A marketing plan is an example of a service industry. How to create an effective marketing promotion plan for your product, service, company

What describes simple truths, is not written in one day, and can increase sales hundreds of times? Yes, this is a marketing plan for promoting a company. Your customers will buy from you again and again, and your competitors will envy you. Want to learn how to create an effective marketing plan? Then this article is for you.

Marketing plan: why do most companies ignore the development of a marketing strategy?

Because they spend more time on financial and production plans, while it is the marketing plan that determines what your revenue will be this year.

A well-written marketing plan for a company answers the following questions:

how to reduce production costs;
how and where to attract new customers;
how not to miss old customers;
what new directions the company should master, etc.

A marketing promotion plan is a real tool to reduce costs and increase company profits! Officially, a market promotion plan can be described as follows: a marketing plan is a set of planned decisions, drawn up in the form of a document, compatible with other plans of the company and included in the business plan of the company.

This plan can have both short-term and long-term goals, and the plan itself can be written on either 1 or 50 pages, depending on the size of the company and the goals pursued.

If the company lacks marketing, then this leads to:

failures caused by spontaneous and thoughtless decisions;
conflicts between departments;
uncertainty in development (the company simply does not know who its target audience is);
randomness in procurement, diversification of forces and concentration of efforts.

The goal of a promotional marketing plan is to deliver and achieve the company's goals. Without customized marketing, the company lacks an elementary systematization of ideas.

It all depends on the size of the company. Large firms develop a marketing plan annually, and its development itself is included in the company's strategic plan. The plan is drawn up for 3-6 years and is adjusted every year taking into account changes in the market. The advertising plan is especially strongly adjusted.

If your company is small, then you can determine the frequency of the marketing plan yourself and it depends on the needs of your company in it. For small firms, a SWOT analysis is usually sufficient.

The elements of the strategy, which are approved in the plan every year, undergo annual changes, supported by new tactics, goals and methods of implementation. With any major changes in the market, the company always changes the position of the product, and the position of the product, in turn, changes the entire marketing plan.

How to draw up a marketing plan for promoting a product

Let's look at what the process of compiling a marketing plan for promoting a company consists of. It is worth noting that it always includes several stages and almost all of them are mandatory, because the market needs to be considered from all sides.

Planning phase	Description
Analyzing market trends	At first glance, it seems that you are already aware of everything that happens on the market, but this is not entirely true. Carefully analyze the trends in both your field of activity and the general market (later, general market trends will help you compose an advertisement). Evaluate what has changed in the habits of customers, how they relate to the quality of the product and its cost, as well as how it is now "fashionable" to package the goods.
We analyze the product itself	Here you need to be as honest as possible, because your brainchild will have to be compared with the product of competitors. Take a sober look at the shortcomings: perhaps your product is too expensive, poor quality, simple ... Also find the strengths of the product or service that you offer. Understand why consumers love it and why they could love it even more.
Choosing a target audience	It's good when you already know your target customer. And what if not? If your company successfully exists on the market for at least six months, then it will not be difficult to determine the target audience, because most of them are your regular customers.
We determine the positioning of the product and its benefits	The point is similar to the 2nd stage of drawing up a plan, however, here you must use your imagination: what could your ideal product be? How to make it attractive? Here is the product development vector for you now.
Thinking about strategy	You figured out competitors, product positioning and target audience. It's time to start understanding how to act. Develop a product promotion strategy. Think about how you can improve or expand the range, how to promote the product to the market, what kind of advertising to launch.
We draw up a plan for 1-5 years (depending on the scale)	When you know everything, then write down the action strategy for the months. Write down specific dates, numbers, the ideal you are striving for.

If you do everything right, then your plan will solve the following tasks:

will give a complete description of the situation in which the company is now, including a SWOT analysis (analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the product);
an activity plan regarding the promotion of goods for the next 1-5 years with a detailed description of actions by months;
budget for promotion;
control over the implementation of the plan.

How to evaluate the effectiveness of the plan? It's not nearly as easy as you might think. On the one hand, if you do not know how effective the promotion according to the plan turned out to be, you cannot help but improve, correct the plan. And it is necessary to improve and adjust it, because the plan is rewritten and adjusted every year. On the other hand, those methods that are easiest to measure performance will hit your company's budget very hard. If you are not ready to spend money on evaluating the plan, then you can use cheaper methods.

For example, you can conduct a survey among your customers about how they heard about you. Thus, you can evaluate how successful the advertising campaign was, as well as how correctly you chose the target audience. Another type of survey is a telephone survey, during which you can find out from customers such points as their attitude towards the product, and whether they want to purchase the product from you again or not.

If you don't want to conduct a survey, then try comparing sales before and after implementing your marketing plan strategies. You can compare costs, scrap rates and other financial aspects of the company - changes in them can also be caused by the implementation of techniques according to the product development plan.

Outsourcing is not always profitable. Of course, if you absolutely lack the competence to make a plan on your own, or if you don’t have a marketing department that should deal with it, then you should think about contacting an outsourcing company. Remember how to choose it correctly:

check how long the company has been on the market;
read the reviews, it's important;
evaluate the number of employees and the scale of the business: the larger the outsourcing company, the better.

