What is a Marketing Plan?
• A marketing plan is a road map that provides
direction for your marketing strategy – What to do
and why you are doing it
• A marketing plan is the practical application of
your marketing strategy
• A marketing plan details what you want to
accomplish and helps you meet your objectives
• A marketing plan can be part of a larger business
plan but can also be used as a stand alone piece
without a larger business plan
What is a Marketing Plan?
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Tracks costs and measures value
Helps with focus
Charts marketing strategies
Serves as a handbook
Captures your thinking on paper
Reflects a the big picture
Becomes a document to build on
Do I Need a Marketing Plan?
• If you build it, they wont necessarily come
• Your opinion or the opinion of a friend or
family member is not a strong enough
basis to launch a business/project
• Would you go on a trip to a destination
without knowing how to get there?
• Marketing plans are crucial for obtaining
investment!
Where Do I Start?
• Evaluate where you are now.
– What is your product/service/project?
– How are you positioned in the market?
– How do your customers see you?
– What is you vision?
• Do you have a mission statement?
• Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities,
Threats (SWOT)
The Plan: Getting Started
• Research
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Who are your customers?
Where are your markets?
Who are your competitors?
What type of marketing activities are your
competitors engaged in?
– Current trends
– How will you pay for marketing?
– Current situation – what do you do now? What
works? What does not work?
Marketing Plan Template
• There are many different ways to write a
marketing plan
• 1000’s of templates available online
• Free document templates and paid
business planning “wizard” software
• There is no right or wrong way to write a
marketing plan but there are some best
practices to keep in mind
#1 The Business
• About your business
– Who are you?
– History of your business
– Product/Services/Projects
– Brand manifesto ( a public declaration of
principles and intentions)
– Core intentions of you business
#2 Vision
• Where do you see your business in 3, 5,
10 years down the road?
• Articulate your dreams and hopes in the
future
• Your vision is your inspiration and
framework for your marketing plan
• Your vision does not detail how you are
going to get where you are going but it
sets the direction you are going in.
#3 Mission Statement
• Why does your business exist?
• Mission statements are as varies as the
businesses they describe
• What they all have in common, however, is a
broad description of business capabilities,
customer focus, activities and make –up
• Mission statement is your present state and a
vision statement is your future
• Every business should have a mission statement
and is a crucial component of your marketing plan
• It ensures everyone is “on the same page”
#4 Year in Review
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Sales history
Marketing initiatives
Marketing conversions
Marketing conversion overview
• It is important to collect data for future
planning.
• Your marketing plan is a living and breathing
document
#5 SWOT Analysis
• The SWOT is a powerful tool used to understand you
marketing strengths and weaknesses
• It also assists in identifying opportunities and threats
that you may face
• Uncover opportunities that you are well placed to take
advantage of
• Understanding weaknesses helps manage and
eliminate threats that would otherwise catch you off
guard
• Apply the SWOT to you and your competitors
• Facilitates a marketing strategy that will distinguish
you from your competitors
• Help identify promising new customers
A) Strengths - internal
• What advantages to you have?
• What do you offer better than others?
• What unique or low cost resources do you
have access to?
• What do customers and competitors
perceive as your strengths?
B) Weaknesses - internal
• What can you improve?
• What marketing and business practices
should you avoid?
• What do customers and competitors
perceive as your weaknesses?
C) Opportunities - external
• What positive opportunities are you facing
now?
• What are the interesting trends that you
can take advantage of?
D) Threats - external
• What obstacles do you face?
• What is your competition doing?
• Are the specifications to your sector in
regard to how you market your product
and services changing?
• Can you weaknesses seriously threaten
your business?
#6 SWOT Analysis Overview
• Recap and examination of the internal
strengths and weaknesses and external
opportunities and threats determine the
appropriate course of action
• Action may include:
– Communications standards policy
– Product diversification
– Marketing strategy that captures a particular
target market
#7 Measurable Objectives
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Increase sales over year prior
Expansion of target market
Pricing incentives (discounts, bundles)
Introduce new product offering
Create new collateral
Concentration on existing customers
Re-brand
#8 Market and Brand Position
• Transform your passion into a position
• Be a big fish in a small pond
• Perceptual location of where your
product/service/project fits in the marketplace
• Identify your greatest strength and use it to
position and define your product/service/project
• Effective positioning puts you front of mind to
potential customers
• Key elements to positioning: price, value, quality,
service, distribution, packaging
#9 Market Share
• What is the size is the market for you
product/service/project offering?
• Identify your current market share over a
specified time period
• Define the potential market share your plan
aspires to over a specified time period
• To calculate your market share: your sales
divided by total sales of your industry over a
specified time period
• This metric is an indication of your relative
competitiveness
#10 Target Market
• Group of customers you are directing your
marketing efforts toward
• A well defined target market is critical in your
marketing strategy
• Key segmentation of target markets
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Geographic
Demographic
Psychographic (lifestyles)
Behavioural (occasions, loyalty)
• Primary and secondary target markets
#11 Marketing Objectives and
Strategies
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Creating experiential events and brand leveraging programs
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Great special events and activities engage the consumer creating an emotional connection with a
brand. Oceanview Garden Centre and Landscaping will produce special events that are integrated
into the marketing plan which will create long lasting memories with the target market.
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Oceanview Garden Centre and Landscaping will engage the consumer by placing gardening
lifestyle experiences face-to-face with the target market in a manner which reinforces the
Oceanview brand experience.
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Strategies
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Connect art and culture to the Oceanview brand – Artists by Nature
Show local art in retail areas
Live acoustic performances by local singer/song writers
On-site treasure hunts for children
Painting contests inspired by nature
Educational field trips for schools
Moonlight garden parties
Saturday BBQ’s
Halloween pumpkin carving
#12 The Marketing Mix
• The 4 P’s of Marketing
• Product – detailed description of your
product/service/project
• Promotion – tactics of your marketing plan.
Getting your product/service/project
known. The nuts and bolts of the
marketing plan
• Price – How much does it cost?
• Placement – distribution and location
#13 Critical Path/Project
Management
• Schedule and manage your marketing
plan
• Identify key tasks and when they must be
executed
• Identify interdependencies
• Many tools available to employ tasks and
schedule activities
• Outlook, Excel spread sheets, word docs,
Marcato, Base Camp
#14 Budget
• All marketing plans will be subject to your
marketing budget
• Although this will be the last page of your
plan it is the first thing you should consider
• SWOT analysis should serve as a useful
tool in determining what you can afford
and what low cost opportunities are
available to you