Model Marketing Plan
Prepared by:
Center for Employment Security Education and Research
444 N. Capitol St. NW
Suite 142
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 434-8020
BACKGROUND
The background contains a brief description of your organization, the business you are conducting, and a general
summary of key data. It may also contain a description of noteworthy facts and trends relating to the market, distribution
and competition.
Current Assessment
You will want to do a brief assessment of how you are doing in the market. This also includes a "look forward" by
forecasting your organization's market size and business growth under "normal conditions" (i.e., if no marketing efforts
occur, what will the size and growth be). You can obtain this data by using past information on size and growth while your
organization has not been marketing.
Opportunities and Threats
This section identifies the main opportunities and threats in the external environment facing your organization. Some
examples are:
Opportunities
1. The labor market is tight so employers are looking for new ways to attract job seekers.
2. A large company is moving into our area and will be hiring 300 people.
Threats
1. Electronic labor exchange is playing a larger role, and we are late in developing electronic tools.
2. A new federal safety regulation has angered employers who now want nothing to do with government.
Strengths and Weaknesses
This section identifies the main internal strengths and weaknesses of your organization. Some examples are:
Strengths
1. We have a large infrastructure including offices in every community.
2. We can provide a wide variety of employment and training services to our customers.
Weaknesses
1. Funding sources are inflexible and dedicated to certain customer populations.
2. Our brand is not well known.
OBJECTIVES AND GOALS
The purpose of developing objectives and goals is to identify where the organization should go. Often they are created in
conjunction with upper management and reflect the mission and vision of the organization. Ideas for objectives and goals
are:
Objective 1: Maintain the service identity of the organization in the marketplace.
Depending upon prevailing economic conditions, the organization will promote the host of services that are in most
demand at the time. These services range from:
A. Providing employment information to those seeking new job opportunities including the under-employed or the
unemployed;
B. Reinforcing the concept within the business community that the organization is an asset in their quest to find quality job
applicants, especially in a competitive labor market environment; and
C. Promoting the training and assistance programs that are adequately funded to help recently displaced workers,
customers on assistance facing welfare time limits or people who need to raise their income in order to become
completely self-sufficient.
Objective 2: Gain market share by getting more businesses to post job openings with the organization.
A major motivation behind this objective is to improve the image of the organization and use existing business customers
who are happy with the services of the organization to "testify" to other employers concerning the positive benefits of
doing business with the organization. This will be accomplished by:
A. Highlighting specific large companies that use the organization for job matching, demonstrating their trust and use of
the organization.
B. Alerting job seekers that employment is available at these particular businesses and to visit a local employment office
in order to apply for a position. This, in turn, should increase the number of job seeker registrations for all employers.
C. Working toward cooperative advertising opportunities with companies to maximize resources. This would allow
potential expansion of organization advertising through outside funding while highlighting progressive companies in the
area.
Objective 3: Identify complimentary employment, training and supportive services programs in the community where
partnerships can be developed.
There are new partnerships that can be developed at the community level with providers of employment-related services,
both public and private, that would complement the organization's programs while enhancing the overall quality of service.
Examples include involvement with area school districts that provide adult education classes or non-profits that provide
services for those initially entering the labor market. The organization will also actively encourage each individual
department employee to involve herself or himself in voluntary community service.
MARKETING STRATEGY
The marketing strategy describes the "game plan" by which the organization hopes to emerge victorious. Marketing
strategy usually consists of three things:
Target Markets
This is where the organization identifies the various segments of the market and then allocates its effort and energy to
those market segments it can serve best from a competitive point of view.
Marketing Mix
In a private sector company, the marketing mix is made up of product, price, place and promotion. While the public sector
can differ dramatically from the private sector in such items as price, it is still important to examine the variables and make
decisions. These decisions, in turn, will affect such things as how much advertising to buy, how many employer sales
representatives the organization should have, and how much assessment and survey work should occur to evaluate the
market.
Marketing Expenditures
This is a broad allocation of resources--a general budget. Based on the marketing mix, an organization can dedicate
certain resources to tasks marketing managers want to accomplish.
MARKETING PROGRAM
The marketing strategy must be turned into a set of specific actions for accomplishing marketing goals. These actions can
include front-line sales initiatives, paid advertising strategies, earned media approaches, and promotional opportunities.