Interesting fact: Even if the reviews about the outsourcing company are only laudatory, this does not mean that your project will be completed with a bang. Most likely, the specialist will follow the pattern, and although the marketing plan will look solid, in reality it may not work. Moreover, having trained for you, tomorrow the outsourcer will offer services to your competitor (see).

Drawing up a marketing plan on the side is preferable if your company is not going to be in the market for many years. An outsourcer is just right for “one-time” projects.

So, if you decide that you have somewhere to raise profits, then drawing up a marketing plan will be the surest step. You make it yourself, or entrust it to specialists - it's up to you. However, do not forget that the company's market presence plan must be combined with financial and production plans.

A company's marketing plan is a blueprint that outlines its overall marketing strategy for the coming year. It must indicate who you are positioning your products for, how you will sell it to the target category of buyers, what techniques you will use to attract new customers and increase sales. The purpose of a marketing plan is to outline in detail how to market your products and services to your target market.

Steps

Part 1

Conducting a situational analysis

Consider the goals of your company. The purpose of a situational analysis is to understand the current marketing situation your company is in. Based on this understanding, you can think through and implement the necessary changes in the business. Start by addressing the company's mission and goals (if your company doesn't already have these, they need to be defined first) and see if your current marketing plan is helping you achieve those goals.

For example, your company performs snow removal and other related winter activities. You have set yourself the goal of increasing revenue by 10% through the conclusion of new contracts. Do you have a marketing plan that describes how you can attract additional contracts? If a plan exists, is it effective?

Examine your current marketing strengths and weaknesses. How is your company currently attractive to customers? What makes competing companies attractive to customers? It is very likely that it is your strengths that attract buyers to you. Knowing your strengths gives you an important marketing advantage.

Gather information about external opportunities and threats to your company. They will be external characteristics of the company, depending on competition, fluctuations in market factors, as well as on customers and buyers. The goal is to identify the various factors that can affect the business. This will then allow you to adjust your marketing plan accordingly.

Designate responsible persons. When preparing your marketing plan, you will need to assign individuals responsible for specific aspects of your company's market promotion. Think about which employees will be best able to perform specific functions of the marketing policy, and determine their responsibilities. You will also need to consider a system for evaluating the success of these job responsibilities.

Announce your marketing goals. What do you want to achieve with your marketing plan? Do you see the end goal as expanding your customer base, informing existing customers about new services and quality improvements, expanding into other regions or demographics, or something entirely different? It is your goals that will form the basis for preparing the plan.

Develop marketing strategies to achieve your goals. Once you have clearly defined your marketing goals and perspectives, you will need to consider specific actions to achieve them. There are many different types of marketing strategies, but the most common ones are listed below.

Approve the budget. You may have great ideas to promote your business and expand your customer base, but with a limited budget, you may need to partially rethink your strategy. The budget should be realistic and reflect both the current state of the business and its potential growth in the future.

Part 4

Marketing plan preparation

Start with an explanatory note. This section of the marketing plan should include basic information about your products or services, as well as a summary of the overall content of the entire document in one or two paragraphs of text. The priority preparation of an explanatory note will allow you to subsequently expand and describe in more detail certain points in the main text of the document.

Know that the prepared marketing plan is extremely useful to give for familiarization both to the direct employees of your company and its consultants.

Describe the target market. The second section of the marketing plan will address the results of your research and describe the company's target market. The text should not be written in complex language, indicating simple key points will be enough. You can start by describing the demographics of your market (including the age, gender, location, and industry of your customers, if applicable), and then move on to identifying your customers' top preferences for your products or services.
List your goals. This section should not exceed one page of text. It must indicate the marketing goals of the company for the coming year. Remember that the goals you set must satisfy five qualities: be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely.

Be sure to include in your marketing plan the needs and ideas for each department in your company (and even an employee, if appropriate). It is also very important that the marketing plan is linked and well integrated with the business plan and mission of the company, its public image and core values.
Include in your marketing plan any tables, graphs, etc. that you need to create in the process of collecting important information. In addition, it will be useful to include tables explaining its key provisions in the plan.

Warnings

Revise the marketing plan at least once a year to check the success of the strategies used and to redo those parts of the plan that were unsuccessful.
Many of the critical factors in a marketing plan are dynamic. If they change over time, the marketing plan needs to be revised.

A good plan is half done!
Jewish wisdom

Marketing Action Plan

Jim Rohn always said: Never start a day if it hasn't already been planned out on paper! And this has become the rule of all successful business people.

I, in turn, slightly paraphrased the rule of the great psychologist, and I always advise my clients: never start marketing if you do not have a regular marketing plan. Otherwise, you risk being left without customers and without money!

It is important to understand that marketing is not about individual tricks, tricks and tools!

Marketing is a daily painstaking system work. And if you want your marketing to be effective, it needs to be carefully planned.

A marketing calendar will help you with this, which will display a plan of marketing activities with specific goals, expected results and an established budget. Creating it is not as difficult as it seems at first glance. You will only need to complete 7 steps.

Let's look at each of them.

Note: At the end of the article there is a link to a marketing calendar template that you can download to your computer and start using in your work.

#1 - Choice of planning tools

You can plan in different ways.

Someone the old fashioned way, can use a notepad. Some people prefer to use Excel. And some will like specialized software.

In fact, it doesn't matter which way you choose. The main thing is the created marketing plan.

