Marketing Plan Role And Structure - Essay Example

 Marketing Plan Role And Structure Introduction For a business to be successful, the marker has to come up with appropriate strategies that will force the product in the market. In addition, the world has experienced a high level of globalization. As a result, companies have diversified their products in order to avoid risks that are associated with one product. This has led to increased level of competition in the market an aspect that has made it necessary for businesses to draft a marketing plan in order to enable them to segment the market and create customer loyalty towards the product. This paper will, therefore, discuss the role that a marketing plan plays in enabling the product position itself in the market. It will also discuss different elements of a marketing plan and importance of each element in enabling the marketer market the product. In addition, it will provide an appropriate structure of a marketing plan and distinctive features of a marketing plan and business plan. Also, the paper will look at how each element in a marketing plan enhances the marker’s understanding of the market. Different assumptions made when drafting a marketing plan will also be discussed and their relevance in accordance with the marketer's objective. Lastly, different marketers use marketing plan for different purposes. These purposes will be analyzed and select the most appropriate use of a marketing plan. This will help in coming up with a detailed conclusion on the effectiveness of a marketing plan in helping the business to increase its overall profits (Burrow & Bosiljevac 2011). Role and nature of marketing plan A marketing plan can be defined as a product or companywide plan that describes all functions involved in achieving marketing objectives in a certain timeframe. A business plan provides a general platform that a business needs to follow in order to achieve its goals. The marketing plan is a part of the business plan that goes deeper in discussing the sales and marketing planning. It also offers market analysis, expense budget; sales forecast and even different milestone tables. On the other hand, the business plan covers the overall expenditure to be covered by a business. Therefore a market plan plays a great role in setting up an appropriate business plan (Cohen, 2005). A marketing plan defines the firm's long-term mission. Every business has its mission that it wants to achieve. This cannot be possible if the business does not have an appropriate strategy to be followed. Marketing plan, therefore, provides the appropriate strategy that a business must follow in order to achieve its mission. It also analyses all the risks and uncertainties that may face a business or a product in the market and provide the possible solutions. The mission is mainly based on an understanding the target consumers and all prospective competitors that might hinder the mission from being achieved (Cohen, 2005). The marketing plan helps in environmental assessment. The plan summarizes the firm's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and provides a way on how to manipulate these aspects in order for the company to increase its overall revenue. It mainly provides a way forward on how to take advantage of the available opportunities in order to strengthen the business position in the market. It also defines business strength and how to use them to increase the business competitiveness in the market. In addition, it defines all weaknesses that a business faces and how they can be eradicated or improved to fit the business mission. It also analyses the possible threats that face the business and how to evade them (Cohen, 2005). A comprehensive marketing plan assesses the current status of the marketing effort in regard to pricing, distribution, product and promotional strategies. It assesses the relationship that exists between the business and other external factors such as competition, and target market. This help the marketer develops appropriate and measurable sales objectives. In addition, the plan helps the business predict what might happen to the business in the future thereby, enabling the marketer to plan for these uncertainties (Ferrell, & Hartline, 2010). Structure of a marketing plan 1. Executive summary Synopsis Major aspects of the marketing plan 2. Situation analysis Company background Analysis of internal environment Analysis of customer environment Analysis of external environment Analysis of an existing market research and findings 3. SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats). In-depth analysis of company strength Detailed analysis of company’s weaknesses Detailed analysis of company’s opportunities In-depth analysis of the SWOT matrix Developing and analyzing all competitive advantages Developing a strategic focus 4. Marketing goals and objectives Analysing and listing all marketing goals Analyzing all marketing objectives aimed to be achieved. 5. Marketing strategies Analyzing both primary and secondary target markets Product strategy Brand name Quality Scope of the product line packaging Pricing strategy List price Discounts payment terms and all financing options Leasing options Distribution or supply chain strategy Distribution channels e.g. direct, retail, distributors etc Motivation channels e.g. distributor margins Criteria for evaluating distributors Location of distributors Logistics e.g. transportation, warehousing etc Marketing communication/promotion strategies Advertising Including selecting the appropriate media Public relations Promotional programs Budget i.e. break-even point and any other additional spending Expected results of the promotional programs 6. Marketing implementation Analyzing tactical issues Analyzing tactical marketing activities 7. Evaluation and control Formal control Informal control Implementation schedule and timeline