Download Marketing Focus Worksheets

MARKETING FOCUS WORKSHEET
COMPLETING THE MARKETING FOCUS WORKSHEET
To begin the marketing planning process, you must determine the focus of your planning.
Many businesses offer a variety of products to many different customers. A marketing plan should
be developed for each major product or product category and even for different customer groups if
their needs are different enough to require important changes in the ways the product or service is
marketed to them.
As you start developing your Marketing Focus, you will begin with a general idea of the
customers you would like to serve and the type of product or service you plan to offer to them. The
focus is a starting point. It provides direction for your research, but you should be willing to add a
great deal of detail or even change the focus of your market or product as you gather additional
information. A marketer who is unwilling to change based on research and information analysis will
likely not succeed for very long.
Follow these procedures in working through the Marketing Focus Worksheet below. The
answers will help you clarify your current ideas about the customers and product or service that
will be the focus of your marketing planning project. Working through the steps will also raise
important questions you will need to answer and identify types of information you will need to
gather and analyze as you continue with your project. At this point, don’t be too concerned if your
ideas are general and your knowledge is limited. But make sure to focus on customers and
products or services that interest you and that you believe provide the basis for a successful
business.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Start with the Market (Customer) Description if possible, but complete the
Product/Service Description first if you are not certain of the customers you would like to
serve and their needs.
Try to complete all parts of the Marketing Focus, remembering that it only identifies your
current ideas—not your final marketing decisions. List your current ideas about each item
even if you are not certain about the response.
It is acceptable for answers to be quite general rather than specific. Even if your answers
are specific, remember that there will likely be many changes as you continue through the
Marketing Planning Guide template.
You should not need to study the market or product or gather a great deal of information
to complete the Marketing Focus. However, it is appropriate to discuss your ideas with
others to see if their perceptions are the same as or different from yours.
As you complete the Marketing Focus, you may want to share your ideas and get feedback
from other students, family members, friends, and even business people you know. When the
Marketing Focus is completed, your teacher will provide information on how it will be reviewed,
and a final decision will be made on the customers and product/service you will use as the focus
for your marketing planning project.
Name
Date
MARKETING FOCUS WORKSHEET
Providing Direction for Marketing Planning
I.
Market (Customer) Description
A.
Which market would you prefer to work with? (Choose one)
___ Individual consumers
___ Businesses and organizations
___ Groups of consumers
___ No preference
B.
Are you aware of a reasonably large number of consumers/businesses that have
important wants and needs that are not currently being well satisfied? (Choose one)
___ Yes (If yes, answer the remaining questions in this section now.)
___ No (If no, complete Part II first, and then return to this section.)
C. What do you believe are the important wants and needs of the people or businesses you
are considering as your potential customers?
D. What are the important characteristics of the people or businesses you plan to serve that
will allow you to identify and locate them if you decide they are your market? (age,
gender, education, income, geographic location, etc.)
II.
Product/Service Description
A.
What is the product or service that will be the initial focus for your marketing planning?
B.
What are the most important or obvious characteristics of the product/service you plan to
offer that you believe will make it appealing to customers?
C. What characteristics of the product/service do you believe may not meet customer
expectations, making it more difficult to market?
D. Why do you believe this product/service offers a better opportunity for successful
marketing than other possible choices you could make?
III. Competition
A.
What other products or services might appeal to the same customer wants and needs?
B.
What are the major companies/brands that are selling an identical or similar
product/service?
C. What type of competition exists in the market (intense to limited)?
D. What types of laws and regulations are you aware of that affect the production or
marketing of these products or services?
IV. Marketing Mix
A.
What types of product/service choices are available to customers from the major
competing brands? Are there differences in product features, quality, construction, and
services offered?
B.
Where do customers typically buy this product/service? What other types of businesses
are involved in distributing the product from the producer to the business where it is sold
to customers?
C. What is the typical price range for the product/service? Is credit/financing typically offered
and used by customers when buying the product?
D. How and where are the products and services promoted? What other methods are used
to get information to prospective customers? What messages/images are used to
encourage customers to buy?
V.
Information Sources
What information sources are you currently aware of where you can obtain information that
will help you with marketing planning?
Source
Market (customers)
Competition
Marketing Mix
(activities)
Other Marketing
Information
Type of Information Provided