Mastering Marketing Plans: Key Components and Benefits

1. Indicator 1.03 Employ marketing-information to develop a marketing plan

2. Define the term marketing plan. • A written document that specifies how, where, and to whom a business plans to market its product(s) and/or brand(s). • A small business typically creates a one-year marketing plan. • Larger business may develop five-year marketing plans. • A marketing plan may be part of a more comprehensive business plan.

3. Explain benefits associated with having a marketing plan. • Can help to define a business and its goals • Can serve as a roadmap to guide business actions and decision-making • Can help a business to focus on its target market • Can act as a measuring stick against which to measure business performance • Can unite business employees toward common goals and make employees feel like part of a cohesive team • Captures people’s thoughts and ideas in writing

4. Identify the components of a marketing plan. • Executive Summary • Situation Analysis • Marketing Goals and Objectives • Marketing Strategies • Implementation Plan • Evaluation and Control

5. Describe the purposes of each marketing-plan component: • Executive summary • The executive summary contains a brief overview of the marketing plan. It focuses only on the most important points of the plan.

6. Describe the purposes of each marketing-plan component: • Situation analysis • The situation analysis is an assessment of where the organization currently stands both internally and externally. To develop this assessment, much analysis must be done: an external analysis, a customer analysis, an internal analysis, and a SWOT analysis. The organization’s product(s), target markets, distribution channels, competitors, finances, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats must all be considered.

7. Describe the purposes of each marketing-plan component: • Marketing goals and objectives • The marketing goals define what the business hopes to accomplish. The marketing objectives, which should be measurable and specific, spell out how to meet those goals.

8. Describe the purposes of each marketing-plan component: • Marketing strategies section • The marketing strategies component of the marketing plan provides detailed information about the organization’s target markets and planned marketing mix (product, price, place, and promotion).

9. Describe the purposes of each marketing-plan component: • Implementation plan • The implementation plan explains what the company must do to accomplish its goals and objectives. More specifically, the implementation plan should note the time, personnel, actions, and financial resources needed to reach these company goals and objectives.

10. Describe the purposes of each marketing-plan component: • Evaluation and control section • The evaluation and control section contains performance standards against which to measure the marketing plan and company performance.