An example of an enterprise marketing plan. How to create an effective marketing promotion plan for your product, service, company

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 only one of these functions, but one of the most important: the business 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 unsuccessful 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 complemented 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 life in the sales or marketing department of the organization have never participated in the development of a marketing plan, have they?
It is impossible to run a sales organization, even a very small one, or even prepare a sales forecast, without putting together some elementary form of a 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 present 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.

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 them, these 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.

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From this article you will learn:

Why is it needed
How long to make it
How to develop a company marketing plan
How to do it quickly in half an hour
What mistakes should be avoided

Modern enterprises are constantly in a state of competition with each other. The one that is weaker due to an illiterately developed marketing plan loses. A company's marketing plan is important as it helps take sales to the next level. Let's figure out together how to compose it and what strategy is better to apply.

What is a company marketing plan

The leaders of modern enterprises in a competitive environment are faced with questions on which the future of the company often depends. How to develop further, what mechanisms to use to reduce costs, where to look for and attract potential consumers, what marketing techniques to use to increase profits?

With the correct, competent and effective construction of the plan, you can easily find answers to these and other questions.

A company's marketing plan is a brief description of an algorithm that allows you to quickly find solutions to important production problems. Moreover, this document clearly indicates the timeframes and strategies. It could be one year, two or three.

The company's marketing plan is drawn up as a separate document. Together with financial and production plans, it is included in the strategic business plan of the company. With their help, it is easy to build a general line for the development of the enterprise.

To develop the document, the results of previous studies, data on the study of economic niches in which the enterprise operates are used. Additionally, resources and consumers are analyzed to determine the main goals and objectives. Be sure to indicate the period during which the desired results, indicated earlier, are achieved.

Why is a company marketing plan necessary?

We think this is understandable. The main objectives of this document include the following.

A company's marketing plan will help determine its profitability.

Therefore, it is necessary to use terms that everyone will understand - from the manager to the junior staff. This must be taken into account so that the work of all employees is as productive as possible.

For greater productivity, you need to consider how the system works.

From the document it will be clear which department of the company needs to be strengthened and which should be closed. It is important to describe each item in detail and accurately.

The marketing plan clearly sets goals and defines methods to achieve them.

It is important to have an additional document if the first does not justify itself.

The main purpose of the document is to coordinate the actions of the personnel (workers, employees) and the management (management) of the company.

Thanks to this, the actions of the company's employees will be clear, each of the employees will be well aware of their job responsibilities and perform them.

How long does it take to write a marketing plan for a company?

If the company is large, then the document is developed every year. In order to have a result, specific terms must be indicated, which depend on the size of the company, the scope of its activities.

Typically, the document is drawn up for a period of three to six years and is annually adjusted, the data is adjusted, and changed taking into account new market conditions. After revision, a company's marketing plan is often rewritten.

If the company is small, then according to research conducted in 2017, effective search or SEO marketing is used. It is usually used to promote goods and services on the Internet, along with contextual advertising and SMM.

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Large companies work according to a different scheme, they prefer to use advertising in the media (newspapers, magazines), television, radio.

The frequency of reviewing the marketing plan for small businesses depends on demand, activity needs, which can be determined independently using a SWOT analysis.

Other tactics, goals and methods of promotion can be chosen. As soon as there are global changes in the market, most often the company adjusts the positioning of the goods, services, which means that the entire marketing plan is reworked.

Let's look at an example. Company N produces premium baby food. In the early years, it was known only to a narrow circle of consumers. This means that the main task of the marketing department is to increase brand awareness. This will definitely be highlighted in the marketing plan of the enterprise.

In a year, when awareness grows, the assortment expands, the document will indicate specific deadlines for holding promotions, a section will appear in which you need to clearly describe advertising campaigns.

What goals should be reflected in the marketing plan of the company

The ultimate goal of a marketing plan is to continuously increase the company's profits.

Many businessmen often forget that marketers cannot decide everything themselves. They do not produce and sell goods and do not provide services, do not work with customers, partners. Therefore, it is important to consider all departments of the company and strengthen the interaction within it in order to constantly increase profits.

All members of the workforce must participate in the implementation of the marketing plan. If this does not happen, all your undertakings will remain on paper, time and effort will be wasted.

All goals must be fixed, fixed with specific dates, by which you can then check the exact deadlines. It might look like this:

expansion, optimization of the customer base by (date) by (%);
development of a strategy to increase sales by (date) in (times);
increase in brand awareness among consumers, target audience by (date) by (%);
expansion or formation of a new partner and dealer network by (date) by (quantity).

What is the structure of the company's marketing plan

The company's marketing plan consists of several sections.

1. Executive summary (introduction for management) is the first, introductory, section of the document. It indicates a list of tasks, the main goals of the company, its mission and the problems that the business is solving at the time of writing the marketing plan.

2. Evaluation of the company's activities at the current moment. This section clearly highlights the following points:

Described main segments of the target audience.
market analysis , including the legal framework, suppliers, forecasts and prospects, features of the industry in which the company operates;
internal audit, during which the moments hindering the development of the enterprise, as well as mechanisms that can improve the situation, are identified;
results of a previous SWOT analysis . At the same time, they evaluate the positive and negative factors that will affect your business;
competitive advantages . This is what you are able to offer your business partners, potential customers. Based on the results obtained, you will be able to effectively promote a product or service.

3. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of your company's competitors. Here you need to describe the development strategy of your competitors, analyze the assortment, prices, their promotion methods, and the features of working with clients.

You can use the services of a "mystery shopper". This will allow you to draw conclusions to improve the further development of your business.

4. Development of a commodity strategy for your company. You analyze the product portfolio, sales, consumption volumes and draw conclusions, form recommendations for expanding your business. If necessary, evaluate the product line and the main production technologies.

5. Strategy development. It is necessary to describe the main directions of marketing of your company, how the trademark and the company as a whole are positioned.

Specify measures for working with clients, events that are carried out to attract new business partners, to strengthen the company's position in the market for goods and services. Analyze internal marketing and how you will serve your customers.

6. Analytics. Using special data, analyze and describe external and internal situations (on the market and in the company), possible risks that need to be taken into account in future activities.

You plan and carry out the collection of information, prepare analytical materials, think over measures that can be used in specific situations. Monitor competitors, publicity, market research and describe how it all is implemented in practice.

7 Action plan. Analysis and inclusion in the company's work plan of the activities necessary to achieve the goals that you set for yourself and the employees of the company. It is better if this is a table in which you enter the actions taken to promote a product or service, as well as fix the deadlines, indicate those responsible, etc.

8. Finance. Analyze the main indicators, draw conclusions. They will help you predict sales, see and evaluate incremental costs. Include sales dynamics in the document, break it down by customers, market segments, groups of goods (services), regions.

Be sure to analyze the main indicators of expenses, group them so that later they can be used to draw conclusions on improving sales and the marketing plan as a whole.

9. Implementation of control. This is the last section of your plan. It spells out in detail the main mechanisms and control tools with an exact indication of which divisions of your company will carry out a particular item.

This section can include reports, key metrics, and milestones to help draw conclusions.

10. Applications. In this part of the document there will be graphs, tables, analysis of certain provisions of the marketing plan. This way you can track the progress of your business.

As you can see, all elements of the marketing plan are systematized into a list that meets certain areas of activity. This helps to solve specific problems, eliminate problematic issues, etc.

Step-by-step development of a marketing plan for a company

The development of a company's marketing plan consists of several stages. Almost all of them are mandatory.

Planning phase	Description
Analysis of the market for goods or services	No matter how hard we try, we still will not be aware of everything that happens on the market for goods and services. Study the trends. Perhaps those of them that operate on the market today will create competition for you tomorrow. You need to be alert. Study the habits of future and current customers, what has changed in them, their attitude to the quality of goods and services, their cost.
Product Analysis	Be as honest as possible. Remember that consumers will compare your products with competitors. Highlight the disadvantages and advantages. Evaluate the product, whether it is expensive or, conversely, cheap, simple or complex, high-quality or not. Try to understand why customers like the product and what needs to be done to make them buy it.
The target audience	It will be great if you get to know the target audience better. If not, analyze regular customers and draw conclusions about how they are configured for your products or services. Knowing the target audience is the first step to successful product positioning.
Positioning features and main advantages of your product	This point is similar to the second stage, but by turning on the imagination, you can bring your product or service to the ideal. Think about how to make the product more attractive in appearance, improve the composition, if possible.
Strategic planning	Having dealt with competitors, take care of the positioning of the product (product). So you will begin to understand how to act and develop an effective promotion strategy. Consider the assortment and how it can be improved, expanded, promoted. Decide which ad is better to choose and predict the possible results.
Drawing up a plan for 1-5 years (depending on the scale)	After receiving all the necessary information, you can paint the strategy for months. Be sure to include the date and month.

Development of a marketing plan according to the SOSTAC model

The SOSTAC structure was established in the 1990s. She is quite reputable and has an excellent reputation. Beginning businessmen and international companies take it as a basis to draw up a marketing plan.

The SOSTAC marketing plan consists of a number of steps.

Stage 1. Analysis of a specific situation

Analyzing the current situation, it is necessary to show the overall picture of the project. For this, the following questions are being worked out:

Who are your current clients? Create a detailed portrait of your target audience.
Based on the conducted SWOT analysis, draw conclusions about your strengths and weaknesses, possible threats to the company.
Analyze competitors. Who are they? On what basis do they compete with you? It could be a product, its price, better customer service, or a different reputation than yours. How exactly do you differ from each other?
Make a detailed list of channels that you can use to attract customers. Check the ones that will be the most successful for you. Separate those who perform well from those who perform poorly.

Only after that you will be able to see your potential customers, evaluate their motivation for purchases. Alternatively, you can make a portrait of the client. This will help you get to know your audience better. To do this, you can use the data obtained by the current CRM system after analyzing the history of orders.

From the information collected by your CRM system, you will be able to:

understand your ratio of male to female clients;
evaluate profiles based on age, average age and see if it is possible to create categories;
find out data about the location of your customers, their addresses, what percentage lives in your region;
study the history of successful purchases and create an overall picture, evaluate the average order, figure out how products differ in volume, color, size from the competition;
figure out how your customers prefer to pay upon receipt - by cards or cash; how often orders are placed and purchases are made.

With this information, you can proceed to the next step where we will collect information related to your company.

Let's look at a specific example. We have data about the target audience. Now let's take two avatars for a virtual online store that sells t-shirts.

Avatar A - Maxim

Maxim is a master of his craft, he is 26 years old, he lives alone, rents a one-room apartment in the center of Moscow, is not married, has a high income level, as for the capital. The guy is passionate about football and often supports his sports club. Every year he buys a new colored T-shirt with the logo of his team fan. He does it over the Internet.

It is convenient and comfortable for Maxim to place orders via the Web. He often communicates with friends and acquaintances via social networks, regularly follows the news from the world of domestic and world football, and does not mind getting acquainted with new paraphernalia.

The World Cup is coming soon, and this will provide an opportunity to present a new collection of T-shirts for football fans. Therefore, XXX company can contact Maxim and offer not only a T-shirt of an admirer of his favorite team, but also a unique international T-shirt of an active fan.

How will Maxim interact with your online store? It could be the following diagram.

Maxim gets acquainted with the latest news about the World Cup in a fashion blog. He notices that the company is offering to take part in a promotion - order a T-shirt with a logo dedicated to the championship at 10% cheaper. To do this, he needs to follow the link to the website of the online store.

Maxim makes a transition and gets to the site of the XXX online store. Here he is offered a large selection of quality T-shirts, which he can order with a 10% discount. Maxim chooses a T-shirt of the color, pattern, size he needs, and then completes the purchase by paying for it with a credit/debit card.

Avatar B - Margarita

Margarita is a professional in her field, she is 33 years old, the girl is in a relationship. Margarita follows the fashion world and tries to place orders through the online store.

And her young man, a fan of the football team and the local club, also likes to keep up with sports fashion. He buys jerseys from his team's fans every year.

The World Cup is coming soon, and Margarita knows about it. She, too, can become a customer of the XXX online store. A girl can buy a T-shirt for both herself and her boyfriend - together they are going to support the football team in the championship.

An example scenario of Margarita's interaction with an online store: a potential client received an email with an offer from an online store. This newsletter contains an online advertisement of a company that offers to order a T-shirt with the symbols of the championship using a promo code.

Margarita understands that this is a chance to give her beloved boyfriend a T-shirt, buy the same one for herself and save money. The girl goes to the website of the online store. To get information, she calls the support service and places an order over the phone.

To successfully promote an online store, you need to create two or three customer avatars for a separate group of products that have similar properties.

Stage 2. Goal setting

This part of the marketing plan should focus on your goals, which should be as specific as possible. Goals should be in line with the following:

concreteness. Select the indicators that you will focus on.
measurability. Decide how you will evaluate the effectiveness, exercise control.
Reachability. How and when can you reach your goal?
Realism or Valence. It takes into account what marketing tools you will use.
Time limitation. See if the time is clearly indicated.

Continuing with the example of an online store selling t-shirts, the goals might be:

Interaction: it is necessary to increase the number (flow) of customers by 50% by March 2018.
attraction. The goal is to increase your brand awareness. Tracking with Google Analytics. Date: March - July 2018.
Interaction. The mailing of letters is increasing systematically: previously they sent one letter per quarter, now one letter per week, starting from April 2018 to July 2018.

Stage 3. Strategy for achieving goals

Your strategy should indicate that you are ready to achieve your goals.

Goal 1. Increase your brand awareness. Tracking with Google Analytics. Date: March - August 2018.

You should maximize the presence of your brand (product or service) in fan-oriented places online:

Determine a cost-effective way to market.
Are there any customers on these online platforms?
Where exactly can you get the attention of potential customers?

You can achieve your goal only when you study competitive companies, so you understand what basic tools they prefer.

Goal 2. Engagement: Need to increase existing customer flow by 50% by April 2019.

Here you should carefully analyze the existing customer base and identify what each of its representatives prefers.

Goal 3. The frequency of emails is steadily increasing. Previously, they sent a letter in 3-4 months, now in 7-10 days, starting from April to July 2018.

By answering the questions below, you will determine the frequency of sending emails:

How does the company currently interact with subscribers?
Who are your competitors and how do they send mailings?

Stage 4. Tactics for achieving goals

Here you need to consider the main tools that will help you achieve the goals of your marketing plan. There may be several tactics.

Suppose you have chosen methods such as SEO optimization, contextual advertising, and email marketing. Let's consider them in detail.

During the analysis, key shortcomings were identified - a small budget for marketing and research within its framework. To determine the direction of marketing forces, it is necessary to analyze the requests for a specific product, in our case, T-shirts with the logos of football clubs.

The second tactic is focused on contextual advertising, that is, on payment for clicks made. Having determined the keywords, you will understand how much budget you need to allocate for contextual advertising.

The third tactic is email marketing.

You must develop a mailing strategy so that your customers receive emails regularly. The main purpose of the message is to make potential customers go to your site and order a product or use a service.

Stage 5. Active actions

At this stage, you embody what you have worked out into reality. It is important to re-examine the goals carefully in order to follow them.

Plan of exemplary active actions.

SEO.

We analyze key queries. We optimize the main pages for keywords for better ranking of site pages by Yandex and Google search engines. Regularly (once every 2-3 days) we publish content. We create a reference mass. We place information on other sites.

Contextual advertising.

Based on the analysis and processing of requests, we analyze the approximate traffic. We determine the budget and the main pages of the site (target) to which people will come for key queries.

Email marketing.

First, we create a script for letters that your subscribers will receive. We analyze the involvement of recipients in the mailing list, profitability.

Stage 6. Control of the received results

This is the last step that will help you evaluate the previously announced goals. This analysis will allow you to draw conclusions - whether you are acting correctly.

Shortest company marketing plan

The shortest but most useful marketing plan for a company was created by Kelly Odel. It is suitable for any, even the newest idea, product or service. It is enough to fill in the table, and you will immediately see the big picture, including the future, which will help you draw a conclusion about the prospects for business development.

3 Common Mistakes in Developing a Company Marketing Plan

Inconsistent promotion

If you don't have a clear strategy in place, your company marketing plan can fail right away. Here, not only the presence of bright and memorable symbols, logo, but also the entire marketing program in general plays an important role.

Save justifiably

Advertising spending should pay off. What determines the effectiveness of the tools used to promote a product or service? There are many factors, including: product features, knowledge of potential consumers, goals set for the business.

At the same time, it is important to understand that the larger the company and the wider the goals it sets, the more expensive the business.

Don't have high expectations

Don't assume that there will be results immediately after implementing a marketing plan. Not always well-thought-out stages of promotion will give an instant effect. Keep a balance between what you promise in reality and advertising.

Alexander Kaptsov

Reading time: 11 minutes

A A

The formation of a stable array of buyers, finding their niche in the market, suppressing competitors, building a plausible reputation - this is not a complete list of issues that entrepreneurs have to solve. Without a clear marketing plan, it is almost impossible to achieve stable demand for products, brand recognition, and a large number of loyal customers. How to properly compose this important document for any business?

Marketing plan of the company - what is it?

Under the company's marketing plan should be understood the details of all its actions that are focused on achieving its optimal position in the market. It does not affect the production and technological aspects of the functioning of the company and only affects the sale of products and profit.

Benefits of developing a marketing plan for a company:

Firstly , determines which part of its funds will have to be spent on marketing activities.
Secondly , to form a policy of promotion on the market of specific types of goods and services.
Thirdly , draw up a strategy and tactics for working with the target market, including the procedure for setting prices.
Fourth , certain goods, sales proceeds and profits.

Important point: Since the marketing plan draws in detail all marketing activities and expected results, it is possible to trace the effectiveness of certain approaches in the company's activities in the market.

Types of the company's marketing plan and the purpose of their preparation

There are many criteria for classifying marketing plans, including:

Duration of validity - strategic (more than 3 years), tactical (up to 3 years), operational (up to 1 month).
Coverage - a plan for turnover, sales, promotional activities, market research or integrated (comprehensive plan).
Depth of study - detailed or general.
Field of activity - a plan of goals, pricing policy, product policy, marketing communications, control and revision, finance, warehousing, ordering, supply (logistics), etc.

A marketing plan is a very serious internal document, which is focused on achieving certain goals:

Maintaining the company's position in the market.
Development and implementation of a new product.
Coverage of new niches and segments (diversification), etc.

Important point: In connection with such a wide range of areas for using marketing plans, it seems necessary to draw up a separate document for each goal, since the methods and tools for each of the goals are different.

It should be remembered that a marketing plan is not an analogue of a business plan. It covers only the activities of the company in the market.

Structure and content of the company's marketing plan

The marketing plan is an internal document that is used to make decisions by the company's management. However, it has a fairly clear structure.

It can take several months to complete, as it requires:

Collecting information about buyers.
Studying supply and demand in the market.
Definitions of competitive advantages.
Competitive ratings, etc.

Important point: The marketing plan should not be just a "collection of facts", but a document containing analysis, recommendations, alternatives for the company's further work in the market.

All 3-4 months during which the marketing plan will be formed will be spent as follows: 50% of the time will be spent on collecting all the necessary information, 40% on analysis and evaluation, and only 10% on creating the document itself.

In order not to be mistaken in the formation of a marketing plan, it is advisable to focus on the following structure:

1. Resume . This section includes a description of the main points outlined in the marketing plan. Here the goal is necessarily prescribed and the ways to achieve it are listed. The expected results of the implementation of the plan are also prescribed.

Important point: Paradoxically, the first section of the marketing plan is always the last section, as it is the summary of the entire marketing plan.

2. Market overview and forecast . This section describes the market (size, growth opportunities, trends, features) and shows the specific behavior of consumers and competing firms in it. Here it is important to indicate how many competitors are in the selected segment, what share they cover, and also what are the opportunities for market growth.

3. SWOT analysis and competitive advantages . This part analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the company, the threats and opportunities for its functioning.

Based on the results of the SWOT analysis, the marketer should determine:

The main competitive advantage of the company.
Positioning of the product in relation to consumers (preferably with a forecast for 3-5 years ahead).
Tactical measures to seize opportunities and reduce the impact of threats.
A strategy to fight competitors and increase customer loyalty.

4. Purpose and objectives of the marketing plan . The marketing plan should contribute to the development of the business, which is why it contains business goals within the chosen planning horizon (month, year, three years) and marketing goals for the same period of time. Only after that, the tasks of marketing activities are drawn up.

5. Marketing mix (marketing mix). The core of any marketing plan is the so-called marketing mix, which is based on the 5P model for goods and the 7P model for services.

Model 5R. Any marketing event is built on the basis of five components:

Product (Product) or product policy - logo and corporate identity, appearance and physical properties of the product, product range, product quality.
Price (Price) or pricing policy - wholesale and retail price, the procedure for determining the cost of goods, discounts and promotions, price discrimination.
Place of sale (Place) or marketing policy - the sale of goods in the markets, in stores, the basics of distribution, the display of goods, inventory management and logistics.
Promotion (Promotional) or promotion policy - promotion strategy, promotional activities, PR activities, event marketing, communication channels, media strategy.
People (People) - staff motivation and stimulation, corporate culture, work with loyal customers and VIP clients, feedback.

Model 7P is supplemented by two more "P", namely:

Process (Process) - the conditions of interaction with the client, the order of service, the creation of a favorable atmosphere, the speed of the service, etc.
Physical environment (physical evidence) - furnishings, interior, background music, image, etc.

Thus, when developing a marketing plan, each of the above positions is worked out in detail, which makes it possible to form a comprehensive idea of the company's functioning in the market.

6. Choice of company behavior in the market . This part of the marketing plan describes the specific actions of the company in the market to achieve the goal and solve the identified problems.

7. Activity budget . Includes a detailed list of costs for marketing activities, which can be presented in the form of a table.

8. Risk assessment . This part describes the risks that a company may face in the course of implementing a marketing plan.

The main stages of developing a marketing plan: an example of drafting

Obviously, a marketing plan is a complex and complex document, which is not easy to form. However, even a specialist with basic knowledge in the field of marketing can do it. Where should you start?

First of all, you should collect information about the market, the selected segment, competitors, consumers, and then implement the following sequence of actions:

Stage 1 . Analysis of market trends. Identification of customer requirements for quality, price of goods, packaging design, communication channels.
Stage 2 . Product analysis. Evaluation of quality, price, packaging design, communication channels for an existing product.
Stage 3 . Target market selection. Determination of the category of consumers who are more suitable for the proposed product.
Stage 4 . Positioning and competitive advantages. Establishing the position of the company's product in relation to competitors (average in quality, lower in price, etc.) and its beneficial aspects.
Stage 5 . Creating a strategy. Formation of promotions and special offers for the target audience, the procedure for promoting the brand to the market, etc.
Stage 6 . Tactical action plan. Actions to achieve the ideal position of the product in the market.

It is advisable to give a simplified example of creating a marketing plan for a company selling fresh juices through five specialized points located in different parts of the city.

Stage 1. Analysis of market trends

Customers want to buy juices that are squeezed out of fruits and vegetables in their presence, sold in containers that are convenient for drinking (paper cups and plastic bottles).
Sale is carried out in places of rest and near large offices.
The price may be higher than the cost of draft carbonated drinks and coffee, but cheaper than fresh juices offered by cafes and restaurants in the city.

Stage 2. Product analysis

The company produces fruit juices in plastic bottles and on tap.
All five points of sale are located in crowded places, including near recreational areas.
The price of juices is similar to the cost of fresh juices in cafes and restaurants of the city.

Stage 3. Selecting a target market

Taking into account the properties of the product and its price, the main target audience will be working representatives of the middle class who monitor their health.

Stage 4. Positioning and competitive advantages

The company will offer customers a product of excellent quality and high cost.
Natural ingredients, ease of drinking, proximity to the consumer are the main competitive advantages of the company.

Stage 5. Creating a strategy

Targeting an array of regular customers.
Retention of the audience in the cold season.

Stage 6. Tactical action plan

Formation of a cumulative system of points for customers and a system of seasonal discounts.
Proposal of the delivery of juices in plastic containers around the city.
Expansion of the assortment by selling diet cookies and bars.

The above blank should be considered as a kind of basis for drawing up a marketing plan. In fact, having such information in hand, the marketer can only distribute it into the appropriate sections.

Problems of effective application of the marketing plan of the organization

Many marketers ask a completely natural question: why do marketing plans drawn up according to all the rules do not work and do not bring the desired effect?

The fact is that often quite accurate and meaningful documents include such shortcomings as:

Use of information from one source . When leaving a marketing plan, you should use information from industry surveys, expert opinions, statistical bulletins, customer surveys, competitor reports, etc.
Overgeneralization . The document should operate with data, and not endlessly “pour water” and write speculative, unsupported assumptions.
Lack of flexibility . Despite its detail, the marketing plan must be flexible so that any of its parameters can be adjusted when the market situation changes.
Lack of connection with the company's strategy . If the overall strategy of the company defines the sale of goods to middle-aged people, and marketing activities are focused on teenagers and young people, the marketing plan will not bring the expected effect.
Inconsistency . If the marketing plan first considers the means of advertising and only then analyzes the product and customers, then the goals will not be achieved.

Important point: The finished marketing plan should be re-examined for any of the above problems.

A well-designed marketing plan is half the company's success in the market. With its help, you can create a clear, structured, consistent picture of the company's position in the industry and in a separate segment. It allows you to create a list of effective tactical marketing activities that will help achieve the company's goals.

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Andy Dufresne couldn't have escaped Shawshank's toughest life-sentence prison if he didn't have a plan.

Since a plan is a process of achieving a goal, your business cannot do without it, in particular, without marketing.

Therefore, what is a marketing plan, who will suit it and how to develop it on our own, we will analyze in this article.

Marketing plan- these are the future steps of marketing activities and communications aimed at achieving the company's long-term goals, with calculations of all costs, risks and strategy.

Often, business owners underestimate the effectiveness of such a plan, considering it a waste of money and time.

After all, the product is on sale, there are customers and everything is fine. But it was not there. You yourself know that the market is still that uncertainty. Tomorrow a giant will come in and only your heels will sparkle from your clients.

Therefore, in order to prevent such a situation, and in addition to analyze the current state of your company, its capabilities, strengths and weaknesses - that's why you need a marketing plan.

And in the picture below you can see an example of a marketing plan (looking ahead).

Marketing Plan Example

Plan to plan strife

Now let's move on to the most basic questions. The article will not have a boring classification of marketing plans, only practice and examples.

And I also prepared development templates that you can download for the convenience of drawing up your own marketing plan.

Do I need?

Strange as it may seem, it is very easy to determine if your company needs a marketing plan or not.

If you want to go with the flow of the business, and it doesn't matter that you are bitten by competitor sharks, and you are fine with everything, then a marketing plan is not needed. But I want to warn you, with such settings you will not last long.

Therefore, if your business has goals, if you are dissatisfied with the development of your company, you are not satisfied with the results.

If you want growth and development, want to control the situation, move in the right direction, then go ahead and draw up a marketing plan.

As with anything, marketing has its pros and cons. After all, everything in our life does not happen just like that.

And now let's take a closer look at the positive and negative sides of the tool.

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pros

The marketing plan is the guide you use to make money.

Therefore, by understanding what your business is and how it will work, you will be able to see how each result affects profit.

This, of course, in one sentence. And if you say a few, it will turn out like this:

See the picture of the future;
Know how to allocate resources;
Improve business;
Identify problems;
Predict results;
Eliminate shortcomings.

Minuses

A good plan takes time to create, and it also requires investment. These are actually short-term losses, but for businesses on a budget, this may be enough to close their doors.

In general, cons are cons. And they are closely related to the risks that you can expect. And here are a few more negatives:

Inaccurate results;
No guarantees;
Data aging;
Additional expenses.

The most important thing is to realize that in addition to pluses, there are minuses, which means you need to be prepared for them. As the saying goes, "If you want peace, prepare for war."

And who will do it?

Well... The battle plan is developed by the commander, together with his commanders. Therefore, without you, the owner of the business, it will be ineffective.

You know absolutely all the pitfalls of business, and you are more willing than anyone to strive to reach heights.

A good option would be to connect a regular or even a specialist from outside, for example, to such a difficult task. Just make sure in advance of the competence of specialists.

And I want to draw your attention to the fact that if you are not involved in the development itself, you still have to approve.

So do not rush to close the article. You must know what elements the plan consists of and how to create it.

What to write?

I will say right away that there is no universal structure for a marketing plan that will suit everyone, just like the plan itself.

It all depends on the specific situation, because every little thing affects the drawing up of a plan. For example: market trends, audience, geolocation.

And even for the same companies with an equal position in the market, the same plan will not work if they are located in different cities.

But still, I offer you a template from which you can build. Depending on the scale of the business and goals, you can add or remove items. So meet our version of the content:

Determination of the overall goal of the plan;
Selection of persons responsible for the preparation and content of the plan;
the previous and current position of the company in the market;
Determining the goals and timing of planning;
Detailed development of actions to achieve goals;
Detailed budgeting for each item of expenditure;
Accounting for risks and actions in case of unplanned situations;
Maintaining and updating the plan.

Beautiful, is not it?! This can be called the core of the plan, these are its main sections. Naturally, there are many more points, and of course, we will analyze each one in detail. But we will do it further.

Are there templates?

Now we come to the most interesting - to the templates. I have prepared a marketing plan for you on the example of various businesses, and I warn you right away that these are not exact and detailed plans.

If you want to use them for yourself, then they will definitely require adjustments.

So, download any template and in the next chapter we will develop a plan together, and they are all presented in the form of a table, because this is the most convenient implementation option.

1. Dairy plant

The goal of the marketing plan is to bring a new product to the Moscow market by January 2019. And our plan for such a goal will look like this.

Marketing plan for product launch

2. Children's clothing store

The goal of the marketing plan is to increase the customer base by 20% and increase the frequency of visits to the clothing store by 50% by February 2018. See the image below for an example of this plan.

Marketing plan to increase the base

3. Beauty salon

The goal of the marketing plan is to double sales in December 2018. And again, below you can see what the plan for this goal will look like.

Marketing plan to increase sales

Step by step instructions for development

Now we will analyze how to write a marketing plan on your own using detailed examples.

I repeat once again that each plan is individual and has its own steps and tasks. Therefore, turn on your head and think about which steps to remove and which to add. However, you will understand this as you read the article further.

Step 1 Goal

Target

As you already know, goals are everything. Therefore, before writing a marketing plan, you must determine its purpose.

For example, there will be one marketing plan for an enterprise to launch a product on the market, and a completely different one for opening a new store.

And even for the promotion, you can draw up a marketing plan. And here is an example of possible targets:

Opening of a new store;
site;
Increasing revenue;
Bringing a new product to market;
Entering a new market segment;
Capturing market share;
Take a leading position in the market;
Attract new customers;
Increase ;

Do you remember the SMART rule? That is, the goal of the plan must be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound.

By the way, the timing is mandatory, since the plan can be drawn up for a month, for a year, and not even for several years.

For example: “Increase profit by 37% using sales scripts in 1 year” or “Increase online store conversion up to 8% using usability within 5 months”.

Step 2. Columns

columns

In this step, we will talk about the main heading of the marketing plan, how to draw it up, and again I repeat that it may be different for you, for example, you can add the “Contractor” column.

A task. The same action plan that you will need to do, but more on that later.
Timing. For each item in the marketing plan, you need to set a deadline, you yourself know that if there is no deadline, then the task will be delayed.
Responsible person. For each item, select the appropriate person, it is he who will report to you on the completion of the task.
Document. You write down any convenient format (sketch, layout, report, graph, text), this is a kind of result of the action.
Budget. And you can't do without it. For example, an analysis can be done “for free” by a full-time marketer, but money is needed for it.

At this step, you do not need to complete each item. It's just enough to take and form the required columns in order to start filling them in after a few actions.

Step 3. Analysis

Analysis

Now we proceed to the plan itself, we will analyze how to create it. And this is perhaps the most important and mandatory step in any marketing plan.

Because the analysis can reveal the pitfalls of your business or determine new stages of development that will automatically move to the next step.

And in order to achieve any goal, you must know the business like the back of your hand.

Even if you think that you know everything about the market and customers, but if this information is not written down on paper, tabulated and analyzed, then feel free to include a complete analysis of your business in your plan, which will include:

3.1 Company mission

3.3 Drawing up an “ideal client”

You may know your target audience, but customer analysis will never be superfluous. After all, often, focusing not on “your” consumer can pull the company down.

Therefore, part of your plan will be the creation of "". It is from him that further communication and sales markets will be built.

Who are these people? Where can you find them? What do they value? These questions must be answered. Again, we determine the responsible person and set deadlines.

3.4 Existing problems

The main thing is not to deceive yourself and look at the business with sober eyes, list all the existing problems.

For example, the most common ones are few customers, advertising does not work, it does not work well.

Basically anything can be a problem. And here every little thing is important, since all the problems identified will be assistants in drawing up a plan for further action.

3.5 Future goals

The current situation, problems - it's all clear. Information that is on the surface, which simply needs to be collected.

But no one can know the leader's ambitions. His plans for the future. Do they even exist?

Therefore, a “heart-to-heart talk” with the business owner or management board should be mandatory.

After all, a business without development is not a business, but a mockery of humanity, and there is no point in marketing.

Therefore, the long-term goals of management should also be on paper and communicated to the company's employees.

3.6 Other tests

I will not describe in detail, since everything is individual, so I will simply give examples of analyzes that a marketing plan may include:

Analysis of business processes;
Sales market analysis;
Product analysis.

I will say this, the more you know about your business, the more accurately you will know which places to improve, where to direct it, and also what tools work for you and what does not.

Step 4: Achievement Tools

Achievement Tools

If the second step was the most important of all, it was about analytics and gave clear answers, then this step is the most creative.

But here you can’t do without calculations either, and now I’ll tell you how to properly compose the tools.

So, we take all the results that we got in step two and, based on them and all the information about the business (not forgetting the overall goal of the plan), we determine the goals and tasks that need to be completed.

And also, what additional actions and costs they imply, that is, we describe all, all activities.

For example, it can be: new, work with, improvement in percentage indicators of each stage, introduction, improvement, delivery speed, product quality, etc.

Is there a goal to increase sales by 50%? We think about what ways we can achieve this indicator, how to implement and organize them, and determine the timing.

And now I will tell a little more about some of the standard points that can be considered in this step.

4.1 Separation from competitors

Competitor analysis carried out. It is now on paper, or rather in the table. It is necessary to highlight your advantages, compose (Unique Selling Proposition), and pricing.

That is, all communications that you plan for the next year or five should be recorded.

And one more plus of the marketing plan is that after this manipulation you will know exactly what works in your business and brings results.

Step 5. Other

Other

The finished plan is just a part of the development of the company. In addition to drafting, it must be implemented.

And even that's not all. It must be maintained and referred to every day: follow the implementation, monitor the situation on the market, in sales, in organizational moments. What will help plan? We highlight two points.

5.1 Risks and actions

No matter how beautiful our strategy looks, there are always risks. Human factor, elements, force majeure, market situation due to the release of innovative equipment. Anything can derail plans.

How to make a list of possible risks? There are even entire agencies that deal with their calculations.

And, as they say, “forewarned is forearmed”. Therefore, you need to describe the actions in case of risks in advance.

You may be identifying the wrong customer or sales segments. There is a risk of all the wrong research we've talked about.

Your task is to describe actions that will help you adapt and avoid failures.

5.2 Adjustments

Adjustments may be associated with risks. These are direct changes in the plan in the event of force majeure events.

In addition, this may include some changes in legislation or that may add or change the concept of advertising campaigns.

For example, memes of the World Cup with shawarma, or waiting, they were immediately picked up by advertisers of firms.

That is, maintaining a plan is tracking market trends and the world as a whole. And also, the ability to implement short-term plans. In other words, it's waging a battle.

Step 6. Summary

Ready marketing plan

That's it, finish! Congratulations, now you have a ready-made marketing plan in your hands, and you know how to make it for any company goal. But still remember that the plan is not a panacea for all ills, it is just your assistant.

By the way, if you have already drawn up a marketing plan and you still have questions, then write in the comments, we will be happy to answer them. And you can share your options for this tool.

Briefly about the main

If you want to change along with the market, keep up with competitors and grow, then you cannot do without a marketing plan.

As they said, these are all the same actions that you are doing now in your company, only ordered and subordinated to your own place in the development of your business.

I also want to note that a marketing plan is needed for a business of absolutely any size.

And all because the plan will help your company reach a new level, eliminate all existing problems and move together, in one direction, towards a common goal.