Marketing audits (Ferrell, & Hartline, 2010). Elements of a marketing plan Executive summary The executive summary is a synopsis of the whole marketing plan. It outlines the main thrust of the marketing strategy and how it will be executed. The main aim of a marketing plan is to provide an overview of the plan to the reader. It, therefore, helps the reader to have and identify the key issues or different concerns related to the role of implementing the market plan. Therefore, the executive summary does not give detailed information in the market plan but introduces major aspects that have been discussed in the marketing plan. Some of these aspects include objectives, sales projections, different costs to be incurred, and performance evaluation measures. The idea of the market plan is to give the reader a quick understanding of the breath of the plan and time frame set for the execution of the plan. It is important to note that although it is the first part of a marketing plan, it is the last part to be written. This is done to ensure that all components of a marketing plan are included (Ferrell, & Hartline, 2010). Situation analysis This section summarizes all information concerning three major environments. The environments are the internal environment, customer environment, and external environment. Internal environment analysis composes of issues such as deployment and availability of human resources, age, and capacity of the available technology and equipment in the company, availability of financial resources and any power struggle that might exist within the organization (Ferrell, & Hartline, 2010). Customer environment examines the current situation in relation to the target market needs. It also analyzes the expected changes in these needs and consumer behavior. It also highlights how the marketer is going to meet these needs and different methods that are to be followed (Ferrell, & Hartline, 2010). Lastly, external environment analysis involves an in-depth scrutiny of the competition, economic, social and political pressure that might have an impact on the set objectives. The information on situation analysis may be obtained either internally from the employees through internal information system or it may also be obtained externally through either primary or secondary market research (Ferrell, & Hartline, 2010). SWOT analysis The analysis focuses on both the internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external (opportunities and threats). These internal and external factors are derived from the situation analysis. All these factors should be scrutinized to ensure that they are according to the market needs. This section helps the company to determine its stronger points and areas that need some improvements. At the conclusion, the analysis mainly focuses on strategic plans that are supposed to be taken for the product to gain the competitive advantage in the market. Marketing goals and objectives Marketing goals and objects are formal statements of the company’s desires and expected results. Goals are sample statements that are aimed to be accomplished through various marketing strategies. The main aim of the goals is to guide and provide directions on how to allocate resources to different sectors of the organization. On the other hand, objectives are more specific and are supposed to be stated in qualitative terms in order to enable the decision maker to make reasonable measurements. Objectives and goals are set after a consultation between the management and employees. This consultation creates a positive attitude of the employees towards achieving these goals and objective due to their involvement in drafting them. These goals must be consistent with the firm’s mission while marketing objectives should be compatible with the drafted goals. Marketing strategy According to Kotler, Armstrong, Wong, & Saunders, (2008), this section outlines how the goals and objectives will be achieved. This is through defining the primary, secondary and even tertiary target market and their consumption behavior. In this section, the market mix is discussed as per their relation to the product or even service. In the product section, it is important to analyze the features of the products and benefit that these features will have to the product in the market. Other important things that are discussed in this section is on how to position and differentiate the product and even complementary products that are available in the market. This section also discusses the customers that are there in the market and their demographics (Kotler, Armstrong, Wong, & Saunders, 2008). Underpricing section, cost of the products and how these costs are arrived at is discussed. Pricing strategies are also discussed together with any discounts that will be attached to the products. These prices can be attained by determining the breakeven price or even analyzing the level of competition in the market (Kotler, Armstrong, Wong, & Saunders, 2008). Distribution section lists all the suppliers and intermediaries. The section also discusses how the product will be made available to the customer. In addition, it pinpoints any possible partnership that the organization can make in order to develop and distribute the product (Kotler, Armstrong, Wong, & Saunders, 2008). Promotion section defines all the public relations activities that will be started to familiarize the product to the market. In addition, it pinpoints where to advertise, to whom and with which form of media. All selling strategies, promotions and any sponsorship and corporate social responsibilities strategies are discussed in this section (Kotler, Armstrong, Wong, & Saunders, 2008). Marketing implementation This section discusses what companies should do in order to meet the goals and objectives set. All staff to be hired, employees’ training programs and all measures to be undertaken to