There are several free, simple, but no less effective ways to create and maintain a marketing calendar:

Google docs. Online Excel spreadsheets that allow multiple users to work in them at once. Great for team work.
Evernote. An online notebook that's also great for teamwork. On the plus side, you can save and structure any notes regarding your marketing plan. Of the minuses - all calculations will need to be done manually.
Trello. Another great tool for teamwork. Allows you to pull documents from Google docs and create cards with tasks and subtasks, as well as assign responsible persons.

If you want to use specialized professional software, I recommend paying attention to the following applications:

#2 - Drawing up a sales plan

The key task of marketing in absolutely any company (except for charities) is to fulfill the sales plan and receive the planned profit. And you should always remember this!

We will not dwell on the topic of sales planning now, but you should know exactly what financial indicators you want to achieve in each month.

Your marketing budget and the marketing channels you use will depend on this.

Planning Methods

There are three main planning methods:

top-down planning
bottom-up planning
planning "goals down - plan up" (goals down-plans up planning)

In the first case, the company's management independently sets goals and develops plans for its sales department.

In the second case, the sales department develops its own goals and plans, which are sent to management for approval.

In the third case, the company's management develops goals and indicators for the development of distribution. Based on these data, the sales department draws up a plan, as well as a list of resources needed to fulfill the plan. Plans and resources are reviewed and approved by management.

As practice shows, the third method is the most effective.

Although, unfortunately, most distribution companies work according to the first method.

Usually the sales plan descends from the business owner to the commercial director, from the commercial director to the head of the sales department, from the head of the department to the senior manager (or supervisor) to the sales managers. Of course, this chain may change depending on the structure of the sales department in the company, but the principle of planning remains unchanged.

Why is this happening?

The answer is quite simple: top management always acts as an investor.

At the same time, having information about the average % rate on deposits, management expects its business to grow at least 2 times more than the average rate. Otherwise, the deposit is a more attractive and profitable investment.

Lower-level managers almost never think about the value of money, so top management rarely trusts them with planning.

What usually happens in top-down planning?

In most cases, top-down planning stimulates the shifting of responsibility and the development of protest thinking in sales managers. That is, having seen their sales plan for the month, managers begin to look for reasons and arguments why this plan is too high and unfulfillable. Any increase in the plan is perceived by them not as an opportunity to increase their income, but as a desire of management to reduce their salary.

But the root of the problem lies elsewhere: the manager is only comparing last month's sales plan with the current plan.

If the figure of the current plan is higher, the manager perceives it as a whim of the management, and no more. And he continues to work carelessly, without thinking about what is needed to complete the plan.

Believe me, only a few managers with this approach to planning try to figure out how they can increase sales. They will always expect that since management puts up plans, then it should give the resources to carry it out, as well as tell you how to carry out the plan.

At the same time, if any measure proposed by management turns out to be ineffective, it will automatically turn into an alibi for the manager why he did not fulfill the plan. Naturally, after that, the manager will demand an adjustment to the plan.

Therefore, I consider this approach to planning ineffective.

On the other hand, if planning is completely left to managers, there is a high probability that managers will simply underestimate their performance. Which, in turn, naturally will not please the management, and it will lower its plan to the sales department.

To avoid eternal problems with planning, the "targets down, plan up" method is used.

Why planning is effective Goals down - plans up

It is important to note that this approach to planning is closely intertwined with the company's development strategy. It involves the involvement of each sales manager in the process of planning sales for the year (with the distribution of sales for each month) for each group of goods.

Thus, each manager independently sets up an annual sales plan, which is then approved by the management.

Here are just a few pros for the Goals Down-Plans Up method:

Managers independently analyze monthly sales by key product groups in the context of the last 2 years.

Thus, they clearly understand the presence of seasonality in sales and can determine the ratio of seasonal rise and fall. Which, of course, will help to more accurately predict sales for the next year.

Managers analyze indicators of quantitative and qualitative distribution. Which, in turn, allows you to analyze:

The number of outlets that do not have a top range. Entering the best-selling items in these outlets will definitely increase the average order, and, accordingly, sales.
Assortment matrices for each client. This analysis is very important for distribution companies, but very few managers do it.

First of all, this analysis helps identify high turnover positions. It is on them that you should focus when launching marketing activities.

Secondly, it shows low-turnover positions that affect the overall turnover rate of the assortment. After all, it is precisely on the basis of the total turnover of the assortment that customers demand a deferred payment.

For the manager, the priority is the rotation of low-turnover positions, which, in turn, affects the improvement of the overall turnover of the assortment, and allows you to get additional sales.

Sales "like to like".

This indicator is also very important for the correct preparation of a strategic plan.

For example, in March last year, the manager worked with 100 outlets, the sales volume of which amounted to 100,000 USD. In March of this year, an additional 10 outlets were opened on the territory of the manager. At the same time, the volume of sales in all 110 outlets amounted to 110,000 USD. Knowing that these 10 outlets made a purchase of 20,000 USD, we see that sales for the same customer base fell by 10,000 USD.

Thus, despite the overall apparent increase in sales compared to the same period of the previous year, the “like to like” analysis shows its decline.

For the manager, this is an occasion to deal with the reasons for the fall, as well as to determine the potential for sales growth.

Managers plan the necessary resources for sales growth.

