques, and management
    • Sales promotion
    • Publicity and public relations
    • Electronic promotion (eg.: Web, or telephone)
13. Marketing Strategy - Distribution
    • Geographical coverage
    • Distribution channels
    • Physical distribution and logistics
    • Electronic distribution
14. Implementation
    • Personnel requirements
      • Assign responsibilities
      • Give incentives
      • Training on selling methods
    • Financial requirements
    • Management information systems requirements
    • Month-by-month agenda
      • Pert or critical path analysis
    • Monitoring results and benchmarks
    • Adjustment mechanism
    • Contingencies (What if's)
15. Financial Summary
    • Assumptions
    • Pro-forma monthly income statement
    • Contribution margin analysis
    • Breakeven analysis
    • Monte Carlo analysis
16. Appendix
    • Pictures and specifications of the new product
    • Results from research already completed

Back to Marketing Guide Index