What Is a Marketing Plan?
A marketing plan is a written document that presents the marketers' findings about the
marketplace, and shows how the company intends to achieve its marketing objectives.
The plan illustrates the tactical guidelines and the marketing strategy, and the financial
allocations for planning period (Kotler & Keller, 2015). It also outlines the control
measures and contingency plans.
Marketing plans usually apply to a period of one year. The marketing plan is an
important output of the marketing process, and provides focus and direction for the
company, a product, a service, or a brand. The plan informs the company's internal and
external stakeholders about the company's marketing goals and explains how the
company intends to achieve those goals (Kotler & Keller, 2015).
While the marketing department is the primary author of the marketing plan, the best
marketing plans are developed by cross-functional teams. Working with cross-functional
teams helps to ensure no critical factors will get overlooked.
A good marketing plan is simple, clear, and realistic, and has a long-term focus. A good
marketing plan must contain sufficient competitive analysis and must include support
for its recommendations.
References
Kotler, P. & Keller, K. L. (2015). Marketing management (15th ed.). Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Pearson.
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Marketing Plan Template
1.0 Executive Summary
2.0 Situation Analysis
2.1 Mission
2.2 Product or service description
2.3 Value proposition
2.4 Internal environment scan (SWOT analysis)
2.5 Critical issues
3.0 Market Analysis
3.1 Marketing research
3.2 External environment scan (PESTEL & Porter's five forces analyses)
3.3 Market size and growth
3.4 Market trends
3.5 Target market
3.6 Market segments
3.7 Customer analysis (including needs analysis)
4.0 Strategy
4.1 Marketing objectives (including financial objectives)
4.2 Positioning strategy
4.3 Product and branding strategy
4.4 Pricing strategy
4.5 Distribution and supply chain strategy
4.6 Integrated marketing communications strategy
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5.0 Financial Projections
5.1 Break-even analysis
5.2 Sales forecast
5.3 Expense forecast
6.0 Implementation and Controls
6.1 Implementation
6.2 Controls
6.3 Contingency plans
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