Knowing the potential and needs of their customers, managers can draw up a list of effective measures aimed at increasing sales and distribution performance. Owning the data on the effectiveness of previous promotions, the manager can correctly predict in which month it is better to hold events and what increase they will give to sales.

Based on this data, the manager can also create an approximate marketing budget for the year, which will help management evaluate the effectiveness of investments in sales development.

Elements of planning

The main elements of planning are listed below:

Sales data for each product group for each month for the previous 2 years
These data are necessary so that the manager, firstly, sees the growth or decline trends for each product group, and, secondly, can correctly make a sales forecast for each month of the next year.
Market expectations and trends
Market expectations can adjust sales plans, both up and down.
Information about the seasonality of products
If the product has a pronounced seasonal character, then naturally the manager needs to know how much sales grow during the season, and, accordingly, how much they fall in the off-season.
Marketing activity plan
Any marketing activity has its own performance indicators. The sales manager needs to draw up a calendar of marketing events based on the performance indicators of previous promotions in order to stimulate sales growth as much as possible.
The emergence of new products in the assortment of the company
Of course, new products can increase a company's sales and should be included in the plan from the moment a new product enters the company's portfolio.
Client business development strategy
In strategic planning, it is important for every manager to take into account the development of their clients in the coming year. Opening branches (stores), entering new markets, changing owners - all these factors can affect the increase in sales, or decrease due to the deterioration of the financial condition of customers.
Information about the planned price increase
Very often, sharp price increases have the effect of increasing sales in the month that the price increase occurs, and further reducing sales in subsequent months. It is important for a manager to have this information in order to predict personal sales volume as accurately as possible.

After filling in the data, the manager receives a detailed sales plan for the year for each product group in the context of each month. A key feature of this planning approach is that managers take into account all factors that can affect both growth and decline in sales.

In most cases, managers find many new opportunities to increase sales and distribution. Also, how correctly and competently the plan will be drawn up will be an indicator of the professionalism and competence of this manager.

Naturally, the approval of the strategic plan will remain with the top management. It is desirable that the manager "defend" his plan to management, as well as the amount of resources and investments needed to achieve it. Then it will be much easier to make changes to the drawn up plan, since the management will only have to point out factors that the sales manager could not pay attention to.

After the sales plan is approved, the entire company receives both its development strategy for the year and the necessary resources to achieve its goals.

In order to ensure that plans do not remain just numbers on paper, each sales manager needs to compare actual sales results with planned sales on a monthly basis. This will help you see deviations from the plan for each product group. Thus, each manager will be able to quickly understand the reasons for the failure in any of the areas and improve their performance.

Also, the analysis of current indicators helps to evaluate the effectiveness of marketing activities. Based on the data on actual sales, it will be possible to abandon ineffective marketing activities and reallocate the budget.

Monthly analysis will regularly show how well the annual planning was done and how effective the planned marketing activities were.

Quarterly plan adjustment

With the help of monthly analysis, the sales team will be able to understand which customers are growing or falling in sales, as well as determine the factors that affect these deviations. It is important to understand that no planning is perfect.

No one can be 100% secure against the aggressive actions of competitors, the emergence of new strong players in the market, the economic situation in the country, and the bankruptcy of clients. Definitely, these factors must be taken into account, and changes should be made to the strategic plan once a quarter.

At the same time, when making adjustments, the manager must answer the following questions:

How long will the emerging factors affect the growth / decrease in sales?
Are there additional opportunities/risks to increase/decrease sales volume?
How can you resist the emerging negative factors and what investments are needed for this?
How likely is it that sales-influencing factors will emerge in the near future?

#3 - Choice of Marketing Channels

Choosing marketing channels is one of the most difficult tasks.

First, you need to know exactly the performance of each channel. This will allow you to accurately predict how much sales each channel is able to generate.

Secondly, you will need to properly allocate your marketing budget to get the most out of your marketing investment. When allocating your budget, always keep the 80/20 rule in mind and invest most of it in the most effective marketing channels.

Thirdly, you will be able to correctly plan your resource costs (time, money, etc.), and determine what you can do yourself (if you are an individual entrepreneur), what your team (marketing department) can do, and what should be given for outsourcing.

Fourth, always add new marketing channels to your plan. Test them and measure the results. Effective - leave in the marketing calendar, ineffective - discard!

#4 - Setting goals for each channel and distribution of the sales plan

Not all marketing channels can immediately generate sales.

If, for example, you make a special offer to your regular customers and throw it in the mailing list, you can safely expect that a certain % will immediately take advantage of your offer.

It all depends on the degree of readiness of the client to buy.

Therefore, next to each marketing channel you decide to use, clear and measurable goals should be written, in addition to the expected sales plan.

Each channel can have its own goals:

For a billboard, the main metric might be the number of calls to your office. For guest blogging, the number of clicks to your site. An advertisement placed with partners has the number of new customers.

By analyzing the fulfillment of goals, you can find your problem areas in the sales system and customer generation.

Accordingly, you will need to think carefully about the stages "Like"(design, usability, content, customer focus) and "Build Trust"(reviews, recommendations, evidence, value and quality of materials).

Definitely, these stages are the weakest links in your client generation system. Think about what can be improved at each stage, find out the opinion of your customers, and be sure to correct the mistakes.

#5 - Budget Allocation

The next step is the distribution of the budget.