empower the employees are discussed in this section. In addition, specific actions to take place and time to accomplish these actions are discussed. This is done through drafting a calendar of actions to be undertaken (Cohen, 2005). Evaluation and control Cohen (2005) ascertains that this section serves as a guideline on how to implement the plan properly. It provides information on how employees will be evaluated and compensated for their work, how to improve communication between employees and how to share firms’ values. In addition, measures to be undertaken to improve products performance and how marketing activities are to be evaluated are discussed in details. This information is mainly done by the management with the help of professionals (Cohen, 2005). Links between marketing plan elements One of the major links is between the executive summary and all other elements of the marketing plan. Executive summary interlinks all the elements in order for the plan to have a smooth flow and help to identify any gaps that might be there between one element and the other (Botha, Strydom, & Brink, 2005). According to McDonald (1999), there is a link between situational analysis and SWOT analysis. Situation analysis provides a detailed discussion on both the internal and external environment of the company an aspect that helps in identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that a company might be facing. This plays a great role in drafting ways of overcoming any risks and uncertainties (McDonald, 1999). Marketing goals and objectives are interlinked with marketing strategies. The strategies provide in-depth details on how to achieve the goals set. In addition, goals and objectives provide a platform for the marketer to draft appropriate strategies that will fit the company’s plan. This relation ensures that the product is able to position itself strategically in the market (McDonald, 1999). Implementation of the plan has to evaluated and controlled. Different actions that are to be undertaken in order to achieve the set goals need to be well evaluated. These two sections, therefore, are interlinked and ensure that all procedures that are set in the strategies are well followed to avoid mistakes. Both implementation and evaluation and control section are interlinked with marketing goals and objectives. This is because, for the plan to be implemented, proper goals should be in place. In addition, when actions are being implemented, they should be evaluated to ensure that they maintain the required standards (Kotler et al, 2009). Assumptions According to Paley (2000), one of the major assumptions that markets make is that all the issues that have addressed in the market plan clearly reflects the market. The truth is that the market is dynamic and new risks and uncertainties emanate daily. Therefore, in order for the set goals to be achieved, strategies need to be manipulated regularly. In addition, the defined target market requirements keep on changing. This calls for a regular review of the product features and quality (Paley 2000). Another major assumption that is made in regard to the product is that measures analyzed in the plan are adequate to position the product in the market and achieve the projected sales. This is not the case as the market has different competitors who will also work hard to ensure that their products remain competitive in the market. Mickinlay (2007) ascertains that the market is faced with different environmental forces which might affect the previous plans that were made in the plan. Some of these forces are political, economic, social and cultural, technological and lastly legal and regulation forces. These forces play a role in shaping the position of the product in the market (Mickinlay, 2007). Conclusion The success of a product in the market depends on how well was the marketing plan. The plan provides the features, goals, strategies and how the goals and objectives will be achieved in addition, it also analyzes different methods that are going to be used by the marketer in order to create loyalty of products by the customer. This is through providing a platform for advertising and selecting the appropriate media to carry out the message. Different elements of the marketing plan provide a platform for the business to succeed in the position itself in the market. It is therefore important to note that there is no independent element as each element depends on the other for it to be successful. It is, therefore, important to note that marketing plan also is an important component in the drafting of a business plan and also making any projections of the future sales and growth of the business. Also, of importance is the fact that marketing plan needs to be updated regularly to fit the changing conditions in the market. This is to prevent the product from failing to achieve the set objectives, as a result, unplanned risks and uncertainties. References Botha, J., Strydom, J., & Brink, A. (2005). Introduction to Marketing. (3rd ed.). Cape Town: Juta and Company Ltd. Burrow, J., & Bosiljevac, J. (2011). Marketing. (3rd ed.). Mason: Cengage Learning. Cohen, W. A. (2005). The Marketing Plan. (5th ed.). J. Wiley & Sons. Ferrell, O. C., & Hartline, M. (2010). Marketing Strategy. (5th ed.). Mason: Cengage Learning. Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., Wong, V., & Saunders, J. A. (2008). Principles of Marketing. Pearson Education, Prentice Hall. Kotler, P.et al. (2009). Marketing Management. Pearson Prentice Hall. Kurtz, D. L. (2008). Contemporary Marketing 2009. Mason: Cengage Learning. McDonald, M. (1999). Marketing Plans: How to Prepare Them, How to Use Them. (4th ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. Mickinlay, I. (2007). Marketing. Cape Town: Pearson South Africa. Paley, N. (2000). How to Develop a Strategic Marketing Plan: A Step by Step Guide. St. Lucie Press. Read More