Download Data Collection for Marketing Plan

Your Company Name Marketing Plan
Company Name
Marketing Plan
Company Address
City, State, Zip
Phone: 123-456-7890
Fax: 123-456-7890
Email: [email protected]
Web Site: www.company.com
Contact: Jack Smith
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Your Company Name Marketing Plan
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .........................................................................................................................................4
MARKETING OBJECTIVES ..........................................................................................................................................4
GOODS OR SERVICES .................................................................................................................................................4
RESOURCES NEEDED .................................................................................................................................................4
PROJECTED OUTCOMES .............................................................................................................................................4
COMPANY DESCRIPTION ......................................................................................................................................5
STRATEGIC FOCUS AND PLAN ............................................................................................................................5
MISSION/VISION ........................................................................................................................................................5
GOALS .......................................................................................................................................................................5
CORE COMPETENCY AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE ...............................................................................................5
SITUATION ANALYSIS/SWOT...............................................................................................................................6
INTERNAL FACTORS...................................................................................................................................................7
EXTERNAL FACTORS .................................................................................................................................................7
STAKEHOLDERS ....................................................................................................................................................... 10
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS/TRENDS ................................................................................................................................. 10
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS .......................................................................................................................................... 11
COMPANY ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................................... 12
CONSUMER ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................................. 13
MARKET – PRODUCT FOCUS ............................................................................................................................. 15
MARKETING AND PRODUCT OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................................. 15
TARGET MARKETS................................................................................................................................................... 15
POSITIONING ............................................................................................................................................................ 16
GLOBAL MARKETS .................................................................................................................................................. 16
MARKETING PROGRAM ...................................................................................................................................... 16
PRODUCT AND PRODUCT STRATEGY ....................................................................................................................... 16
PRICE ....................................................................................................................................................................... 21
PROMOTIONS ........................................................................................................................................................... 23
PLACE/CHANNELS ................................................................................................................................................... 27
DATA AND PROJECTIONS ................................................................................................................................... 30
SALES FORECASTING METHODS USED .................................................................................................................... 30
SALES DATA ............................................................................................................................................................ 31
COSTS ...................................................................................................................................................................... 31
FINANCIAL PROJECTIONS......................................................................................................................................... 31
FINANCIAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS NEEDS ............................................................................................................ 32
ORGANIZATION ..................................................................................................................................................... 32
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN ................................................................................................................................... 32
PEOPLE REQUIRED ................................................................................................................................................... 33
MANUFACTURING, FINANCIAL AND OTHER RESOURCES NEEDED ........................................................................... 33
TIMING .................................................................................................................................................................... 33
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EVALUATION AND CONTROL ........................................................................................................................... 35
MARKETING INFORMATION SYSTEMS NEEDED........................................................................................................ 36
CRITERION MEASURES WITH OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................... 36
APPENDIX A: BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF KEY PERSONNEL ........................................................... 36
APPENDIX B: SUPPORT MATERIAL ................................................................................................................. 36
DATA COLLECTION FOR MARKETING PLAN............................................................................................................. 36
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Your Company Name Marketing Plan
Executive Summary
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The executive summary is a concise overview of the marketing plan. It is often the last section of
the marketing plan written. Its purpose is to provide the reader with enough information to
quickly judge whether or not the plan is feasible. This section of the plan should address, with
brief summary statements, items such as your marketing objectives, goods or services included
in the plan, resources required and projected outcomes. Remember that the purpose of a
marketing plan is to serve as an internal sales document. Take your time when developing the
Executive Summary: many experts consider it to be the single most important element of the
marketing plan. The Chapter 2 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment requires that you
prepare an Executive Summary.
Marketing Objectives
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In this section, briefly describe your marketing objectives. Ask yourself why is it important to
market your goods or services? What do you hope to accomplish? What image does your good or
service have in the eyes of the consumer? What marketing channels will you use to offer your
product? How will your current customers react to a new product offering? State your marketing
objectives in a format that is measurable. Are you seeking to increase gross sales? What are your
market share objectives?
Goods or Services
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In this section, briefly describe your products, product lines, and services. What are you selling?
Is it a good, a service, or more commonly, a combination of the two? What are the product’s
benefits? What makes you think that this good or service is in needed in the marketplace?
Resources Needed
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In this section, briefly describe the technological, financial, and human resources needed to
execute your plan. What are the costs associated with these resources? Who is responsible for
covering these costs? Do you have the resources in place or will you have to obtain them? When
considering human resources, can you out-source by hiring consultants, are you re-assigning
current employees, or will you need to hire new employees?
Projected Outcomes
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In this section, briefly describe what the projected outcomes of your marketing efforts will be. Is
there a payback period? When will your proposed marketing plan produce a profit? Describe the
type of outcomes you expect to achieve in both the short term and the long term? Essentially,
you are presenting compelling evidence that your plan will work.
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Your Company Name Marketing Plan
Company Description
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The Chapter 1 Building Your Marketing Plan requires that you write a company description. In
this section of the marketing plan, provide a brief overview of the company, its product lines,
and its overall marketing strategy. Remember that many readers of the marketing plan will be
company employees as well, so keep your descriptions brief and concise. In addition, highlight
the company’s recent history and successes –use these to build the reader’s confidence that your
company and its current marketing plans are on the right course.
Strategic Focus and Plan
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The Strategic Focus and Plan sets the strategic direction for the entire organization, a direction
with which proposed actions of the marketing plan must be consistent. This section may or may
not be included in the marketing plan, depending on the plan’s intended audience. The
components of this section of the marketing plan consist of the mission/vision, goals, and core
competency/sustainable competitive advantage.
Mission/Vision
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Concisely define the mission/vision of the company. This qualitative description focuses on the
fundamental activities the company will undertake in order to best serve its stakeholder groups.
Describe in general terms product, price and place strategies and how these will maximize
shareholder value and build relationships with stakeholder groups. The Chapter 2 Building Your
Marketing Plan assignment requires that you write a mission statement of 25 worlds or less.
Goals
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The Goals section sets both the financial and non-financial targets – where possible in
quantitative terms – against which the company’s performance will be measures. It is acceptable
to use lists or other information presentation techniques to improve the readability of this section
of the marketing plan. The Chapter 2 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment requires that you
list three non-financial and three financial goals in this section.
Core Competency and Competitive Advantage
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Your Company Name Marketing Plan
Discuss the company’s core competency and any sustainable competitive advantages accrued.
Your core competency is your unique ability to do something that your competition cannot or
does not do to meet consumer needs. Core competencies yield competitive advantages. These
competitive advantages allow you to more effectively and efficiently compete in the
marketplace.
Competitive advantages include items such as lower cost factors of production, unique products,
unique technologies, unique marketing expertise, protected access to markets, etc. Ultimately,
you should envision competitive advantage as layers of an onion: you need multiple and fluid
layers of competitive advantage to sustain long-term economic health. A single competitive
advantage is not defendable in the long-term unless it provides you with a monopoly on one of
the factors of production. The Chapter 2 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment requires that
you your competitive advantage in 35 words or less.
Situation Analysis/SWOT
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Most marketers use a form of situation analysis called a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities, and Threats) to assist them in conducting a company analysis. The Strengths and
Weaknesses usually have an internal focus (within the company) and Opportunities and Threats
have an external focus (outside of the company). Many companies seek to match strengths with
opportunities while managing weaknesses and containing threats. The Situation analysis is a
snapshot to answer the question “Where are we now?” The Chapter 2 Building Your Marketing
Plan assignment requires that you complete a SWOT analysis table.
A SWOT Analysis is a specific type of situation analysis designed to gauge the competitiveness
of a company given its limitations. The strengths and weaknesses are usually thought of as
internal to the company and the opportunities and threats are usually thought of as external to the
company. In order for a SWOT analysis to be useful, the information it contains must be brutally
honest. This is not the time to gloss over weaknesses or to minimized threats. Complete each
section separately (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) and to summarize your
findings in the table provided below.
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Your Company Name Marketing Plan
Strengths