Many companies approach the formation of a marketing budget chaotically, allocating small amounts to 1-2 marketing channels.

This principle is fundamentally wrong.

Your pricing should initially include % of the marketing budget that you will use on a monthly basis. With this amount you are ready to part no matter what!

Therefore, if you do not yet have a marketing budget, determine right now what% of sales (or profits) you will reinvest in marketing every month.

Once the budget is in place, your next task is to allocate it to the marketing channels. The principle of distribution is very simple: choose 20% of the channels that provide 80% of sales, and invest 80% of your budget in them.

15% - remaining used but less effective marketing channels
5% - new marketing channels that you have not used before

Why, in this way?

Firstly, there are no marketing channels that are guaranteed to be equally effective for every company (otherwise, everyone would have been millionaires a long time ago :-D). Everything needs to be tested and verified.

If you don't use different marketing channels and experiment regularly, you run the risk of never learning about the channels that could bring your company a good profit.

Secondly, there is a good folk saying: "Don't cut the goose that lays the golden eggs."

This means that in no case should you reduce the budget for the most effective marketing channels!

No. 6 - Appointment of responsible persons

The distribution and consolidation of areas of responsibility is the next step in creating an effective marketing plan. You must clearly understand who is responsible for what. Otherwise, you run the risk of finding yourself in a situation where everyone is responsible for everything, and, at the same time, everyone is not responsible for anything.

If you have a marketing department, list the person in charge next to each channel. Talk to him about the goals, deadlines, budget and expected sales result. Make sure your marketer understands you correctly.

If you work with partners, be sure to agree on specific actions that the partner must complete and specific deadlines (for example, an advertising post in the partner's Facebook group should be published on Monday, July 14 at 11.30. It should be pinned to the top of all publications and hang for 3 days).

If you use any outsourced services, use the same principle.

You should always know who you can turn to if any agreement is not kept. Or who you can ask for results if a marketing campaign fails.

#7 - Performance Analysis

Analysis of the effectiveness of marketing channels is the final element in the marketing planning system.

You need to know how many new customers and how much sales each channel generates for you. How much is it costing you. How much does each dollar invested bring you. What is the payback period and return on investment.

Knowing all these indicators, you will be able to use your marketing budget as efficiently as possible.

Therefore, monthly sum up the results of the use of each marketing channel: measure key indicators, look at the volume of sales and the achievement of goals, evaluate the effectiveness.

Based on the findings, you will always know how and how efficiently your budget is being used. You will also be able to identify and reject unprofitable and ineffective marketing channels.

Summing up

A marketing plan is one of the key elements in any company's strategy. Lack of planning very often leads to the fact that investments in marketing become ineffective and unprofitable.

The marketing action plan allows you to correctly plan the volume of sales, distribute it to each marketing channel, set goals and allocate the budget. And regular work on the plan allows the company to identify and invest exclusively in the most effective marketing channels.

The management of the company is called upon to perform a complex of the most important functions: setting goals, developing plans, policies, methods, strategies and tactics. Managers organize and coordinate, lead and control, serve as a driving force and a link. Planning is just one of these functions, but one of the most important: the action plan, or business plan, of the company directs the activities of the company as a whole.

The marketing plan is an essential part of a company's plan, and the marketing planning process should be carried out as part of the firm's overall planning and budgeting process.

There are a number of different approaches to planning. In traditional planning, plans are usually subdivided according to the time period they cover, for example:

long term plans;
medium term plans;
short term plans. There is no universal definition of planning periods. Long and medium term plans are often referred to as "strategic" because they deal with long-term business strategies, short term plans are often referred to as "corporate" or "business plans" because they provide guidance for day-to-day activities. Which plan to use depends on what the company does, what markets it serves, and how much future product planning it needs.
Long-term planning is aimed at assessing general economic and business trends for many years to come. It defines the company's strategies aimed at ensuring growth in line with its long-term objectives, which is of particular importance for enterprises in such industries as the defense industry, aerospace and pharmaceuticals (in which the development time for new products reaches 5-10 years). In these industries, long-term planning covers a period of 10-20 years. However, for most companies, product development times are not so long, and long-term planning does not look further than 5-7 years ahead.
Medium-term planning is more practical and takes a period of no more than 2-5 years (usually 3 years). Medium-term planning is more connected to life, because it concerns the near future; it is more likely that the plan will reflect reality. The medium-term "strategic" plan is based on the same strategies as the long-term one, but the main decisions must be made in a shorter time frame. Such decisions include: the introduction of new products, the need for capital investment, the availability and use of personnel and resources.
Short-term planning (and budgeting) usually covers a period of up to one year and involves the development of "corporate" or "business" plans for the company and associated budgets. Such plans look at the immediate future and details of what the company intends to do over a twelve-month period (tied to the company's fiscal year). Of all the plans, the short term plans are the most detailed. If necessary, adjustments are made throughout the year.
Traditional planning and strategic planning
Until the 1970s the company's traditional strategic planning worked quite well. Business cycles were highly predictable, the environment was stable, competitors were well known, exchange rates were fixed, pricing was stable, and consumer behavior was predictable.
After the oil "shock" of the early 1970s. and the transition to "floating" exchange rates, enterprises are faced with a radically different, rapidly changing environment. New technologies, new competition, significant changes in prices and other irreversible changes required a different type of strategic planning. The focus of attention of company management has shifted from long-term planning to the implementation of corporate plans, when within a limited time the company receives real results, on the basis of which the necessary adjustments are made to the long-term strategic plan. Planning horizons narrowed down to a few years.
The main difference between the two approaches is that traditional planning assumes that all relevant information is available from the beginning of the process, while new "strategic" planning uses new data as it becomes available. Currently, marketing planners have adopted the method of "strategic" planning.
What is the difference between marketing and corporate plans?
Directors and senior managers of the company set the goals of its activities. Goals are usually expressed in financial terms and define what the company will be like after some time, say three years. The goals of the company's activities usually include such indicators as sales volume, profit before taxes, return on capital, etc. To develop a feasible business plan, it is necessary to first collect information on current operations, i.e., analyze economic activity (audit). Each functional area of the company has its own audit. During the audit, specific goals and strategies are developed, on the basis of which a plan will be developed for each function of the company to achieve a separate set of goals and implement specific strategies. Individual plans are developed in detail for the first year of the plan and include quantitative data on estimated costs and revenues.
The marketing plan establishes the company's market goals and proposes methods for achieving them. It does not include all the goals and methods of the company. In addition to marketing, production, financial and "personnel" goals are distinguished. None of them can be considered in isolation.
A complete corporate or business plan includes a number of subsidiary plans, including the company's marketing master plan. All individual plans must be aligned and coordinated into a single corporate plan.
The subject of our analysis is the marketing plan, but we need to take into account the complexities of setting goals and developing strategies within the system as a whole.
The corporate plan is based on the order taking process and the sales budget (part of the marketing plan). None of the plans can be executed without analyzing and taking into account this information. Based on it, the sales volume for the production plan is determined, on the basis of which the purchasing plan is developed, the level of stocks and their turnover indicators are determined, which in turn affects the procedures for issuing invoices, cash flow and consolidating commercial credit in the financial plan.
The plans of the company are influenced by other issues that are primarily considered in the marketing plan. Pricing issues affect the financial plan, and the marketing plan can suggest a pricing policy and strategy. The introduction of new products is largely determined by the production plan and the financing of strategic reserves. In order for reserves to facilitate penetration into new strategic markets, they must also be secured on a consignment basis. The production and purchasing plans determine the decision to manufacture part of the components of the final product in-house or to turn to external sources. If the marketing plan is to replace or increase production, and price is a key success factor, then it probably makes sense to source some of the product parts from other manufacturers. What would be the opportunity cost of production (and the plan) if additional production capacity were introduced, and what would be the implications for the financial plan of having to raise additional funds to purchase components from outside? All of these (and many more) issues need to be discussed and agreed upon with the functional managers and senior management of the company at the beginning of the marketing planning process.
A marketing plan is like a map: it shows where the company is going and how it plans to get there. It is both a plan of action and a written document. The marketing plan identifies promising business opportunities for the company and outlines how to penetrate, capture and maintain positions in certain markets. It connects all elements of marketing into a coherent action plan that details who, what, when, where and how to achieve goals.
The attention of the authors of many works on marketing planning is focused on theoretical problems. Perhaps this approach is interesting for scientists and managers who manage the process of the company as a whole, but it is too complicated for ordinary commercial directors. Our approach is practical and only touches on theory to the extent necessary to understand the planning process. The author hopes that by accepting and sharing the formal structure of the plan set out in this book, it will be easier for you to organize your thoughts and facts in a logical order. And then:
employees who will have to familiarize themselves with the plan will understand your arguments and the logic of your conclusions without any problems;
you will provide management with a complete professional document (even if the information you have is limited).
What is marketing and how is it different from sales?
Successful marketing ensures that the right product is in the right place at the right time and the customer is aware of it.
The purpose of sales is to convince the buyer to purchase the proposed product. But this is only one aspect of marketing.
