What is a marketing plan in simple terms? What should I write? The shortest company marketing plan

21.09.2019

We offer a ready-made checklist with which you can create a ready-made marketing plan from scratch. The article details the structure and lists the main sections of the marketing plan. We will tell you in what order it is most convenient to draw up a marketing plan, which elements of a marketing plan are mandatory, and which components can sometimes be missed. We are confident that our checklist is suitable for protecting the promotion strategy of any product, because it is an exhaustive list important information, on the basis of which key strategic decisions are made.

A marketing plan has a fairly clear and logically structured structure, and its development is not a one-day process. You will need a lot of time to collect detailed information about consumers, to study the characteristics and market conditions, to determine competitive advantages goods and much more. Get ready to process and summarize a variety of various facts, consider more than one alternative for business development. Don't be afraid to take the time to analyze different options strategies.

On average, drawing up a high-quality marketing plan can take (depending on the size of the business and the number of product groups in the company’s portfolio) from 1-3 months. And if you engage in marketing planning simultaneously with solving current issues, then allow at least 2-4 months for this process. 50% of this time will be spent collecting information, 40% on analysis and consideration of alternatives, and only 10% on drawing up the marketing plan itself.

The structure of a standard marketing plan includes 8 elements and is as follows:

What is "Executive Summary"

"Executive Summary" - resume or summary key areas of the marketing plan. This section of the marketing plan attempts to outline the main conclusions, recommendations and goals of the company for the next few years. You fill out this section last, but when presenting your marketing plan, you start with this section.

The practice of outlining key takeaways at the beginning of any presentation helps align management with the required presentation format, allowing for detailed study facts evaluate the basic strategy and prepare questions. This section of the marketing plan often includes the content, duration of the presentation, presentation format, and preferred form of feedback.

Situation analysis and conclusions

The situational analysis section is designed to quickly get a complete picture of the market, its size, trends and features. Such an analysis helps explain the choice of certain actions in the marketing strategy of a product. The main components of a situational analysis are:

Analysis of the company’s internal environment and resources, including assessment of the level of achievement of current goals and objectives
Analysis of consumer behavior in the market, assessment of the reasons for purchasing and rejecting the company’s product
Analysis external factors company, competitor behavior and key market trends

A more detailed example of a situational or business analysis of a company can be found in our article:

SWOT analysis and competitive advantages

Any situational analysis ends with a compilation, describing the company’s strengths and weaknesses, key opportunities and threats to sales and profit growth. Based on the results of the SWOT analysis, the following is formed:

the main product of the company
indicating the development vector of product positioning for 3-5 years
tactical action plan for the use and development of capabilities
tactical action plan to minimize identified threats
main

Defining marketing goals and objectives

The first step of any marketing strategy: setting performance targets for the coming year. The marketing plan should contain 2 types of goals: business goals and marketing goals. Business goals relate to issues such as the position of the product in the market (share or place among competitors), sales levels, profits and profitability. Marketing goals consider issues such as attracting new customers, retaining current customers, increasing the frequency and duration of product use.

Protecting your marketing strategy

Marketing strategy presentation is a core section of an organization's marketing plan. At this stage of the presentation of the marketing plan, it is important to talk about the following elements of the marketing strategy:

Without this section, the marketing plan will not be complete and not a single manager will approve the developed programs for product development and its promotion to the market. The section begins with a presentation of the business model or P&L, which shows the projected sales growth from the programs, the required budget for the programs, net income, and return on sales. The subsequent stages of this section are comments and explanations on the P&L model:

Budget structure divided into main cost items
Review of the main sources of sales growth and correlating them with budget items
Assumptions used to build the model in the areas of cost growth, inflation and price levels

A good plan is half done!
Jewish wisdom

Marketing plan

Jim Rohn always said: Never start your day unless you already have it planned out on paper! And this has become the rule of all successful business people.

I, in turn, slightly paraphrased the rule of the great psychologist, and I always recommend to my clients: never start marketing unless you have a regular marketing plan. Otherwise, you risk being left without clients and without money!

It is important to understand that marketing is not about individual gimmicks, gimmicks and tools!

Marketing is a daily painstaking systematic work. And if you want your marketing to be effective, it needs to be planned carefully.

