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Marketing Plan Components: The Executive Summary
This section is basically a “nutshell” of what your company is about and the major points of your marketing plan. You can explain how long you have been in business or if you are starting out, you can list the experience and training that key managers have. You should also state your philosophy or mission statement and company objectives. Finally, you should include brief points about the main marketing objectives and strategies that are contained in the plan.
Marketing Plan Components: A Snapshot of Your Current Situation
In the Current Situation section of your marketing plan, you should provide information about your location, target market, your competitors, and the key issues surrounding your company.
Location
If you do not have a location yet, include any details such what areas you have considered or the criteria you will use in choosing a location. You should also detail any plans you have for the future expansion of your business. If you do not have a location because of the nature of your business, you should describe how you and your customers will meet or interact and how you will exchange services and products.
Target Market Description
You should specifically details the statistics on the size of your target market and whether the size is changing or staying the same and why to that is. You should also include demographics about your target market such as age, income level, sex, race, number of children, habits or hobbies, buying habits, wants and needs and how your product fulfills them.
Marketing Plan Components: Competitor & Issues Analysis
Benefits of Preparing a Competitor and Issues Analysis
You will see what makes you stand out from your competition. By analyzing your position in relation to your competition, you can also come up with new improvements to your product offerings. You can also develop a market “niche” by finding certain categories of customers whose needs are not being met.
What Should My Competitor Analysis Include?
You should have a list of all of your competitors and any future competitors and information about them such as location, quality, advertising, staff, customer service, etc. You should also analyze your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses from your customer’s viewpoint.
Some ways to get competitive information are by searching the Internet, personally visiting your competitors’ locations, talking to customers, periodicals, and trade show displays.
A good idea is to create a file for each competitor, so that as you find certain items about them like marketing literature, articles that mention them, etc. That way, when you write or update your competitor analysis, you will already have a great resource.
Issues Analysis
Because there will be obstacles to your business’s success, it is important to analyze and understand these obstacles in order to avoid major complications to the business. You should first look at any outside threats or opportunities that your business may face, such as economic conditions, technological advancements, and government regulations. Secondly, you should also find and identify the internal strengths and weaknesses of your company, such as education, experience, reputation, and lack of supervisory experience. Finally, you should determine the most significant issues and include them in an issues statement you can use to set your marketing objectives and strategy.
Marketing Plan Components: Strategizing with the 4 P’s
Marketing Objectives
You should be able to have increased sales if you meet marketing objectives. If you are not generating sales, then you need to set different marketing objectives. Your marketing objectives should be clear, measurable, and have a stated time frame for achievement, such as increasing product awareness among the target audience by 30 percent in one year. Above all, remember that your marketing objectives are supported by the rest of your marketing plan—the marketing strategy, budget, action programs, etc.
Marketing Strategy
This is the heart of the marketing plan and it serves as an outline of how you will achieve your marketing objectives. This section should include the so-called 4 P’s—product, price, promotion, and place (distribution).
Product Description
This section should set forth the features and benefits that your products or services offer customers and the details about how it is produced.
Pricing
Make sure that you list not only the price of your products, but your pricing strategy as well. It is typically recommended that you have a price range instead of a detailed product price list, as well as information about price flexibility or negotiating room, particularly for big purchases like houses or cars. Finally, you should include information on the terms of sale—when is payment due, payment plans, and forms of payment.
Promotion Plan
Details any of the tools or tactics that you plan to use to accomplish your marketing objectives, particularly the steps that you need to take, when they should be taken, and who will take these steps.
Placement (Sales and Distribution)
You should describe your sales philosophies, sales methods, and distribution plans. In regards to your distribution system, you should address issues like how the exchange of the product will occur, what your production and inventory capacities are, whether there are cyclical fluctuations or seasonal demands for your products, and whether you will sell to individuals or to re-sellers.
Marketing Plan Components: Action Programs
This section will set out a detailed task list of your company’s marketing and promotion—it will describe what you want to get done, when you will do it, and who will do it.
How Much Will It Cost for a Marketing Plan?
Creating your marketing budget will require you to estimate how much all of your business’s marketing activities will cost. Some typical marketing expense categories include things such as marketing communications, market research, promotions, advertising, events, and public relations.
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