Strength
Strength
Strength
Strength
Strength
Weaknesses
1
2
3
4
n





Weakness
Weakness
Weakness
Weakness
Weakness
Opportunities
- Opportunity 1
- Opportunity 2
- Opportunity 3
- Opportunity 4
- Opportunity n
1
2
3
4
n
Threats





Threat
Threat
Threat
Threat
Threat
1
2
3
4
n
SWOT Analysis Matrix
Internal Factors
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In this section of the SWOT analysis, describe the current state of the Strengths and Weaknesses
of the company. Internal factors to consider when developing a SWOT analysis include items
such as Management, Offerings, Marketing, Personnel, Finance, Manufacturing, Research &
Development, Information Systems, etc. The goal is to provide an overview of the management
team, the product offerings, and the functional areas of the organization and their ability to react
to opportunities in the external environment.
External Factors
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In this section of the SWOT analysis, describe the current and/or anticipated state of
Opportunities and Threats outside the control of the organization. External factors to consider
include the Consumer/Social environment, the Competitive environment, the Technological
environment, the Economic environment, and the Legal/Regulatory environment. According to
the Chapter 3 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment, you are to summarize information
about external factors by creating a table similar to Figure 3-2 of your book (a similar template
of that table follows the external factors subsections (Social, Economic, Technological,
Competitive, and Regulatory) below. Before you complete that table, it might make sense to
write a narrative regarding each environmental force.
Social
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Describe and opportunities and threats perceived in the consumer and/or social environment such
as changing consumer tastes, changing social perceptions of the product class or product, etc.
Illustrate that you understand the fluidity in the consumer and social environments and that
you’ve determined the direction of future changes in preference. Think about who your current
customers are and what your current product offerings are and how these present both
opportunities and threats. Provide an analysis of the cultural and social environments in which
you’ll be operating and discuss the potential impact that these environments may have on the
success of your marketing plan. How culturally or socially sensitive is your product? Discuss
cultural or social constraints placed on marketers in this product category. What are cultural or
social trends in this market and how will this impact your marketing plan? As required in the
Chapter 3 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment, describe how the trends you see in this
environmental force represent an opportunity or threat for your business.
Economic
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Describe the current economic environment in which you’ll be competing. What is its scope
(local, regional, national, or international)? What trends are observable (economic contraction,
expansion, etc.)? What are the economic projections for the near future and the long-term? Do
current or future economic conditions present opportunities and threats? For instance, is there
seasonality in your industry? Is there a predictable business cycle? Describe the current state of
the economy in which you’ll operate and your expectations for the future. As required in the
Chapter 3 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment, describe how the trends you see in this
environmental force represent an opportunity or threat for your business.
Technological
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In this section of the marketing plan, discuss the technological environment as it concerns the
product or products contained within the scope of this marketing plan. How critical of a role does
technology play in the successful marketing of your product? Are any of your core competencies
technologically dependent? What technological developments do you foresee on the horizon and
how might they impact your marketing plan? Likewise, describe any technological threats
looming on the horizon and how they may impact your company’s situation. As required in the
Chapter 3 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment, describe how the trends you see in this
environmental force represent an opportunity or threat for your business.
Competitive
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In this section, describe any competitive opportunities and threats that you foresee in the future.
Is your product or process patentable? Do you have a strong brand name, brand equity or other
unique competitive advantage that will be hard for competitors to negate? As required in the
Chapter 3 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment, describe how the trends you see in this
environmental force represent an opportunity or threat for your business.
Regulatory
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Describe any legal or regulatory factors that present opportunities or threats for your company. Is
there a changing legal or regulatory statute that presents new opportunities for how you conduct
business or what products you sell? Is there increasing regulation in your industry? Provide an
overview of the political and legal environments in which you’ll be operating. Discuss any
regulatory issues that impact how and where you will market your product. Are there regulations
regarding product, price, place or promotion that impact how you intend to market your product?
Analyze the stability of the political and legal environments in which you plan to operate. As
required in the Chapter 3 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment, describe how the trends you
see in this environmental force represent an opportunity or threat for your business.
Environmental Scan
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The table below summarizes the trends identified by your environmental scan.
Enviromental
Force
Social
Trend Indetified by an Enviromental Scan

Trend 1

Trend 2

Trend 3

Trend 1
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Economic
Technological
Competitive
Regulatory

Trend 2

Trend 3

Trend 1

Trend 2

Trend 3

Trend 1

Trend 2

Trend 3

Trend 1

Trend 2

Trend 3
Stakeholders
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Consider those potential stakeholders that may be affected in some way by your marketing plan
including suppliers, employees, customers, and society in general. According to the Building
Your Marketing Plan assignment from Chapter 4, for each group of stakeholders, identify what,
if any ethical and social responsibility issues might arise and describe, in one or two sentences,
how your marketing plan addresses each potential issue.