A marketing calendar will help you with this, which will display a marketing plan with specific goals, expected results and a set budget. Creating it is not as difficult as it seems at first glance. You will only need to complete 7 steps.

Let's look at each of them.

Note: At the end of the article there is a link to a marketing calendar template that you can download to your computer and start using in your work.

#1 - Selecting planning tools

You can plan in different ways.

Some people do it the old fashioned way, maybe use a notepad. Some people find it more convenient to use Excel. And some will prefer specialized software.

In fact, it doesn't matter which method you choose. The main thing is the created marketing plan.

There are several free, simple, but no less effective ways to create and maintain a marketing calendar:

Google docs. Online Excel spreadsheets that allow multiple users to work in them at once. Great for team work.
Evernote. An online notepad that is also great for team work. On the plus side, you can save and organize any notes regarding your marketing plan. The downside is that all calculations will need to be done manually.
Trello. Another cool tool for teamwork. Allows you to pull documents from Google docs and create cards with tasks and subtasks, as well as assign responsibility.

If you want to use a specialized professional software, I recommend paying attention to the following applications:

No. 2 - Drawing up a sales plan

The key task of marketing in absolutely any company (except for charitable ones) is to fulfill the sales plan and obtain the planned profit. And you should always remember this!

We will not dwell on the topic of sales planning now, but you must know exactly what financial indicators you want to achieve in each month.

This will determine both your marketing budget and the marketing channels you use.

Planning methods

There are three main planning methods:

top-down planning
bottom-up planning
Goals down-plans up planning

In the first case, the company's management independently sets goals and develops plans for its sales department.

In the second case, the sales department develops its own goals and plans, which are sent to management for approval.

In the third case, the company's management develops goals and indicators for distribution development. Based on this data, the sales department draws up a plan, as well as a list of resources necessary to implement the plan. Plans and resources are reviewed and approved by management.

As practice shows, the third method is the most effective.

Although, unfortunately, most distribution companies work according to the first method.

Typically, the sales plan goes down from the business owner to the commercial director, from the commercial director to the head of the sales department, from the head of the department to the senior manager (or supervisor) to the sales managers. Of course, this chain may change depending on the structure of the sales department in the company, but the principle of planning remains unchanged.

Why is this happening?

The answer is quite simple: senior management always acts as an investor.

At the same time, having information about the average interest rate on deposits, management expects its business to grow at least 2 times more than the average rate. Otherwise, a deposit is a more attractive and profitable investment.

Lower-level managers almost never think about the cost of money, so senior management rarely trusts them with planning.

What usually happens in top-down planning?

In most cases, top-down planning encourages shifting responsibility and the development of protest thinking among sales managers. That is, having seen their sales plan for the month, managers begin to look for reasons and arguments why this plan is overestimated and unfulfilled. They perceive any increase in the plan not as an opportunity to increase their income, but as a desire by management to reduce their salary.

But the root of the problem lies elsewhere: the manager is just comparing last month’s sales plan with the current plan.

If the current plan figure is higher, the manager perceives it as a whim of management, and nothing more. And he continues to work carelessly, without thinking about what is needed to fulfill the plan.

Believe me, only a few managers with this approach to planning try to figure out how they can increase sales. They will always expect that since management sets plans, they should provide resources for implementation, and also tell them how to implement the plan.

Moreover, if any measure proposed by management turns out to be ineffective, it will automatically turn into an alibi for the manager as to why he did not fulfill the plan. Naturally, after this the manager will demand adjustments to the plan.

Therefore, I consider this approach to planning ineffective.

On the other hand, if planning is left entirely to managers, there is a high probability that managers will simply underestimate their performance. Which, in turn, will naturally not be liked by management, and they will pass on their plan to the sales department.

To avoid eternal problems With planning, the “goals down, plan up” method is used.

How planning is effective Goals down - plans up

It is important to note that this approach to planning is closely intertwined with the company’s development strategy. It involves the involvement of each sales manager in the process of planning sales for the year (with sales distribution for each month) for each product group.

Thus, each manager independently sets an annual sales plan, which is then approved by management.

Here are just a few pros in favor of the Goals Down-Plans Up method:

Managers independently analyze monthly sales for key product groups over the past 2 years.