Even now, in large companies, the functions of marketing and sales are often completely separated, sometimes they are led by different directors. In some organizations, sales is treated as a local functional area and marketing is handled separately by the head office or "marketers". It should not be. Sales and marketing activities must be combined, or at least they must pursue the same goals. There must be a constant exchange of information between these two areas, otherwise it will adversely affect marketing planning.
The separation of sales and marketing functions makes it difficult to involve salespeople in marketing activities or plan marketing. Today, especially in smaller companies, it is not uncommon for sales leaders to have no formal training in marketing. Sales managers are even worse, and sales people, even in large companies, seem to receive no marketing training at all. How will today's sales professionals manage the relevant departments and fulfill the duties of commercial directors tomorrow? Only by mastering all the secrets of trading on your own. They can learn from those who already have experience, but appropriate preparation is still necessary.
It is taken for granted that large companies, especially international ones, can afford to train employees in marketing or poach specialists from other firms. Ten years ago, it was difficult to get training in marketing, but this is no longer the case. Organizations that offer sales-oriented training also run marketing courses at various levels.
According to the generally accepted definition, marketing is "the provision of goods and services in accordance with the needs of the consumer." In other words, marketing is about the fact that, focusing on the needs of customers, the company ensures that its products meet them and make a profit. Long gone are the days when companies first produced a product and then looked for buyers for it.
Buyers buy only the goods they need. Intense advertising campaigns are often criticized by the public for allegedly "forcing" consumers to purchase the firm's products. This is not entirely true - consider, for example, Coca-Cola's failed attempts to introduce new soft drinks to the market, or the initial negative consumer reaction to the Ford Sierra car model.
Two-thirds of new products fail in their first steps into the market. Firms must take into account the requirements of consumers and the market and adapt their products to them (ie, be market-oriented). The company that produced in the 1950s. tube radios, in the 1960s and 1970s. was forced to reorient to transistor, and in the 1980s. - for the production of stereo recorders. Manufacturers of black-and-white TV sets (in the 1950s-1960s) in the 1970s. began producing colored ones in the 1980s. - televisions with teletext, and in the 1990s. - high definition TVs. Each of these products responds to the same basic needs of customers, only at different points in time. If these enterprises had continued to produce the same goods that satisfied the consumer in the 1960s, then in the 1970s and 1980s. they would go bankrupt. These are the basic principles of marketing - "in the end, the consumer always gets what he wants", and an entrepreneur who ignores the requirements of the market is doomed to a fiasco.
Marketing is a process that combines the capabilities of the enterprise and the needs of the consumer:
the buyer satisfies his needs;
The company earns income from the sale of goods.
To achieve a balance of needs and supply of goods, enterprises must be flexible. They must be ready to modify products, introduce new products and enter new markets. It is vital for them to be able to understand the needs of customers and the current market situation. Achieving balance occurs in the "external environment", which is formed by a number of factors significant for the company.
local and cultural preferences. The perception of buyers of some products is largely determined by local traditions and conditions, as well as national and cultural ideas. British black pudding and shepherd's pie are unlikely to catch on with consumers in Italy or Spain, and sauerkraut is also unlikely to sell well in Scotland. American refrigerators are too big for Japanese homes.
Government policy. Economic conditions, policies, laws and environmental requirements in the countries in which you intend to sell your products will affect your company's operations in one way or another. Changes in exchange rates affect the competitiveness of your product relative to local analogues and determine the decision on the feasibility of organizing their production in the chosen country. For manufacturers of automobiles and detergents, for example, the environmental policy of the state is of great importance. As a rule, national legislation strictly regulates the sale of medicines and pharmaceutical products; some countries may control or ban certain types of fertilizers and pesticides.
Competition. The activities of your firm have an impact on your competitors, and the actions they take - on the production of your company. What your competitors do affects products, pricing, and many other factors. Even the market leader has no right to ignore the activities of competitors.
New technologies. Modern technologies, and with them the needs of consumers, change extremely quickly. The advent of electronic digital watches has had a strong impact on the wristwatch market. Power windows and sunroofs were once seen as costly frills in the luxury car market; now they are the norm for cars of most manufacturers. The functions of VCRs are constantly changing. The firm cannot rely on the fact that its current range of products will always be in demand. As technology advances, it is necessary to modify, improve or replace products.
Change in distribution structure. The emergence of giant supermarkets and out-of-town shopping centers in Europe in the 1970s and 1980s. changed the distribution structure of literally everything from food to do-it-yourself stores (which was greatly facilitated by the increase in the number of car owners). In Japan, which is in the early stages of this transformation, the number of stores per capita is significantly higher than in the US and Europe. The introduction of containerization and the increase in the use and availability of air cargo has also brought about significant changes in the distribution structure.
Obviously, the external marketing environment is beyond the control of both individuals and companies. Its conditions are constantly changing and must be constantly monitored.
So marketing is defined as:
company capabilities;
the needs of the buyer;
marketing environment.
A company's marketing organization involves exercising control over four main elements of a company's operations (the "marketing mix"):
sold goods (Product - Product);
pricing policy (Price - Price);
promotion of goods (Promotion - Promotion);
distribution methods (Place - Place).
"Promotion" and "Location" refer primarily to how the firm attracts potential buyers, and "Product" and "Price" to meet their needs. The marketing mix (also known as the four P's of marketing) defines a company's strategy for profit and customer satisfaction.
A market usually consists of a number of sub-markets characterized by different sets of consumer needs. The firm must create an appropriate marketing structure for each submarket. For example, the automotive market consists of the passenger car market, the company car market, and the private car market, which differ significantly in their set of consumer requirements.
Each element of the marketing mix represents a broad field of activity for a marketing-oriented organization; they must be considered both separately and in combination with other elements. A marketing mix structure that is satisfactory at a given point in time may require revision because:
goods and services are being phased out or improved;
new goods and services appear;
competition leads to a decrease in the price of a product (and, as a result, profit margins);
advertising activities may be less effective than those of competitors;
the place of sale or method of distribution may not be consistent with emerging alternatives or changes in the business.
Marketing mix management is the key to successful sales organization and the heart of marketing planning.
What is marketing planning?