Suppliers

Employees

Customers

Society in general
Industry Analysis/Trends
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The Industry Analysis section provides the backdrop for the subsequent, more detailed analysis
of competition, the company, and the company’s consumers. Without an in-depth understanding
of the industry, the remaining analyses may be misdirected. Use this section to demonstrate to
the plan’s readers that you understand the industry in which you compete and that you are
cognizant of trends impacting the industry. The Building Your Marketing Plan assignment for
Chapter 6 requires that you define the product-market precisely so that you can visit the NAICS
website at www.census.gov to gather data on the dollar sales and an estimate of market or
industry potential. You should include your findings from NAICS in this section.
Competitor Analysis
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As with the Industry Analysis, the Competitors Analysis demonstrates that the company has a
realistic understanding of who its major competitors are and what their marketing strategies are.
The beauty of our free market system is that consumers have choice. And that open competition
ultimately leads to higher quality, lower cost goods for the market. In this section of the
marketing plan, describe who your current competitors are, predict who any likely future
competitors will be, and discuss the differences in competitive advantages or core competencies
that exist among the competitors in the marketplace.
Nature of Current/Likely Competitors
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Knowing as much as you can about your competition allows you to make informed decisions
when it comes to implementing your marketing plan. Define who your current competitors are,
what their position is in the market, and how much of a threat they are to your success. Again,
this section of the marketing plan is highly dependent on the current stage of the product life
cycle. If your product is in the introduction or growth phase, there are probably fewer current
competitors and many likely competitors. If you are in the maturity phase of the PLC, the
competition is fairly well defined. Gather as much information about the competition as possible.
Much of it can be used in the following two sub-sections.
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Current Status of Prospective Competitors
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Are you competing with companies comparable in size? Or are they much larger? Are you
competing against much smaller companies or boutiques? Are your competitors profitable? What
do you do better than your competitors can do? What do your competitors do better than you can
do? Can you anticipate the emergence of new competitors? Use the table below or one that you
modify to summarize these core competencies.
You
Competitor
1
Competitor
2
Competitor
3
Competitor
n
Core Strength
Secondary
Strength
Next Strength
Biggest
Weakness
Second
Weakness
Next Weakness
Core Competency Comparison
Competitive Barriers
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Discuss any competitive barriers that you need to overcome, any barriers to entry that exist in the
market and any sources of competitive advantage that you enjoy. Competitive barriers include
items such as economies of scale and scope that must be reached in order to be profitable in the
market, access to distribution channels, access to customers, etc. Barriers to entry may include
items such as high levels of capital investment, long payback periods, proprietary technology,
legal or regulatory restrictions, etc.
Company Analysis
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The Company Analysis provides details of the company’s strengths and marketing strategies that
will enable it achieve the mission, vision, and goals identified earlier.
Company Strengths and Overall Marketing Strategies
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Define the overall company objectives in terms of return on investment, long-term financial
health, growth expectations, and the focus on building shareholder equity. Historically, how well
has the company met its objectives? Are there noticeable trends? What is the current economic
status of the company and what is the target economic status?
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Discuss the company’s overall marketing objectives for the products it sells. Potential objectives
include, but are not limited to, capturing and defending market share, reaching target levels of
gross sales, reaching target levels of net sales, building brand name recognition and/or brand
equity, inventory turnover targets, etc.
Company Resources
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All marketing decisions are constrained by resource availability. In this section of the marketing
plan, discuss company financial, technological and human resources that impact your marketing
plan. Creatively determine how you can overcome resource limitations to leverage the best
possible performance given these limitations.
Consumer Analysis
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The Chapter 5 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment requires that you prepare a Consumer
Analysis. Marketing decisions should always be made with the consumer in mind. The
marketing concept dictates that marketers focus on meeting consumer needs in order to build
successful long-term exchange relationships. Satisfying customers and providing genuine value
to them is why organizations exist in a market economy. In this section of the marketing plan,
demonstrate that you’ve performed a detailed analysis of your potential market for the products
included in the marketing plan, how the consumers in the defined markets typically purchase
your product and for what reason, and what type of relationship you plan to establish with these
consumers. Whereas the previous sections provide the foundation on which to build a marketing
plan, this section provides you with an opportunity to demonstrate the reason why the plan
exists: to serve the needs of potential customers.
Primary Target Market
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In this section of the marketing plan, discuss who makes up the market for your product.
Remember that there are three conditions for being considered as a viable market: consumers
must have the ability, willingness, and authority to purchase what you are selling to be
considered a market for your product. Provide evidence that you’ve sufficiently researched who
meets the three criteria to be considered a market for your product, how you’ve determined this,
and describe the demographic and/or psychographic characteristics of a “typical” consumer.
Keep in mind that while there is typically overall or general market for your product (the three
criteria from above), there may be multiple customer profiles that can be generated from this
market based upon demographic and psychographic reasons for purchase. The Chapter 5
Building Your Marketing Plan assignment (part 1) requires that you identify who are the most
likely to buy your product — in terms of (a) their demographic characteristics and (b) any other
kind of characteristics you believe are important.
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Main Points of Difference
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The Chapter 5 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment (part 2a) requires that you describe the
main points of difference of your product. An organization cannot grow by offering only “metoo” products. The greatest single factor in a new product’s failure is the lack of significant
Points of Difference that set it apart from competitors’ substitutes. How does your product
compare to competitive offerings vis-à-vis features and benefits? Use the table below or one that
you modify to show this competitive comparison.
Good/Service
Comparison
Price
Perceived Quality
Marketing/sales
Advantages
Feature 1
Feature 2
Feature 3
Benefit 1
Benefit 2
Benefit 3
Your
Product
Competitor
1
Competitor
2
Competitor
3
Competitor
n
Key Influences on the Buying Process
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In this section of the marketing plan, discuss the key influences on the buying process. Why do
the consumers in your target market(s) purchase the product? How does the level of involvement
associated with the product (high involvement versus low involvement) impact the information
search and buying process? Are there elements of the marketing mix that influence how or where
the product is purchased? Knowing the key influences on the buying process allows marketers to
develop a marketing mix that is better able to satisfy consumer needs. The Chapter 5 Building
Your Marketing Plan assignment (part 2b) requires that you describe the problem that your
product(s) solve for the consumer, in terms of the first stage in the consumer buying decision in
Figure 5-1 of the text. In addition, part 3 of the Chapter 5 Building Your Marketing Plan
assignment asks you to identify one or two key influences for each of the following areas:

Marketing mix influences

Psychological influences

Sociocultural influences

Situational influences
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Market – Product Focus
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This section of the marketing plan highlights your understanding of the market in which you
compete, its possible segments and/or sub-segments and how your product serves unmet
consumer needs in the market. This is the “meat and potatoes” of the marketing plan
Marketing and Product Objectives
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Concisely define the market in which you will be competing. Remember that to be considered a
market for your product(s), potential customers must have the ability, willingness, and authority
to purchase your product(s). Concisely define the product offering. Determine which stage of the
product life cycle the market is in and discuss how this impacts your marketing strategy. For
instance, if you are introducing a new product class to consumers your initial task will be to build
primary demand for the product class. If you are introducing a new product into an existing,
mature, market your goal may be to acquire market share at the expense of your competition.
Properly defining the market in which you’ll compete is the foundation of the marketing plan.
Target Markets
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After regrouping the heterogeneous overall market into smaller homogeneous market segments,
and depending on the general strategy for applying the marketing mix that you’ve selected,
discuss which segments that you’ll pursue with your marketing efforts and why. Typically, the
target markets selected have the following characteristics: they are large enough economically to
warrant attention and they are stable. If you focus all of your marketing efforts on one market
target market, you are using a concentrated strategy or a single target market approach. If you
select multiple segments and develop different marketing mixes for each segment, you are using
a differentiated or multiple target market approach. If you treat the entire market as your target
market, you are using an undifferentiated strategy. A compromise to the former may be to
combine two or more segments and to target the combined segments with one marketing mix.
Each strategy has its associated plusses and minuses. It is up to you to justify which approach
that you intend to use and why.
The Chapter 9 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment requires that you prepare a marketproduct grid to focus your marketing efforts. Review the steps involved in segmenting and
targeting markets in Chapter 9. The complete the market-product grid shown below:
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Main
Dimension
Product
Group
1
Product
Group
2
Product Product Product Product
Group
Group
Group
Group
3
4
5
6
Market-product grid
Positioning
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A positioning strategy helps communicate the company’s unique points of difference of its
products to prospective customers in a simple, clear way. Describe how you currently or propose
to position your product(s) vis-à-vis the competition in the minds of consumers. Proper
positioning leads to competitive advantages and the development of brand equity.
Global Markets
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The Building Your Marketing Plan assignment from Chapter 7 involves global marketing. If
your marketing plan involves reaching global customers outside the United States, answer the
following questions for this section.