Thus, they clearly understand the seasonality of sales and can determine the coefficient of seasonal growth and decline. Which will certainly help to more accurately predict sales for the next year.

Managers analyze indicators of quantitative and qualitative distribution. Which, in turn, allows you to analyze:

The number of retail outlets that do not have a top assortment. Introducing the best-selling items into these outlets will definitely increase the average order, and, accordingly, sales.
Assortment matrices for each client. This analysis is very important for distribution companies, but very few managers do it.

Firstly, this analysis helps identify high-turnover positions. These are the ones you should focus on when launching marketing activities.

Secondly, it shows low-turnover items that affect the overall assortment turnover rate. After all, it is based on the overall turnover of the assortment that customers demand deferred payment.

For the manager, the priority task is to rotate low-turnover items, which in turn affects the improvement of the overall assortment turnover rate and allows for additional sales.

“Like to like” sales.

This indicator is also very important for the correct preparation of a strategic plan.

For example, in March last year, the manager worked with 100 retail outlets, the sales volume of which amounted to 100,000 USD. In March of this year, an additional 10 retail outlets opened on the manager’s territory. At the same time, sales volume to all 110 retail outlets amounted to 110,000 USD. Knowing that these 10 retail outlets made a purchase of $20,000, we see that sales for the same customer base fell by $10,000.

Thus, despite the overall visible increase in sales compared to the same period of the previous year, the “like to like” analysis shows its decline.

For the manager, this is an opportunity to understand the reasons for the decline, as well as determine the potential for sales growth.

Managers plan the necessary resources for sales growth.

Knowing the potential and needs of their clients, managers can create a list of effective activities aimed at increasing sales and distribution indicators. Having data on the effectiveness of previous promotions, the manager can correctly predict in which month it is better to hold events and what kind of increase they will give in sales.

Based on this data, the manager can also draw up an approximate marketing budget for the year, which will help management evaluate the effectiveness of investments in sales development.

Planning elements

The following are the main elements of planning:

Sales data for each product group for each month for the previous 2 years
This data is necessary so that the manager, firstly, can see growth or decline trends for each product group, and, secondly, can correctly make a sales forecast for each month of the next year.
Market Expectations and Trends
Market expectations can adjust sales plans, both up and down.
Information about seasonality of products
If the product has a pronounced seasonal nature, then naturally the manager needs to know how much sales grow during the season, and, accordingly, how much they fall during the off-season.
Marketing activity plan
Any marketing activity has its own performance indicators. The sales manager needs to draw up a calendar of marketing events based on the performance indicators of previous promotions in order to maximize sales growth.
The emergence of new products in the company’s assortment
Of course, new products can increase a company's sales and should be taken into account in the plan from the moment a new product appears in the company's portfolio.
Clients' business development strategy
In strategic planning, it is important for every manager to consider the development of their clients in the coming year. Opening branches (stores), entering new markets, changing owners - all these factors can influence an increase in sales, or a decrease due to deterioration financial condition clients.
Information about the planned price increase
Very often, sharp price increases have an impact on sales growth in the month when the price increase occurs, and on a further decrease in sales volumes in subsequent months. It is important for a manager to have this information in order to predict his personal sales volume as accurately as possible.

Having filled in the data, the manager receives a detailed sales plan for the year for each product group in the context of each month. A key feature of this approach to planning is that managers take into account all the factors that can affect both growth and decline in sales.

In most cases, managers find many new opportunities to increase sales and develop distribution. Also, how correctly and competently the plan is drawn up will be an indicator of the professionalism and competence of this manager.

Naturally, approval of the strategic plan will remain with senior management. It is advisable for the manager to “defend” his plan to management, as well as the amount of resources and investments required to achieve it. Then it will be much easier to make changes to the drawn up plan, since management will only have to point out factors that the sales manager might not have paid attention to.

Once the sales plan is approved, the entire company receives both its development strategy for the year and the necessary resources to achieve its goals.

To ensure that plans do not remain just numbers on paper, each sales manager needs to compare actual sales results with planned ones on a monthly basis. This will help you see deviations from the plan for each product group. Thus, each manager will be able to quickly understand the reasons for failure in any area and improve their performance.

Also, analysis of current indicators helps to evaluate the effectiveness of marketing activities. Based on data about actual sales it will be possible to abandon ineffective marketing activities and redistribute the budget.