When outlining the marketing strategy, a useful approach is to identify what you are trying to accomplish and how it fits
into your objectives and goals, what your target audience is, what the key benefits are, what the creative strategy is, how
much money is being allocated to the specific activity and what the timeline for the activity is. This ties in the items
identified above so that you have a cohesive plan. The following example is a paid advertising campaign that fits into the
overall marketing strategy:
Employer and Job Seeker Advertising Campaign
Objective:
The purpose of the campaign is to generate interest in the variety of employment services offered by the organization.
The appeal of this particular advertising motif is that it will reach out to both businesses and job seekers. As an inherent
bonus, associating the organization with respected businesses will also enhance the image of the organization among the
general public.
Target Audience:
Due to the universality of this type of promotion, target audiences will include both businesses and job seekers. The
following is a more detailed synopsis:
(1) Job Seekers: Using demographic data, targeted job seekers primarily include adults between the ages of 18 to 34
and females between the ages of 25 to 44. These age groups possess the greatest amount of potential in terms of finding
additional labor force participants. Further, the majority of positions that the organization posts are entry level openings. A
younger age demographic more easily fits the types of jobs currently available and in great demand.
Age 25 to 54 females are specifically targeted under the premise that there is more potential for labor participation with
this group. A number of women may have stayed at home to raise children and support their families, but are now
available because the children are older. Some of these individuals may have been previously employed and need to
visually see opportunities that are present. This group could represent the organization's best hope of developing a
sustainable, available and educated workforce for area employers.
(2) Employers: Using demographic data, employers are primarily adults between the ages of 35 to 54, and are identified
on survey mechanisms as "Managers, Proprietors, Owners, and Personnel Managers."
Businesses will provide their "testimonial" for the organization by showing that their primary hiring occurs through local
employment offices, then other employers inquire about placing job orders. If the economy slows, these relationships will
help the organization place job seekers in a tight labor market.
Key Benefit:
Targeting job seekers will ideally reduce the number of individuals who are out of work by acting as a catalyst for getting
the unemployed and under-employed into employment offices for assistance. Doing so simultaneously lowers potential
expenditures for unemployment compensation and public assistance programs. The ads must portray, through
highlighting interesting jobs, that employment assistance is available and that individuals can meet their employment
goals.
Targeting employers will primarily show that we exist to serve businesses in our community. It will promote good
companies and highlight the symbiotic relationship that can occur between the organization and the business community.
This campaign is intended to be an ongoing way to expose certain employers' jobs to the general public, while showing
that the organization has the ability to foster the connection between employers and job seekers.
Creative Strategy:
In the past, advertising has been focused on internal services with the hope that making the public aware of our combined
services would be a motivating force driving individuals into centers and encouraging job orders from the business
community. Over the last year, the job orders have climbed in some measure attributable to various marketing efforts.
However, most advertising strategies must evolve in order for them to maintain a level of effectiveness.
A strategy currently under development will potentially address the needs of both the job seeker and the employer. Using
contacts from our employment offices, key area employers will be identified for soliciting their participation in this new
advertising campaign. These are employers that are already satisfied with the level of service they receive from the
organization as evidenced by the repeat business they give to the agency. A series of "testimonial ads" will be developed
where little known details concerning interesting company jobs will be revealed to the viewing and listening audience. A
narrator will explain various jobs that are available, and how obtaining these jobs is done through "the quality and
professional service of the organization."
These ads work on several levels. First, they get the viewer's attention because they reveal something about a company
most people might not know. Second, due to the various companies involved, the appearance of the ads will constantly be
changing while the message will remain the same. This keeps the campaign fresh and viable for use well into the future.
Third, the ads identify the organization with winning businesses, businesses in many instances that have already spent a
considerable amount of money promoting their images.
Budget Allocation:
Television $50,000
Radio $25,000
Newspaper $5,000
Activity Time Line:
June: Contact employment offices to identify key employers. Make personal calls to names on contact list and set up in
person meetings to explain concept.
July: Develop preliminary scripts to review with business partners. Revise scripts to prepare for next phase.
August: Shoot ads.
September: Media campaign begins.
ASSESSING SUCCESS
You will want to develop success measures to monitor the success and progress of marketing efforts and have a basis to
justify future expenditures to management. Defining measures can be difficult and you must define the right questions and
processes by which to collect information.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Don't be shy! Highlight your past year's marketing successes. This gives you a reminder of the impact your work is having
and provides a basis for future activities.