What features of your product are especially important to potential customers?

In which countries do these potential customers live?

What are the special marketing issues are involved in trying to reach global customers?
Marketing Program
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Everything contained in the previous sections of the marketing plan serve to set the stage for this
section in which you present the marketing mix actions – the 4 Ps – covered in the marketing
program. Describe in detail how your manipulation of the marketing mix variables will serve
consumer needs while simultaneously maximizing shareholder equity.
Product and Product Strategy
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Use this section to describe in detail the key elements of the company’s product strategy. Provide
an overview of the product class, the product’s stage in the Product Life Cycle, any warranties or
guaranties associated with the product, etc. The Chapter 10 Building Your Marketing Plan
assignment asks you to fine-tune your product strategy by developing a table in which marketing
segments of potential customers and key points of difference of the product to satisfy the
segment’s needs are in the second column.
Market Segments of Potential Customers
Key Points of Difference
Product Strategy Table
Product Class
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Describe the general product class in which you will be competing. What type of consumer or
business product are you proposing? What, if any, consumer preferences must be addressed in
order to succeed in this product class?
Current Product Life Cycle Stage
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The Chapter 11 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment requires that you identify, for your
product offering, its stage in the product life cycle and the key marketing mix actions that might
be appropriate. In this section, write about the product life cycle and complete the appropriate
marketing mix topics in the subsequent sections. In what stage of the product life cycle is the
overall product class: Introduction, Growth, Maturity, or Decline? Has the industry gone through
turbulence (a hypothetical stage of the product life cycle just after growth and before maturity
during which there is an industry shake-up and non-profitable competitors drop out)? Is there an
opportunity for arbitrage (introducing the product into a new market in a different stage of the
product life cycle)?
Specification of Core and Supplemental Products and Services
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The Chapter 12 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment requires that you distinguish between
your core product and supplementary products/services. In this section, describe the product(s)
that you will be marketing and the related internal marketing program that will ensure that
employees are prepared to deliver the core and supplemental services.
The core product is the basic physical good or service being marketed. The augmented product is
the combination of goods and related services combined to provide a competitive advantage in
the marketplace. Very few items are “pure goods” or “pure services.” Discuss the combination of
goods and services you are offering. Most offerings are a combination of the two: some mix of
good and service. Bundling goods with service can be a source of competitive advantage. Sears’
appliances are a good example: there are better appliances on the market, but few can match
Sears’ level of after-sale service.
Supporting Customer Services Needed
[Click here to enter your own text]
The Chapter 12 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment requests that you conduct a customer
contact audit and create a flow chart like the one shown in Figure 12-7 of the textbook. You may
need to use another software program to prepare the graphic for such a flow chart and paste your
chart into this document (below this section or in the appendix). If your flow chart is simple, you
can prepare it using the Draw toolbar of Microsoft Word. Write a narrative to explain your flow
chart.
Whether you use the concept of an augmented product or not, all products need a certain level of
service support. In this section of the marketing plan, describe all levels of customer service
needed to launch and support your product. Where will you locate customer service centers?
How many do you need? What services will they provide and who will pay for them?
The Chapter 12 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment also requires that you describe the
marketing activities that will address each of the four I’s as they related to your service and
encourage the development of relationships with your customers. This is also an appropriate
place to write that description for each of the following factors:

Intangibility

Inconsistency

Inseparability

Inventory
Also as part of this section you should complete the Chapter 16 Building your Marketing Plan
assignment (part 2a) that requires that you rank the four customer service factors (time,
dependability, communication, and convenience) from most important to least important from
your customers’ point of view. Then identify actions for the one or two most important factors to
serve customers better. You can perform the ranking of customer service factors by completing
the following table:
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Customer
Service
Factors
Ranking (Scale with
a range of 1-5, Most
Important = 5, Least
Important 1)
Time
Dependability
Communication
Convenience
Other
Ranking of Customer Service Factors
Warranty
[Click here to enter your own text]
Describe the warranty, if any, provided with this product. What is covered under the warranty?
How long will the warranty last? Is it renewable or are service contracts offered? Who will
support the warranty (will it be handled internally or contracted out)?
Branding
[Click here to enter your own text]
The Chapter 11 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment requires that you develop branding
strategies, if appropriate for your offering. Write about those strategies in this section.
Brand image is something that is built over time. Today’s communications-oriented society,
however, doesn’t provide marketers with the luxury of time. In this section, you want to answer
the following questions:

What type of branding will you use? (Manufacturer versus dealer, family brand versus
individual brand, etc.)

How do you plan to create a brand image?