Monthly analysis will regularly show how correctly the annual planning and how effective the planned marketing activities were.

Quarterly plan adjustment

With the help of monthly analysis, the sales department will be able to understand which customers are experiencing growth or decline in sales, as well as identify the factors influencing these deviations. It is important to understand that no planning can be perfect.

No one can 100% protect themselves from aggressive actions of competitors, the emergence of new strong players in the market, the economic situation in the country, or bankruptcy of clients. Definitely, these factors must be taken into account, and changes must be made to the strategic plan once a quarter.

At the same time, when making adjustments, the manager must answer the following questions:

How long will the emerging factors affect the growth/decrease in sales?
Are there additional opportunities/risks for growth/decrease in sales volume?
How can we counteract the emerging negative factors and what investments are needed for this?
How likely is it that factors affecting sales will emerge in the near future?

No. 3 - Selecting marketing channels

Choosing marketing channels is one of the most difficult tasks.

First, you need to know exactly how each channel is performing. This will allow you to predict as accurately as possible how much sales each channel is capable of generating.

Secondly, you will need to allocate your marketing budget wisely to get the maximum effect from your marketing investments. When allocating your budget, always remember the 80/20 rule and invest the majority of it in the most effective marketing channels.

Thirdly, you will be able to correctly plan your resource costs (time, money, etc.), and determine what you can do on your own (if you are an individual entrepreneur), what your team (marketing department) can do, and what should be given away outsourced

Fourth, always add new marketing channels to your plan. Test them and measure the results. Keep effective ones in your marketing calendar; discard ineffective ones!

No. 4 - Drawing up goals for each channel and distribution of the sales plan

Not all marketing channels can immediately generate sales.

If, for example, you make a special offer to your regular customers and put it in your newsletter, you can safely expect that a certain percentage will immediately take advantage of your offer.

It all depends on the client’s readiness to buy.

Therefore, each marketing channel you decide to use should have clear and measurable goals written in addition to the expected sales target.

Each channel can have its own goals:

For a billboard, the main metric may be the number of calls to your office. Guest blogging has the number of clicks to your site. An advertising announcement placed with partners shows the number of new clients.

By analyzing the implementation of goals, you will be able to identify your problem areas in the sales and customer generation system.

Accordingly, you will need to think carefully about the steps "Like"(design, usability, content, customer focus) and "Build trust"(reviews, recommendations, evidence, value and quality of materials).

These stages are definitely the weakest links in your customer generation system. Think about what can be improved at each stage, find out the opinions of your customers, and be sure to correct mistakes.

#5 - Budget distribution

The next stage is budget distribution.

Many companies approach the formation of a marketing budget chaotically, allocating small amounts to 1-2 marketing channels.

This principle is fundamentally wrong.

Your pricing should initially include the percentage of the marketing budget that you will use monthly. You are ready to part with this amount no matter what!

Therefore, if you do not yet have a marketing budget, determine right now what % of sales (or profit) you will reinvest in marketing monthly.

Once the budget is set, your next task will be to distribute it across marketing channels. The distribution principle is very simple: choose 20% of the channels that provide 80% of sales and invest 80% of your budget in them.

15% - remaining used but less effective marketing channels
5% - new marketing channels that you have not used before

Why exactly this way?

Firstly, there are no marketing channels that are guaranteed to be equally effective for every company (otherwise, everyone would have been millionaires a long time ago :-D). Everything needs to be tested and verified.

If you don't use different marketing channels and experiment regularly, you risk never learning about those channels that could bring good profits to your company.

Secondly, there is a good folk saying: "Don't cut the goose that lays the golden eggs."

This means that you should never reduce the budget for the most effective marketing channels!

No. 6 - Appointment of responsible persons

Distributing and assigning areas of responsibility is the next step in creating an effective marketing plan. You must clearly understand who is responsible for what. Otherwise, you risk finding yourself in a situation where everyone is responsible for everything, and, at the same time, everyone is responsible for nothing.

If you have a marketing department, list the responsible person next to each channel. Talk to him about goals, deadlines, budget and expected sales results. Make sure your marketer understands you correctly.

