Nature and Contents of Marketing Plan

Marketing Plan

• A marketing Plan is a written document that summarises what the marketer has learned about the market place and indicates how the firm plans to reach its marketing objectives.

• It contains tactical guidelines for the marketing programmes and financial allocations over the planning period.

Marketing Plan

• Marketing plans are becoming more customer and competitor oriented.

• They draw more realistic from all the functions and are team developed.

• Planning is becoming a continuous process to respond to rapidly changing market conditions.

• Most MPs cover one year in 5 to 50 pages.

Contents of Marketing Plan

• Executive summary and table of contents.• Situational analysis– This contains relevant background data on the sales, costs,

the market, competitors, and the various forces in the micro environment.

– How do we define the market, how big is it , and how fast is it growing?

– What are relevant trends?– What is the pdt offering, and what critical isuues do we

face?– SWOT analysis.

Contents of Marketing Plan

• Marketing Strategy.• Financial projections.• Implementation controls– Monitoring and adjusting implementation of the

plan.– Goals and budget of each month or quarter– Periodical review and corrective action– Contingency plan

• Strategic planning for individual business entails the following activities:

• Defining the business mission• Analysing external opportunities and threats• Analysing internal strengths and weaknesses• Formulating goals• Formulating strategy• Formulating supporting programmes• Implementing the programmes• Gathering feedback and exercise control.