The term "marketing planning" is used to describe methods of applying marketing resources to achieve marketing goals. It sounds simple, but the actual process is quite complicated. Each company has specific resources and pursues certain goals, which also change over time. Marketing planning is used to segment the market, determine its condition, predict its growth and plan for a viable market share within each segment.
The process includes:
performing marketing research inside and outside the company;
analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the company;
assumptions;
forecasts;
setting marketing goals;
development of marketing strategies;
definition of programs;
budgeting;
revision of results and goals, strategies and programs.
The planning process is designed to:
improve the use of company resources to establish marketing opportunities;
strengthen the team spirit and unity of the company;
to help achieve corporate goals.
And, in addition, marketing research as part of the planning process allows you to form an information base for the implementation of current and future projects.
What is a marketing plan?
A marketing plan is a document that sets out the main goals for marketing a company's goods and services and ways to achieve them. Although we are talking about products in this chapter, they almost always include some service component, such as after-sales service, advice from specially trained salespeople, and (in the case of consumer products) the art of selling. The marketing plan has a formal structure, but can also be used as an informal, fairly flexible tool:
to prepare arguments for the introduction of a new product;
when changing approaches to marketing the company's products;
when developing complete marketing plans for a department, division or firm for inclusion in a corporate or business plan.
In principle, a marketing plan for one product in a separate trading area can also be prepared, but large-scale plans have become more common.
In the future, we will consider examples from various industries (production of investment and consumer goods, services). Despite the significant differences between the goods produced, the basic principles of marketing apply to each of them. Yes, the ways they are used differ, but the fundamental approach to writing a marketing plan does not change.
For a marketing plan, there are no small or big issues. You can write marketing plans for dairy equipment in any region of the country, diaphragm valves in one of the European countries, and bathroom sets in hotels in the Middle East. You might as well develop a marketing plan for a wide variety of products and services (from the chemical industry to fast food restaurants) at the local, national, or global level.
When it comes to companies with subsidiaries, marketing plans for each of them are developed either by their employees or employees of the head office. Each affiliate marketing plan is developed on the basis of separate, smaller individual plans.
The main condition for the development of plans for divisions and subsidiaries is that they must be linked to the master plan of the company. This does not mean that you must prepare a plan for each product or trade area. But if they are developed, then they must be consistent with the general marketing plan.
A marketing plan cannot be considered complete if it does not include past data, future projections, goals and methods or strategies to achieve these goals. If the plan is for a new product for which no historical data is available, it may be possible to use information about the product it replaces or estimates for similar products from a competitor.
In its simplest form, a marketing plan begins with collecting and evaluating historical data. It usually contains detailed information about competitors, their strengths and weaknesses, advantages and disadvantages. Naturally, it should consider the strengths and weaknesses of your company, your successes and failures. But this is not yet a plan, but only the first step in its development. It is then supplemented by future projections, which include a detailed description of the strategies that will be used to achieve the goals.
The full form of the plan provides an estimate of the resources needed to execute it, examines in detail its impact on profit and loss, or includes a forecast of the company's financial statement.
Why do you and your company need a marketing plan?
Managers of some companies believe that the efforts directed to marketing planning are not paid off by the results of the implementation of plans. The manager's time is supposedly too valuable and it is inappropriate to spend it on something other than solving urgent operational tasks. You may think that you don't need a formal marketing plan. Many of the professionals in their entire working lives in the sales or marketing department of an organization have never participated in the development of a marketing plan, have they?
It is impossible to run a sales organization, however small, or even a sales forecast without some rudimentary form of marketing plan. Often, however, managers simply take some quantitative indicators, according to which the statement of facts is then adjusted. These types of activities require little effort, but demonstrate a clear lack of understanding of the marketing planning process.
In a highly competitive environment, it is necessary to be able to use "marketing" in order to direct "sales" in the direction the company needs. A marketing plan is one of the tools to accomplish the task. As a document with a formal structure, it obliges the one who writes it to express his thoughts, facts and conclusions in a consistent and logical way so that others can understand them.
A properly prepared marketing plan should contain a description of the company's policies and strategies that guide managers in their daily activities. Therefore, the intervention of the leaders of the organization in operational management is required only in difficult or unusual situations.
Summary
Planning is one of the main functions of management. The corporate or business plan of a company guides its activities. The marketing plan is only one component of the corporate plan, so the planning process should be carried out as part of the company's master plan and budgeting process.
As a result of significant changes in the economic environment in the 1970-1980s. the focus of attention of company management has shifted from long-term planning to the implementation of action plans, the implementation of which allows obtaining results in a short period of time and on the basis of which long-term strategic plans are improved. The new "strategic" planning assumes that management responds quickly to incoming information and uses it. This approach is also adopted by marketing specialists.
To prepare a corporate plan, a company must set business objectives, conduct an audit, and prepare separate plans for each functional area of the company. All of them (including the marketing plan) must be coordinated and coordinated into a single corporate plan.
The purpose of marketing is to convince the buyer to buy the company's product, but this is only one aspect of marketing. Marketing requires a firm to identify the needs of customers and match them with products and services, which allows the company to make a profit.
This requires understanding:
company capabilities;
customer needs;
the marketing environment in which the firm operates. A company's capabilities can be managed by controlling the four main elements of a company's operations (or marketing mix):
goods sold (Goods);
pricing policy (Price);
methods of product promotion (Promotion);
distribution methods (Place).
Marketing planning means the analysis of the use of marketing resources to achieve its goals. It requires segmenting the market, defining a market position, forecasting the size of the market, and planning a viable market share within each market segment.
The basic principles of marketing are equally applicable to various industries (production of consumer and capital goods and the service sector).
A marketing plan is a document that formulates a marketing plan for goods and/or services. A marketing master plan consists of marketing plans for individual products or sales areas. A company's marketing plan sets out marketing goals and proposes strategies to achieve them.