Marketing Plan

A Marketing Plan is a written document that details the actions necessary to achieve a specified marketing objective(s). It can be for a product or service, a brand, or a product line. It can cover one year (referred to as an annual marketing plan), or cover up to 5 years.

A marketing plan may be part of an overall business plan. In general terms, it must:

• describe and explain the current situation
  
  
• specify the expected results (objectives)
  
  
• identify the resources that will be needed (including financing, time, and skills)
  
  
• describe the actions that will need to be taken to achieve the objective(s)
  
  
• devise a method of monitoring results and adjusting the plan where necessary

There are many formats for marketing plans and every company does it a little different, but the outline that follows is a very complete format. Using this format will produce a 30 to 40 page plan.

Many companies prefer an abridged format that would yield a 10 to 20 page plan.

1. Title page
   
   
2. Executive Summary
   
   
3. Current Situation - Macroenvironment
• economy
• government
• legal
• technology
• ecological
• sociocultural
• supply chain
  
  
4. Current Situation - Market Analysis
   • market definition
   • market size
   • market segmentation
   • industry structure and strategic groupings
   • Porter 5 forces analysis
   • competition and market share
   • competitors' strengths and weaknesses
   • market trends
     
     
5. Current Situation - Consumer Analysis
   • nature of the buying decision
   • participants
   • demographics
   • psychographics
   • buyer motivation and expectations
   • loyalty segments
     
     
6. Current Situation - Internal
   
   • company resources
     • financial
     • people
     • time
     • skills
     • objectives
       
       
   • mission statement and vision statement
     • corporate objectives
     • financial objective
     • marketing objectives
     • long term objectives
       
       
   • corporate culture
     
     
7. Summary of Situation Analysis
• external threats
• external opportunities
• internal strengths
• internal weaknesses
• key success factors in the industry
• our sustainable competitive advantage
  
  
8. Marketing research
• information requirements
• research methodology
• research results
  
  
9. Marketing Strategy - Product
   • product mix
   • product strengths and weaknesses
     • perceptual mapping
   • product life cycle management and new product development
     Brand name, brand image, and brand equity
     the augmented product
   • product portfolio analysis
     • B.C.G. Analysis
     • contribution margin analysis
     • G.E. Multi Factoral analysis
     • Quality Function Deployment
       
       
10. Marketing Strategy - Market share objectives
• by products,
• by customer segments,
• by geographical markets
  
  
11. Marketing Strategy - Price
• pricing objectives
• pricing method (eg.: cost plus, demand based, or competitor indexing)
• pricing strategy (eg.: skimming, or penetration)
• discounts and allowances
• price elasticity and customer sensitivity
• price zoning
• break even analysis at various prices
  
  
12. Marketing Strategy - Promotion
• promotional goals
• promotional mix
• advertising reach, frequency, flights, theme, and media
• sales force requirements, techniques, and management
• sales promotion
• publicity and public relations
• electronic promotion (eg.: Web, or telephone)
  
  
13. Marketing Strategy - Distribution
• geographical coverage
• distribution channels
• physical distribution and logistics
• electronic distribution
  
  
14. Implementation
• personnel requirements assign responsibilities
• give incentives
• training on selling methods
• financial requirements
• management information systems requirements
• month-by-month agenda
• pert or critical path analysis
• monitoring results and benchmarks
• adjustment mechanism
• contingencies (What if's)
  
  
15. Financial Summary
• assumptions
• pro-forma monthly income statement
• contribution margin analysis
• breakeven analysis
• Monte Carlo analysis
  
  
16. Appendix
    • pictures and specifications of the new product
    • results from research already completed

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This article has been adapted from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

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