How will you make yourself distinct from the other businesses/products?
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These questions take on more importance in an environment where time is a luxury.
In this section, give some thought to how you will build your image in the mind of the customer.
The goal is to develop a product/service that delivers what it promises consistently over time. By
doing so, you hope to build brand equity, or a value above and beyond the economic value of the
brand. Traditionally, brand equity is built incrementally over time. Building brand image and
equity is analogous to filling an in-ground swimming pool with a shot glass. Only through a
consistent effort over time can one hope to accomplish this task. And once completed, it is easier
to maintain than it is to start over again.
Describe how you will build brand image. How do you plan to create a brand image that is
consistent with what you are delivering? Is there something unique about your product offering
that you can use to your advantage in terms of branding? If you are offering something that is not
unique, how do you differentiate your product or service from your competitors in the eyes of the
consumer?
Discuss how you will maintain your brand. Are you delivering what the customer expects or are
you making promises that you can’t keep? For example, if you are offering fast delivery, are you
keeping your promise? How do you plan to keep your brand “fresh” in the eyes of the consumer?
How do you propose to consistently maintain your brand image?
Packaging
[Click here to enter your own text]
The Chapter 11 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment requires that you develop packaging
strategies, if appropriate for your offering. Describe the general packaging format of the overall
product class. Are there customer expectations with regard to packaging that must be met? Are
there promotional and/or labeling needs that are a result of consumer preference or government
regulation? What are the protection needs/concerns associated with this product class and your
product in particular? Can you use packaging as a source of competitive advantage?
Cultural Sensitivity of Product
[Click here to enter your own text]
What, if any, issues of cultural sensitivity must you be aware of when marketing this product? If
launching globally, are there differences in the core or augmented product and/or packaging
necessary because of cultural sensitivity?
Fit with Product Line
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How does the proposed product fit within your existing product line? Is it a complementary or
supplementary product? Is this a new product line? Illustrate that you’ve thought about how this
product fits with your current business, or if it is for a new product and a new business, how you
can build your future business around this product.
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Price
[Click here to enter your own text]
The Chapter 13 and 14 of the Building Your Marketing Plan requires that you set a final price.
You may want to complete the sections that follow in addition to meeting the requirements of the
assignments. That assignment requires that you list two pricing objectives and three pricing
constraints. In addition, somewhere in these sections you must show that you have given thought
to your customers and competitors and set three possible prices.
Price is the element of the marketing mix that generates funds for the company. Price also
influences how the brand is perceived. Typically, a high price connotes high quality. Consumers
search for some combination of price and quality that allows them to maximize their utility.
Pricing strategies can be static or dynamic. Static pricing strategies include Cost Plus Pricing
(cost of production per unit plus a profit margin), Return on Investment Pricing, Price Skimming
(charging what the market will bear), Price Penetration (using a low price to penetrate the
market), and Break-Even Pricing (price to just break even with regards to fixed costs and
variable costs).
The Chapter 13 and 14 Building Your Marketing Plan assignments require that you assume a
fixed cost and unit variable cost and calculate the break-even points and plot the break-even
chart for the three prices that you have specified as part of the assignment. There is a separate
section for break-even that follows this section/
Dynamic pricing strategies are non-traditional or innovative ways to generate sales. With a
dynamic pricing strategy, the only criteria is that you exceed your break-even point per unit in
either sales or based upon the net present value of a revenue stream generated by the product’s
use. Dynamic pricing strategies include auctions, reverse auctions, “free” products that help
build market share and/or generate targeted e-mail lists.
This section should focus on what type of pricing strategies you will use based upon the demand
for your product(s), the available supply and the typical markup chain in your industry.
Break-even Point
[Click here to enter your own text]
As per the Chapter 13 Building your Marketing Plan assignment, assume a fixed cost and unit
variable cost and calculate the break-even points and plot a break-even chart for the three prices
specified as part of the Chapter 13 assignment. Show your calculations below (a good idea would
be to use a Microsoft Excel worksheet) and the chart below.
Nature of Demand
[Click here to enter your own text]
What is the nature of the demand for your product(s)? Is the demand cyclical or seasonal? Or is it
constant? What is the level of demand versus the supply – that is, is there enough supply to
satisfy demand? Describe how demand impacts price and quality in your market. Is demand for
your product elastic or inelastic? Is demand for your product dependent upon or tied to the
demand for another product?
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Demand and Cost Analysis
[Click here to enter your own text]
What is the break-even point in units? Is there sufficient demand to allow you to reach your
break-even point? How do economies of scale and scope impact your break-even point? What is
your fixed cost per unit, your variable cost per unit and your total cost per unit for different
levels of projected demand (conservative, average, optimistic)? Discuss the relationship between
demand and cost and how you will manage this relationship.
Markup Chain in Channel
[Click here to enter your own text]
Given your desired return on investment, channel type, customer demand, and manufacturers
suggested retail price, what are the markup percentages and margins that each member of the
marketing channel can expect to make? Is the markup chain reflective of the risks assumed by
each channel member (i.e., the channel member who assumes the most risk receives the highest
margin)? The perception of an inequitable distribution of channel profits creates channel conflict.
Describe who can expect to make what.
Price Flexibility
[Click here to enter your own text]
In this section, describe whether you are using static pricing, dynamic pricing or a combination
pricing strategy. How structured are your prices? How much latitude do you have in setting
price?
Price Levels
[Click here to enter your own text]
Are you planning to use a price lining strategy where you have a range of prices for varying
degrees of product quality (low, medium, and high price points)? Will you be using a skimming
strategy or a penetration pricing strategy? Is it possible to use a market basket pricing approach,
where you take a loss for one or a few products in order to make a profit for the entire basket of
profits offered?
Adjustments to List Price
[Click here to enter your own text]
Under what instances will you offer adjustments to the list price? Will you have trade discounts,
quantity discounts, seasonal discounts, or any price reduction promotions? Many of these
adjustments may have been covered in the sales promotion and/or push and pull marketing
sections of the marketing plan.
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Promotions
[Click here to enter your own text]
To be successful you must have a focused and coordinated promotion and advertising plan.
Without focus or goals, promotion and advertising are useless. In addition, how will you reach
potential customers?
Rather than aiming for “pie-in-the-sky” projections, try to remain reality based. Success won’t
happen overnight and it won’t happen with one advertising or promotion campaign. Advertising
and promotion require a consistent effort over time in order to work effectively for you. The
Chapter 18 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment requires that you develop a promotion
strategy for your marketing plan. Describe that strategy in general terms here and give more
details in the subsequent related sections. Be sure to begin by identifying the target audience and
then move onto the promotion objectives (the next section), promotion budget, promotion tools,
and the schedule for specific promotions. Within these sections, be sure to also satisfy the
requirements of parts 2 and 3 of the Chapter 18 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment,
which ask you to:

Specify the pre-testing and post-testing procedures needed in the implementation and
control phases.

Describe how each of your promotion tools is integrated to provide a consistent message.
Promotion Objectives
[Click here to enter your own text]
Use this section to define how you will promote your business. How will you promote your
product or service? How will you induce trial? How will you convert trial users to customers?
How will you keep your promotional message “fresh” and pertinent to your customers? How will
you reach former customers or stay in contact with current customers? What are your
promotional goals? Some potential goals are to stimulate sales, increase awareness, generate
interest, remind consumers to purchase, and/or to persuade consumers to purchase.
Major Messages/Themes for IMC
[Click here to enter your own text]
Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) is the intentional coordination and effective
blending of all of the firm’s promotion efforts to convey a consistent and complete message to
the company’s intended market. Possibly the most successful application of IMC in recent
history has been Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign. All messages from Nike have used this central
theme to promote the link between the company’s athletic footwear, clothing and accessories and
good health through exercise. This three word play on words based on our propensity to put off
exercise has been, and remains, highly successful. What type of theme or message makes sense
for your product? To be effective, it has to communicate something about your product and how
it fits the needs of the consumer.
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Promotion Blend/Tools
[Click here to enter your own text]
Successful promotion requires a blend of the promotional mix (advertising, personal selling,
sales promotion, publicity and interactive media). Your specific promotional blend is product
and industry dependent. For instance, high involvement products require higher levels of
personal selling than do low involvement products. And an increasing percentage of the
promotional budget is being spent on sales promotion over advertising in consumer goods
markets. As with most other marketing decisions, promotion and the allocation of resources
across the promotional blend is constrained by the financial resources of the company.
Advertising
[Click here to enter your own text]
In this section discuss the type, amount and cost of advertising that you need to accomplish your
marketing objectives. How much money do you have to spend on advertising and how will it be
used to maximize exposure given the budget constraint? How often will your advertisements run
and where? What are your advertising goals? Remember that there is no linear relationship
between advertising dollars spent and sales: therefore, the best we can do is to use the objectivetask budgeting method to determine how much it will cost to achieve a desired, measurable,
objective.
The Chapter 19 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment requires that you review Figure 19-4
to select the advertising media you will include in your plan by analyzing how combinations of
media can compliment each other. Figure 19-4, lists the following possibilities:

Television

Radio

Magazines

Newspapers

Yellow pages

Internet

Outdoor

Direct mail
Personal Selling
[Click here to enter your own text]
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What level of personal selling is needed to stimulate the sale of your product(s)? This is strongly
correlated to the degree of involvement associated with the product: high involvement versus
low involvement. Higher involvement products, those with higher risks associated with making a
poor purchase decision, require higher levels of personal selling than do low involvement
products. Technological complexity also influences the degree of personal selling needed for a
product, with highly complex products requiring more personal selling. In this section of the
marketing plan, define the desired level of personal selling needed to ensure the success of your
marketing plan and determine the budget necessary to accomplish your objectives.
The Chapter 20 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment requires that if your business has a
personal selling aspect to it, then you must develop a personal selling plan. You can do that by
documenting your responses to each of the following elements:

Identify the likely prospects of your personal selling activities

Determine what information you should obtain about the prospects

Describe how you would approach the prospect

Outline the presentation you would make to the prospect Develop a sales plan, focusing
on the organizational structure you would use for your sales force including:
o Geography
o Product
o Customer
Sales Promotion
[Click here to enter your own text]
The goal of sales promotion is to increase sales in the short-term. Cooperative advertising, Pointof-Purchase displays, coupons, rebates, etc. are the means by which companies engage in two
broad types of sales promotion: push and pull marketing. Push marketing consists of sales
promotion activities designed to push the product through the marketing channels to the final
consumer. Pull marketing consists of sales promotion activities designed to pull the product
through the distribution channel from producer to consumer by stimulating consumer demand.
Although sales promotion is currently the largest percentage of the consumer goods promotional
budget, one must remember that the costs of sales promotion are bourn by the company.
Consumer goods companies tend to prefer sales promotion to advertising for one reason: the link
between sales promotion and sales is direct and measurable.
The Chapter 19 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment requires that you select (and specify
here) your consumer-oriented sales promotion activities. Here’s the list from Figure 19-6 of the
text:

Coupons

Deals
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
Premiums

Contests

Sweepstakes

Samples

Loyalty programs

Point-of-purchase displays

Rebates

Product placement
In addition, the Chapter 19 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment requires that you specify
which trade-oriented sales promotions and public relations activities you will use.
Publicity
[Click here to enter your own text]
Publicity is any non-paid mass communication message initiated by the company. The goal of
publicity is to attract the firm and its offerings without having to pay media costs. How does
publicity fit into your marketing plan? How do you plan to manage publicity? Is there a publicity
schedule that fits well with your promotion plan? What are the costs associated with publicity
and what percentage of your overall promotion budget should be spent on publicity?
Interactive Media
[Click here to enter your own text]
What level of interactive media, such as Internet marketing, instant couponing, interactive
kiosks, CD-ROM promotional disks, do you plan to use to support your product(s)? Is it possible
to use the Internet as a distribution tool? Is an Internet presence required for your product even if
you don’t plan to sell direct to the customer via the Internet? How can you use interactive media
to increase your level of perceived customer support? In this section, discuss the importance of
interactive media in the success of the marketing plan. What are the costs associated with using
interactive media as part of the promotional mix?
The Chapter 21 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment requires that if marketing plan
involves a market space presence for your product or service then you need to do the following:

Describe how each website element —
o Context
o Content
o Community
o Customization
o Communication
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o Connection
o Commerce
— will be used to create a customer experience.

Identify a company website that best reflects your website conceptualization.
Mix of Push and Pull Required
[Click here to enter your own text]
Push and Pull marketing (sales promotion) are not mutually exclusive decisions. Most marketers
use a mix of push and pull marketing to stimulate sales. What mixture of push and pull
marketing do you plan to use to stimulate sales? Who will the target audiences be (consumers,
wholesalers, channel members, sales people)? What is the cycle or schedule of push and pull
marketing required to meet your marketing objectives?
Who Will Do the Work
[Click here to enter your own text]
In this section of the marketing plan, describe who will do the promotion work discussed above.
Do you have in-house expertise or will you need to job-out elements of the promotion mix?
What type of compensation do you envision paying your promotion partners? The most common
elements of the promotion mix to job-out are advertising, sales promotion, publicity, and
interactive media. How does the in-house versus job-out decision impact the promotion budget?
Place/Channels
[Click here to enter your own text]
Place, or distribution, pertains to how and where the product is delivered to the consumer. In this
section, discuss your distribution strategy. What intermediaries will be used? What method of
delivery do you plan to use? Who will you partner with to facilitate the flow of goods? How will
the flow of information and funds work? Identify the trade intermediaries that you’ll work with
to facilitate the exchange. If you are selling a product, how will you ship the product to the
customer, who may be the end-user or one of the trade intermediaries? Discuss your distribution
objectives, types of distribution channels to be utilized, the degree of value chain coordination
needed, transportation, product handling and storage facilities required as well as any reverse
channels that are being proposed.
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What type of distribution channel(s) do you intend to use given the degree of market exposure
desired? Direct distribution refers to products delivered to the end user directly from the
manufacturer or service provider. Indirect distribution refers to products delivered to the end user
through the use of trade intermediaries such as distributors, wholesalers, retailers, etc. Remember
that this is not a mutually exclusive decision: one may use multiple types of distribution channels
containing multiple levels depending on the product being offered and the location of the
customers. If you plan to use multiple distribution channels, care must be taken to avoid direct
competition between the channels.
The Chapter 15 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment requires that you identify which
channel and intermediaries will provide the best coverage of the target market for your product
or service. In this section, you can specify which channels and intermediaries will best satisfy the
important buying requirements of the target market. You are also required to determine which
channels and intermediaries will be the most profitable.
Objectives (degree of market exposure)
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Define your distribution objectives in terms of the degree of market exposure desired: Intensive,
selective, or exclusive. The goal of intensive distribution is to be in as many locations as possible
to provide consumers with easy access to your product(s). Selective distribution limits the
number of locations in which a consumer has access to your product to a defined number per
geographic location. Whereas the focus of intensive distribution is to be everywhere, the goal of
selective distribution is to be in locations that make sense for the product and its desired brand
image. Exclusive distribution seeks to limit distribution to very few locations in a defined region
and works best with prestige items. For instance, Rolls Royce has a formula for locating its
dealership franchises based upon the population and other demographic factors in a given area.
What type of distribution channel(s) do you intend to use given the degree of market exposure
desired? Direct distribution refers to products delivered to the end user directly from the
manufacturer or service provider. Indirect distribution refers to products delivered to the end user
through the use of trade intermediaries such as distributors, wholesalers, retailers, etc. Remember
that this is not a mutually exclusive decision: one may use multiple types of distribution channels
containing multiple levels depending on the product being offered and the location of the
customers. If you plan to use multiple distribution channels, care must be taken to avoid direct
competition between the channels.
Value Chain Coordination Needed
[Click here to enter your own text]
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In this section of the marketing plan, describe the type of value chain coordination needed to
transform raw materials into finished goods delivered to customers in an effective and efficient
manner. Concepts such as just-in-time delivery, materials and process flow, inventory
management, Economic Order Quantity (EOQ), Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), and Efficient
Consumer Response (ECR) all allude to the type of value chain activities that need to be
coordinated. By managing these activities as a system, rather than as discrete occurrences, allows
a company to remain price competitive and/or more profitable in the long-term.
Transportation Requirements
[Click here to enter your own text]
Transportation and delivery requirements are highly correlated with the type of product being
sold and the desired degree of market exposure. What combination of rail, truck, ship, airplane,
or pipeline is needed to deliver your finished products to the intended market? Some items, such
as computer software, do not need transportation services to deliver them to the final consumer:
they can be delivered directly to the consumer via the Internet. As with other elements of the
marketing plan, the selection of the best transportation option is dependent on the budget
constraints of the company.
Inventory/Product Handling Requirements
[Click here to enter your own text]
The Chapter 16 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment requires that you identify the three or
four major kinds of inventory needed for your organization. What are the inventory and/or
product handling requirements that are unique to your product? Is it perishable? Does it require
special licenses for handling? The level of inventory by any member of the distribution channel
is related to the economic or opportunity costs associated with not having sufficient inventory
on-hand to handle demand. Therefore, projecting inventory requirements requires one to have a
good understanding of the nature of the product’s demand. Make a list:

Retail stock needed

Finished goods

Raw materials

Supplies
The Chapter 16 assignment also asks you to suggest ways to reduce the cost of inventory.
Facilities Required
[Click here to enter your own text]
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In this section, describe the types of facilities required to facilitate the distribution of your
product to the consumer. For instance, combining this section with the above section, once can
see that an ice cream manufacturer needs adequate freezer space to store its finished product onsite before shipping, refrigerated shipping (truck, rail, boat or airplane), distributors with
refrigerated warehouses and retailers with refrigerated facilities in order to ensure that the
product doesn’t melt before it reaches the hands of the final consumer.
Retail Strategy
[Click here to enter your own text]
The Chapter 17 Building Your Own Marketing Plan assignment requires that if your marketing
plan involves using retailers, then you must include a retail strategy element in your marketing
plan. The assignment requires that you do each of the following:

Retail Marketing Mix: Select a position in the retail positioning matrix and specify the
details of your retailing mix here.

Positioning Statement: Prepare (and include it here) a positioning statement describing
the breadth of the product line (broad versus narrow) and the value added (low versus
high).

Describe an appropriate combination of retail pricing, store location, retail
communication, and merchandise assortment.
Reverse Channels (Optional)
[Click here to enter your own text]
Reverse channels are channels used to retrieve products that consumers no longer want. Not all
products require reverse channels and government regulation/legislation has a direct impact on
the existence of reverse channels. For instance, if you live in a state that requires a deposit on
soda bottles and cans, a channel for returning your bottles or cans must be developed. To ignore
the requirements of a reverse channel is a certain way of alienating and losing customers. If this
section is pertinent for your product, describe the reverse channel requirements necessary to
facilitate the return of products from the consumer.
Data and Projections
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This is the section of the marketing plan where you attempt to predict the sales that will be
generated from your marketing efforts. Several approaches to forecasting exist. The key is to
pick the one that makes the most sense for your product or industry. The Chapter 9 Building
Your Marketing Plan requests that you use the “Lost-Horse” forecasting technique.
Sales Forecasting Methods Used
[Click here to enter your own text]
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How do you develop your sales forecast? If you have valid assumptions, and are conservative in
projecting expected sales, you have a fair chance of developing a realistic sales forecast. This is
much easier if you have historical data from earlier operations or from your competitors. In many
cases, this information can be gleaned from secondary data sources. For many firms, industry
sales averages exist in publications such as the Robert Morris data.
In this section, discuss the sales forecasting method that you are using. Choose a forecasting
method that makes sense for your business and include this sales forecast worksheet in the
appendix of this plan. Think about if it makes sense to forecast your revenue streams by product
(or product line or service description), by sales channels (direct marketing, distribution
channels, channel partners, strategic alliances, etc.), or by both.
Think about what drives your revenues. Are you operating under a standard business model
whereby you need to predict the number of units you will sell and at what price? Or are you
operating under a different model where some other criteria or variables generate revenue? No
matter what method or approaches you use to forecast you sales, consider this word of caution:
be conservative in your estimates. Success is built slowly.
Sales Data
[Click here to enter your own text]
Estimate the level of sales expected as a result of this marketing plan. Having settled on a sales
forecasting method as defined above, generate the same multiple scenarios as you did for cost:
low sales, medium sales, and high sales projections. The value of developing three sets of
estimates is that you provide the reader of the marketing plan with a range of potential results.
One key indicator of what future sales will be is to look at what past sales have been. Provide
readers with a summary chart of the past few years sales results and projected future results.
Costs
[Click here to enter your own text]
Estimate to the best of your ability the costs associated with each of the activities proposed in the
marketing plan. Each section of the plan has costs associated with the activities proposed.
Develop a summary of costs and include a total estimated cost figure. You may want to develop
multiple scenarios: low cost, medium cost and high cost estimates with the understanding that
the costs will most likely be somewhere between the low and high estimates.
Financial Projections
[Click here to enter your own text]
Using the information from the cost section and the sales section, develop a pro-forma operating
statement (profit and loss statement). The operating statement allows for a manager to quickly
judge the attractiveness of a marketing plan by showing the gap between expected sales and
costs. Astute managers request a minimum of three pro-forma operating statements based upon
the different levels of expected cost and sales defined above. Other pro-forma statements
requested by marketing managers include an income statement and balance sheet. Again,
common-sized industry sales averages exist in publications such as the Robert Morris data. You
can use this information to judge the viability of your projections.
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Financial Information Systems Needs
[Click here to enter your own text]
Discuss what type of financial information system that you currently use and what type of
information system that you need in order to adequately process the data collected above. Do you
have the systems in place or do they need to be developed? What are the hardware and software
needs? Can you purchase “off-the-shelf” systems or do you need customized systems? As with
the data collection phase, estimate the cost of the financial information systems needs. These
costs, however, differ from the above costs in that they can be allocated over multiple projects –
that is, they are infrastructure investments – rather than being project specific investments. The
key is to illustrate that you have the capability to monitor sales projections and cost estimates
provided above.
Organization
[Click here to enter your own text]
In this section of the marketing plan, discuss the way in which the company is currently
organized and how the organizational structure allows it to respond to opportunities in an
effective and efficient manner. Use or develop an organizational chart to illustrate the chain of
command/control in the organization and how the different functional areas of the business are
linked together in a cohesive environment. The Chapter 22 Building Your Marketing Plan
requires that you draw a simple organization chart for your organization. Use the drawing tools
of Microsoft Word (see Diagram Gallery) or a drawing software program of your choice, to
create an organization chart. Insert your chart below.
Often a more elaborate marketing plan will show the new positions expected to be added as the
firm grows – or as defined as necessary for implementation as described in the next section of
the marketing plan. Attach biographical sketches of key personnel in Appendix A if the
marketing plan’s goal is to obtain external funding.
Implementation Plan
[Click here to enter your own text]
The Implementation Plan shows how the company will turn plans into results. Gantt charts are
often used to set deadlines and assign responsibilities for the many tactical marketing decisions
needed to enter a new market. Discuss any special implementation problems to be overcome in
order for the marketing plan to be successful. Are there any human, manufacturing, financial, or
other resources that you need in order to succeed? Describe in detail your requirements in each
of the sections below and estimate the costs associated with each activity.
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Your Company Name Marketing Plan
People Required
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In this section, describe the personnel required to successfully implement the marketing plan. Do
these people already exist in the organization or do they need to be acquired. If the need to
acquire extra personnel exists, do these people need to be full-time employees or are there
consultants that can be hired for the short-term who have the expertise needed to carry out the
plan. Estimate all costs associated with hiring or contracting additional personnel.
Manufacturing, Financial and Other Resources Needed
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Describe any additional manufacturing, financial or other resources needed to make the
marketing plan a success. If manufacturing or other resources are requested, the same guidelines
as outlined above pertain: purchase or rent? Estimate all costs associated with additional
manufacturing and other resources needed.
If additional financial resources are needed, define how much and in what form. If your goal is to
raise capital, determine whether it is best to seek a loan, float a bond or release additional shares
of stock for sale. What is the payback period? Is this reflected in the financial projections? What
is the risk associated with each option for raising capital? What are the market conditions and
rates? Leverage is a useful financial tool. Over indebtedness is not.
Timing
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In this, the final section of the marketing plan, discuss the plan’s overall time frame and the
timing of each of the activities that need to be performed in order to ensure the success of the
plan. Define the sequence of the activities and events and any foreseeable changes in marketing
activities as they relate to changes in the stages of the product life cycle encompassed in the plan.
Specific Sequence of Activities and Events
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Your Company Name Marketing Plan
Provide a detailed list of the beginning and ending dates for each of the specific activities and
events proposed in the marketing plan. This should be a linear presentation, progressing from the
plan’s start date to finish date. A visual summary of the information provided in the form of a
Gantt chart or some other similar presentation style may make monitoring the specific sequence
of activities and events more manageable. Make certain to build in sufficient lead times for
things such as advertising production and placement as well as for publicity or public relations
efforts.
The Chapter 22 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment requires that you develop a Gantt
chart to schedule the key activities to implement you marketing plan. Complete a table like the
one below or revise it to meet your specific implementation needs.
Week of quarter
Task Description
Personnel
Involved
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Gantt Chart for scheduling implementation of marketing plan
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Your Company Name Marketing Plan
Evaluation and Control
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There is a large difference between well-conceived plans and well-executed plans. In a perfect
world, yours is both. In reality, the difference between success and failure lies in the execution of
the plan. The key to successful implementation is to have a method of keeping your finger on the
pulse of the project and the diagnostic tools that you need to accurately measure results. Once the
plan is implemented and you start seeing the results of your initiatives, it is important to review
what has been accomplished. It is best to think of marketing plans as living documents. They
aren’t carved in stone: they can be adjusted, or tailored, after implementation. The essence of
Evaluation and Control is comparing actual sales with the targeted values set in the plan and
taking appropriate actions.
Finally, no plan is perfect. This is a direct result of developing the plan with less than perfect
information. Even with the best research and the best projections, plans fail. However, on
average it is better to operate with a well-conceived plan than it is to fly by the seat of your
pants. Structured plans allow you to keep track of your decisions, monitor the results, and
establish an institutional knowledge base of what works and what doesn’t. To embrace a
philosophy of continuous improvement, you have to know what has happened in the past. In
other words, you need to know where you’ve been in order to get to where you’re going.
The Chapter 22 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment requires that you list the four or five
critical factors (such as revenues, number of customers, variable costs) and how frequently
(monthly, quarterly) you will monitor to determine if special actions are needed to exploit
opportunities or correct deviations.
Critical Factors to Monitor
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Frequency of Review
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Your Company Name Marketing Plan
Marketing Information Systems Needed
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What additional marketing information systems needs do you have for controlling the marketing
plan? How will data be collected and transformed into information? What types of databases do
you need? This is in part determined by what type of business you are engaged in, what your
transformation or value-added processes are and your plans for implementing relationship and/or
database marketing efforts in the future. Any system that you develop or propose to develop
should be expandable to accommodate future marketing information systems needs and business
growth. Can these needs be incorporated with the financial information systems needs previously
discussed?
Criterion Measures with Objectives
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In this section of the marketing plan, revisit your corporate and marketing objectives associated
with this plan and discuss the specific criterion measures to be used. How do the measures reflect
the success or failure of meeting the objectives? How are the measures calculated? What are the
baseline measures for success – the minimum level of acceptable performance for each criterion
measure?
Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Key Personnel
This section of the marketing plan is where you’ll attach all of the support material that you’ve
referenced in the marketing plan such as your sales projections, etc. Use this page to separate the
appendices from the text. Make certain that you update the table of contents to include the title of
each exhibit in the appendix and its page number.
Appendix B: Support Material
This section of the marketing plan is where you’ll attach all of the support material that you’ve
referenced in the marketing plan such as your sales projections, etc. Use this page to separate the
appendices from the text. Make certain that you update the table of contents to include the title of
each exhibit in the appendix and its page number.
Data Collection for Marketing Plan
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The Chapter 8 Building Your Marketing Plan assignment suggests that you make a list of the
information you would ideally like to have to fill holes in your marketing plan. Since this
Microsoft Word Marketing Plan document includes sections that are not required in the Building
Your Marketing Plan assignment, you may want to review some of those “optional” sections for
ideas. You may also want to complete the following table and include it in this appendix:
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Your Company Name Marketing Plan
Information to
Collect
Source of
Information
Priority (1 = Most
Important, 2 =
Next most
Important, etc.)
Data Collection Table
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