Contents of a Marketing Plan

TABLE | 2. 2 Contents of a Marketing Plan Section Purpose Executive summary Presents a brief summary of the main goals and recommendations of the plan for management review, helping top management find the plan’s major points quickly. A table of contents should follow the executive summary. Current marketing situation Describes the target market and a company’s position in it, including information about the market, product performance, competition, and distribution.This section includes the following: †¢ A market description that defines the market and major segments and then reviews customer needs and factors in the marketing environment that may affect customer purchasing. †¢ A product review that shows sales, prices, and gross margins of the major products in the product line. †¢ A review of competition that identifies major competitors and assesses their market positions and strategies for product quality, pricing, distribution, and promotion. A revi ew of distribution that evaluates recent sales trends and other developments in major distribution channels. Threats and opportunities analysis Assesses major threats and opportunities that the product might face, helping management to anticipate important positive or negative developments that might have an impact on the firm and its strategies. Objectives and issues States the marketing objectives that the company would like to attain during the plan’s term and discusses key issues that will affect their attainment.For example, if the goal is to achieve a 15 percent market share, this section looks at how this goal might be achieved. Marketing strategy Outlines the broad marketing logic by which the business unit hopes to create customer value and relationships and the specifics of target markets, positioning, and marketing expenditure levels. How will the company create value for customers in order to capture value from customers in return? This section also outlines speci fic strategies for each marketing mix element and explains how each responds to the threats, opportunities, nd critical issues spelled out earlier in the plan. Action programs Spells out how marketing strategies will be turned into specific action programs that answer the following questions: What will be done? When will it be done? Who will do it? How much will it cost? Budgets Details a supporting marketing budget that is essentially a projected profit-and-loss statement. It shows expected revenues (forecasted number of units sold and the average net price) and expected costs of production, distribution, and marketing.The difference is the projected profit. Once approved by higher management, the budget becomes the basis for materials buying, production scheduling, personnel planning, and marketing operations. Controls Outlines the control that will be used to monitor progress and allow higher management to review implementation results and spot products that are not meeting their goals. It includes measures of return on marketing investment.