Lesson 5.1 –
What is the Marketing Plan?
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.1
What is the Marketing Plan?
It is a critical
planning tool for any
business, regardless
of industry
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Marketing Plan:
A written document that
provides direction for the
marketing activities for a
specific period of time
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.1
What is the Marketing Plan?
Marketing Plan

Provides direction for the organization by
defining goals and strategies

It communicates the goals,
objectives, and strategies of
a company to its employees
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.1
The Marketing Plan
Some marketing plans are prepared to be included as
part of a complete business plan with the goal of
obtaining financing from outside investors or bank for
a new venture
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.1
What is the Marketing Plan?
Complexity and Time Frame

The complexity of the plan is
determined by the size and type of the
organization

The plan is also influenced by the
organization’s goals and objectives
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.1
What is the Marketing Plan?
Complexity and Time Frame

The time period covered by the plan
also varies with organization size and type

A minor league sports franchise will
probably create a short term plan while a
major league team will create a long term
plan
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.1
What is the Marketing Plan?
Understanding the Market
 The product
 Existing market distribution
channels
 The consumer
 Buying trends
 The economy
 Target markets
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 Competitor performance
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.1
What is the Marketing Plan?
Competition refers to a rivalry
between two or more businesses
selling products or services to the
same customers or markets
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.1
What is the Marketing Plan?
When two or more businesses sell the same goods
or service, they are competing for the same
consumers. Competition impacts price points,
product features and marketing strategies
because businesses are fighting for an edge that
will persuade consumers to choose their products
or services over those of competitors.
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.1
What is the Marketing Plan?
Market share is a key indicator of how well one
company is performing against competitors within
the marketplace
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.1
Market Share
For example, Pandora has a the
majority of market share among
brands competing in streaming
music service market with much
discussion in 2014 as to how
Apple’s acquisition of Beats
music will influence competition
for users in the United States.
Pandora (31%)
iHeartRadio (9%)
iTunes radio (8%)
Spotify (6%)
Google Play (3%)
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.1
What is the Marketing Plan?
A monopoly occurs when there is no
competition in the marketplace
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.1
What is the Marketing Plan?
During the 2011 NBA lockout, the National Basketball
Association filed suit in a U.S. District Court in
Manhattan seeking a ruling that the lockout does not
violate antitrust laws while lawyers representing the
NBA Players Association have argued they regard the
league as a monopoly because players have no viable
alternatives for basketball employment in the United
States other than playing in the NBA
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.1
What is the Marketing Plan?
In 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court ushered in the
modern era of escalating media rights fees when it
declared the NCAA's control of football television
rights to be an illegal monopoly. Today, schools that
30 years ago received less than $1 million a year from
television can generate $20 million or more a year in
revenue from the sale of television rights.
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.1
What is the Marketing Plan?
A lawsuit alleged that EA Sports had "engaged in
unlawful and anti-competitive agreements that nearly
doubled the price of its popular game, Madden NFL,
drove competition out of the market and prevented
new competitors from entering." The company settled
in 2012 for $27 million but only with respect to their
NCAA and Arena football licensing agreements, not its
Madden franchise.
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.1
What is the Marketing Plan?
According to the LA Times, in discussing a lawsuit
brought against Time Warner by the city of Los
Angeles for other alleged improprieties, “Time
Warner is the company that created a monopoly in
game coverage with the Dodgers that will
essentially shut out broadcast watchers and DirecTV
subscribers from seeing the team.”
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.1
What is the Marketing Plan?
Types of Competition

Direct competition occurs between sellers of
similar products and services

Indirect competition occurs between sellers
that compete for the same share of
consumers’ discretionary income
(competition for the entertainment dollar)
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.1
What is the Marketing Plan?
It is possible for some products and
services to compete directly at times and
indirectly at others
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.1
What is the Marketing Plan?
Watching games in HD
on television rather
than attending the
game in person
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Substitute Products:
products (or services)
that consumers may
choose to use rather
than a particular
company’s product
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
Lesson 5.2 - Components
of an Effective Marketing Plan
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.2
Key components of an effective
marketing plan:
1) Mission Statement
2) Executive Summary
3) Situation or S.W.O.T. Analysis
4) Marketing Goals / Objectives
5) Market Research / Marketing Strategies
6) Implementation
7) Evaluation and Control
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.2
Key components of an effective
marketing plan (could also include):
1) Table of contents
2) Problem identification statement
3) Communication and/or publicity plan
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.2
The Mission Statement
The majority of
marketing strategies are
founded on the basis of
the mission statement
content
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Mission Statement:
A written statement that
captures an
organization’s purpose,
customer orientation and
business philosophy
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The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.3
The Mission Statement
The mission statement should address
the following questions:

What business are we currently in?

Who are our current customers?

What is the scope of our market?

How do we currently meet the needs of our
customers?
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.3
The Mission Statement
To be effective, the mission statement
should also:

Be shared with and supported by
company employees

Explain why the organization exists
and what it hopes to achieve
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.2
The Executive Summary
The executive summary
highlights key
information within the
document
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Executive Summary:
Provides an overview of
the complete plan
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The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.2
The Situation (S.W.O.T.) Analysis
S
Strengths
W
Weaknesses
O
Opportunities
T
Threats
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.2
Marketing Goals & Objectives
Why are goals and objectives important?
Goals and objectives identify what the
company hopes to achieve with the
marketing plan and a timeline for
which the plan is to be carried out
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.2
Marketing Goals & Objectives
Effective objectives follow the S.M.A.R.T criteria
Specific
Measurable
Action-oriented
Realistic
Time bound
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The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.2
Implementation
Implementation refers to the
process of putting the marketing plan
into action
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The Marketing Plan
LESSON 5.2
Evaluation and Control
The evaluation phase determines
whether the plan achieved the desired
results
The controlling process refers to the
adjustments required to achieve desired
results where initial efforts did not
already succeed
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC