Introduction
to Marketing Planning
ü Management is “a set of activities
including planning and decision making, leading and controlling directed at
organisation’s resources: human, financial, physical and information, with the
aim of achieving organisational goals in an efficient and effective manner “– (
R.W. Griffin -2005)
ü Of the five management functions —
planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling , planning is the most
fundamental.
ü All other functions stem from
planning. Therefore planning is a major component of management.
ü However, planning doesn't always get
the attention that it deserves
Purpose
of a Marketing Plan - Goals and plans
ü A goal is a desired future state that
the organization attempts to realize in a given environment.
ü A plan is a blueprint for goal
achievement that specifies the necessary resource allocations, schedules,
tasks, and other actions.
ü Goals specify future ends; plans
specify today's means of achieving them.
ü The word planning in context of management,
incorporates determining the organization's goals and defining the means for
achieving them. It is said that if you “fail to plan you are planning to fail”
ü Therefore, planning is an essential
strategic activity and it is an intrinsic part of efficient and effective
management.
ü When it relates to marketing, purpose
of planning is to achieve marketing goals in an efficient and effective manner.
The Connection of the Marketing Plan with a corporate plan
ü There are many types of plans in
organizations. Strategic Corporate Plans addresses the entire organization, it
emanates from the corporate vision of a firm, Then comes the Business Unit Plans which addresses the
requirements of specific business units.
ü There are other functional plans such
as operations, logistics, HR, Financial, Production and Marketing which are
supporting to achieve the broader objectives of the corporate plans.
ü These plans are internal and they are
not divulged to others. Our subject matter here is “Marketing Planning” and
therefore we would deal it in detail
What
really is marketing planning?
ü A Marketing Plan is a blue print that
elaborates a systematic, inter connected, logical step by step processes for
achieving marketing goals.
ü It analyses the internal and external
environment, markets, competitors, specifies the marketing objectives, necessary
strategies, tactics, resource allocations, schedules, tasks, and embeds the
controls and other actions required in connection with attaining marketing
goals in an efficient and effective manner.
ü It specifies what should be done
today to achieve goals ahead and it is the marketer’s road map for desired
destination.
Understanding
the Essential Steps of a Marketing Plan
ü Hiebing and Cooper( 2003) succinctly
sates that a marketing plan should be a disciplined, target market driven,
interlocking ( not just integrated) and comprehensive plan in order to make it
a successful tool in the process of achieving marketing goals.
ü Therefore, it has to be a
comprehensive plan that gives importance to each and every element of a plan.
ü Nothing is taken for granted and
nothing or very little is left for chance. Thus they call the marketing plan as
“ Disciplined Marketing Plan” and lists important steps to follow in the
process of marketing planning.
Business Review – Situation Analysis
ü This is the background where you
develop your marketing plan. It is called the Situation Analysis or the
Marketing Audit.
ü It could simply called “ where are we
now” .
ü It will analyse the internal and
external environment of the business.
ü In the internal analysis, the
key factors of the company such as managerial, marketing, financial, human
resource, production, technology, systems and controls etc. will be studied
extensively. Through this analysis,
Strengths and Weaknesses of a firm can be found well.
ü In the external analysis,
PESTEEEL Factors (political, economic, social, technological, ethical,
environmental and legal factors), competitor analysis and market analysis etc
will be studied in detail.
ü Through this analysis, Opportunities
and Threats to the firm can be found well.
ü Combining the Strengths and Weaknesses
and Opportunities and Threats, a firm can from a SWOT Analysis, which is a snap
shot of the firms internal and external status.
Segmentation and Selection of Markets
ü A market segment means a large
identifiable group of customers within a market with similar needs and wants,
purchasing power, geographical location, buying attitudes or buying habits.
ü If all are having the same need then
it could be considered as the mass market.
ü If each and every body’s need is
separately identified and served it is called Mass Customization.
ü Segmentation is something between the
Mass Marketing and Mass Customization.
ü It does not talk about serving the
whole market with one product or serving every individual with a different
product. But it talks about grouping customers with similar needs and serving
them with the appropriate product proposition.
ü A firm has to segment the market
before it targets which market it should enter.
Sales Objectives
ü This indicates the forecasted amount
of sales that the firm expects to meet.
ü This is a very vital element of the
marketing plan as most of the other tasks that follows in the marketing plan
are designed to achieve the sales target.
Target Markets:
ü The firm needs to select a target
market to offer its products and services from the different segments of the
market.
ü This is done through a careful
selection of the segmented market and it could be a one segment, few or many
segments.
Marketing Objectives:
ü Marketing
success can be measured on several non financial market metrics.
ü It could be about the market share,
number of customers to attract, volume of purchases, level of brand awareness,
number of dealers in the distribution network, etc.
ü These measures are important since
these often shed light on underlying conditions and circumstances facing the
firm that are not easily seen within financial measures.
ü For example, a company may report
strong sales for a product but market share information may suggest the product
is loosing ground for competitors.
ü The marketing objectives will
indicate targets to be achieved across several marketing decision areas.
Objectives should be ( SMART) measurable, achievable, realistic, time bound.
Developing Plan Strategies
ü Positioning:
When the firm knows where it is
going to target its products and services it should also develop a positioning
strategy. By positioning, a firm should try to get a special place in the mind
set of the collective customers of the desired market.
ü It could provide a direction to
development of marketing strategies and using specific tactical marketing mix
tools in achieving the expected positioning in the consumers of the market
place.
ü Marketing Strategies:
A marketing strategy entails how an individual marketing objective will
be reached.
ü While the marketing objectives are
SMART, marketing strategies are descriptive. They go into detail how objectives
are achieved.
Tactical Marketing Mix Tools
ü Marketing objectives are achieved
through use of Tactical Marketing Mix Tools.
ü This is where the firm decides what
marketing tool or tools to be used to achieve specific marketing objective or
objectives.
ü The firm can use the stages of Product Life Cycle and where its product stands and use the
marketing mix tools to suit the situation.
ü
Product, price, place, promotion, process,
people and physical evidence would be used as marketing mix tools to achieve
marketing objectives.
Developing the Marketing Budget
ü Budget is a statement that enumerates
how much of funds required to implement the marketing plan and how much of
income it would generate.
ü It will detail various expenses under
different headings.
ü It will also give the income,
expenses and the profits in summary format and refer the details to notes of
the budget.
ü Further it could provide other
management information ratios such as Return on Investment, Pay Back Period,
Financial Ratios etc.
Execution and Evaluation
Once the Marketing plan is developed, execution of it should
happen.
The execution may include specific details about who is responsible for
different activities and when will it take place.
It
could be listed on an action plan or a calendar of events.
Evaluation identifies what really was done while controlling involves
evaluating the results with expected Key Performance Indicators and taking
remedial actions without delay to ensure that the plan is on track and
deviations are minimized or eliminated.