If you work with partners, be sure to agree on specific actions that the partner must perform and specific deadlines (for example, an advertising post in the partner’s Facebook group should be published on Monday, July 14 at 11.30. It should be pinned to the top of all publications and hang for 3 days).

If you use any outsourced services, use the same principle.

You should always know who you can contact if any agreement is not met. Or who can you hold accountable for the results if the marketing campaign fails.

#7 - Performance Analysis

Analysis of the effectiveness of marketing channels is the final element in the marketing planning system.

You need to know how many new customers and how much sales each channel generates for you. How much does it cost you? How much does each invested unit of money bring you? What is the payback period and return on investment.

Knowing all these metrics will help you make the most of your marketing budget.

Therefore, monthly summarize the use of each marketing channel: measure key indicators, look at sales volume and the achievement of goals, evaluate effectiveness.

Based on the findings, you will always know how and how effectively your budget is used. You will also be able to identify and abandon unprofitable and ineffective marketing channels.

Let's sum it up

A marketing plan is one of the key elements in the strategy of any company. Lack of planning very often leads to marketing investments becoming ineffective and unprofitable.

A marketing action plan allows you to competently plan sales volume, distribute it across each marketing channel, set goals and distribute the budget. And regular work on the plan allows the company to identify and invest exclusively in the most effective marketing channels.

The company's management is called upon to perform a complex of important functions: setting goals, developing plans, policies, methods, strategies and tactics. Managers organize and coordinate, lead and control, and serve as the driving force and liaison. Planning is only one of these functions, but one of the most important: the company's business plan, or business plan, directs the activities of the company as a whole.

The marketing plan is a critical part of a company's plan, and the marketing planning process should be carried out as part of the firm's overall planning and budgeting process.

There are a number of different approaches to planning. In traditional planning, plans are usually divided depending on the period of time they are intended for, for example:

long-term plans;
medium-term plans;
short term plans. There is no universal definition of planning periods. Long- and medium-term plans are often called "strategic" plans because they address long-term business strategies; short-term plans are often called "corporate" or "business plans" because they provide guidance for day-to-day operations. Which plan is used depends on what the company does, what markets it serves, and how much it needs to plan for future product releases.
Long-range planning aims to assess overall economic and business trends many years into the future. It determines the company's strategies aimed at ensuring growth that correspond to its long-term objectives, which has special meaning for enterprises in industries such as the defense industry, astronautics and pharmaceuticals (in which the development time for new products reaches 5-10 years). In these industries, long-term planning covers a period of 10-20 years. However, for most companies, the lead time for product development is not that long, and long-term planning does not look ahead further than 5-7 years.
Medium-term planning is more practical and takes a period of no more than 2-5 years (usually 3 years). Medium-term planning is more connected to life, since it concerns the near future; it is more likely that the plan will reflect reality. The medium-term "strategic" plan is based on the same strategies as the long-term, but major decisions must be made over time. short time. These types of decisions include: the introduction of new products, the need for capital investment, the availability and use of personnel and resources.
Short-term planning (and budgeting) usually covers a period of up to one year and involves the development of “corporate” or “business” plans for the company and associated budgets. These plans look at the near future and the details of what the company intends to do over a twelve-month period (tied to the company's fiscal year). Of all plans, short-term plans are the most detailed. If necessary, adjustments are made to them throughout the year.
Traditional planning and strategic planning
Until the 1970s Traditional strategic planning for the company worked quite well. Business cycles were highly predictable, the environment was stable, competitors were well known, exchange rates were fixed, pricing was stable, and consumer behavior was predictable.
After the oil "shock" of the early 1970s. and the transition to “floating” exchange rates, enterprises were faced with a radically different, rapidly changing situation. New technologies, new competition, significant price changes and other irreversible changes required a different type of strategic planning. The focus of company management has shifted from long-term planning to the implementation of corporate plans, when within a limited time the company receives real results, on the basis of which the necessary adjustments are made to the long-term strategic plan. Planning horizons have narrowed to several years.
The main difference between the two approaches is that traditional planning assumes that all relevant information is available from the very beginning of the process, whereas new "strategic" planning uses new data as it becomes available. Currently, specialists in the field of marketing planning have adopted the method of “strategic” planning.
What is the difference between a marketing plan and a corporate plan?
Directors and senior managers of a company set the objectives of its activities. Goals are usually expressed in financial terms and define what the company will be like over time, say three years. The company's business goals usually include indicators such as sales volume, profit before taxes, return on capital, etc. To develop a feasible business plan, it is necessary to first collect information on current operations, i.e., perform an analysis economic activity(audit). Each functional area of the company conducts its own audit. During the audit process, specific goals and strategies are developed, on the basis of which a plan will be developed for each function of the company to achieve a separate set of goals and implement specific strategies. Individual plans are developed in detail for the first year of the plan and include quantitative data on estimated costs and revenues.
A marketing plan establishes a company's market goals and proposes methods for achieving them. It does not include all of the firm's goals and methods of operation. In addition to marketing, there are production, financial and “personnel” goals. None of them can be considered in isolation.
A complete corporate or business plan includes a number of supporting plans, including a master marketing plan for the company. All separate plans must be agreed upon and coordinated into a single corporate plan.
The subject of our analysis is the marketing plan, but we need to take into account the complexities of setting goals and developing strategies within the system as a whole.
The corporate plan is based on the order acceptance procedure and the sales budget (part of the marketing plan). None of the plans can be implemented without analyzing and taking into account this information. On its basis, the sales volume for the production plan is determined, on the basis of which a purchasing plan is developed, inventory levels and turnover rates are determined, which in turn affects invoicing procedures, cash flow and consolidation of commercial credit in the financial plan.
The company's plans are also influenced by other issues that are primarily considered in the marketing plan. Pricing issues influence the financial plan, and the marketing plan can suggest pricing policies and strategies. The introduction of new products is largely determined by the production plan and the financing of strategic reserves. In order for inventories to facilitate penetration into new strategic markets, they must also be provided on a consignment basis. Production and purchasing plans determine the decision whether to manufacture some of the components of the final product by the company itself or to turn to external sources. If the marketing plan involves product substitution or increase in production, and price is a key success factor, then it may make sense to purchase some parts of the product from other manufacturers. What will be the opportunity costs of production (and the plan) if additional production capacity is introduced and what consequences will the need to find additional production capacity have for the financial plan? Money to purchase components externally? All of these issues (and many more) need to be discussed and agreed upon with functional managers and senior management at the beginning of the marketing planning process.
A marketing plan is like a map: it shows where the company is going and how it plans to get there. It is both an action plan and a written document. A marketing plan identifies a company's promising business opportunities and outlines ways to penetrate, capture, and maintain positions in specific markets. It connects all the elements of marketing into a coherent plan of action that details who, what, when, where and how to achieve goals.
The attention of the authors of many works on marketing planning is focused on theoretical problems. Perhaps such an approach is interesting for scientists and managers who manage the process of the company’s activities as a whole, but it is too complex for ordinary commercial directors. Our approach is practical and touches on theory only to the extent necessary to understand the planning process. The author hopes that by accepting and sharing the formal outline structure outlined in this book, you will find it easier to organize your thoughts and facts into a logical order. And then:
employees who will need to familiarize themselves with the plan will understand your arguments and the logic of your conclusions without any problems;
you will present a complete professional document to management (even if the information you have is limited).
What is marketing and how does it differ from sales?
Successful marketing ensures that the right product is available in the right place in the right time and buyer awareness about it.
The purpose of marketing is to convince the buyer to purchase the product offered. But this is only one side of marketing.
Even today, in large companies, marketing and sales functions are often completely separate, sometimes led by different directors. In some organizations, sales is viewed as a local functional area, with marketing handled separately by head office or "marketing people." It should not be. Sales and marketing activities must be combined, or at least they must have the same objectives. There must be a constant exchange of information between these two areas, otherwise it will adversely affect marketing planning.
The separation of sales and marketing functions makes it difficult to involve salespeople in marketing activities or plan marketing. Today, especially in small companies, sales managers often lack formal marketing training. For commercial directors the situation is even worse, and sales people, even in large companies, apparently receive no marketing training at all. How will today's sales specialists manage the relevant departments and perform the duties of commercial directors tomorrow? Only by mastering all the secrets of the trade on your own. They can learn from those who already have experience, but proper training is still necessary.
It is taken for granted that large companies, especially international ones, can afford to train employees in marketing or poach specialists from other firms. Ten years ago it was difficult to get training in marketing, but that is no longer the case. Organizations that offer sales-oriented training also offer marketing courses at various levels.
According to the generally accepted definition, marketing is “the provision of goods and services in accordance with consumer needs.” In other words, marketing is about focusing on the needs of customers, ensuring that its products meet them and making a profit. Long gone are the days when companies first released a product and then looked for buyers for it.
Buyers purchase only those goods that they need. The public often criticizes intensive advertising campaigns for allegedly “forcing” consumers to purchase the company's products. This is not entirely true - remember, for example, the unsuccessful attempts of the Coca-Cola company to introduce new soft drinks to the market or initially negative reaction consumers for the Ford Sierra car model.
Two thirds of new products fail in their very first steps on the market. Firms must take into account the requirements of consumers and the market and adapt their products to them (i.e., be market-oriented). The company that produced in the 1950s. tube radios, in the 1960s-1970s. was forced to reorient to transistor ones, and in the 1980s. - for the production of stereo radios. Manufacturers of black and white televisions (in the 1950s-1960s) in the 1970s. began producing colored ones in the 1980s. - televisions with teletext, and in the 1990s. - high definition TVs. Each of these products meets essentially the same customer needs, only at different points in time. If these enterprises continued to produce the same products that satisfied consumers in the 1960s, then in the 1970s and 1980s. they would go bankrupt. These are the basic principles of marketing - “in the end, the consumer always gets what he wants,” and an entrepreneur who ignores market requirements is doomed to fiasco.
Marketing is a process that combines the capabilities of an enterprise and the needs of the consumer:
the buyer satisfies his needs;
The company receives income from the sale of goods.
To achieve a balance between needs and supply of goods, enterprises must be agile. They must be prepared to modify products, introduce new products and enter new markets. It is vital for them to be able to understand the needs of customers and the current market situation. Achieving equilibrium occurs in the “external environment”, which is formed by a number of factors significant for the company.
Local and cultural preferences. Customer perception of certain products is largely determined by local traditions and conditions, as well as national and cultural ideas. British black pudding and shepherd's pie are unlikely to catch on with consumers in Italy or Spain, and sauerkraut is also unlikely to sell well in Scotland. American refrigerators are too big for Japanese homes.
Government policy. Economic conditions, policies, legislation and environmental requirements in the countries in which you intend to sell your products will affect your company's operations in one way or another. Changes in exchange rates affect the competitiveness of your product relative to local analogues and determine the decision on the advisability of organizing their production in the chosen country. For car and detergent manufacturers great importance has, for example, the environmental policy of the state. As a rule, national legislation strictly regulates the sale of drugs and pharmaceutical products; In some countries, certain types of fertilizers and pesticides may be controlled or banned.
Competition. The activities of your company affect your competitors, and the actions they take affect the production of your company. What your competitors do affects products, pricing, and many other factors. Even the market leader has no right to ignore the activities of competitors.
New technologies. Modern technologies, and with them the needs of consumers, change extremely quickly. The advent of electronic digital watches has had a major impact on the market wristwatch. Power windows and sunroofs once seemed like an expensive extravagance in the luxury car market; now they are the norm for cars from most manufacturers. The functions of VCRs are constantly changing. The company cannot expect that its current range of products will always be in demand. As technology advances, products need to be modified, improved, or replaced.
Changing the distribution structure. The emergence of giant supermarkets and suburban shopping centers in Europe in the 1970s and 1980s. changed the distribution structure of literally everything from food to DIY stores (largely facilitated by an increase in car ownership). In Japan, which is in the early stages of this transformation, the number of stores per capita is significantly higher than in the United States and Europe. The introduction of containerization and the increased use and availability of air freight transport have also caused significant changes in distribution patterns.
Obviously, the external marketing environment is beyond the control of both individuals and companies. Its conditions are constantly changing and must be constantly monitored.
So, marketing is defined:
company capabilities;
buyer needs;
marketing external environment.
The company's marketing organization involves control over four main elements of the company's operations (the "marketing mix"):
sold goods (Product - Product);
pricing policy (Price);
product promotion (Promotion);
distribution methods (Place).
“Promotion” and “Place” primarily relate to how a firm attracts potential buyers, while “Product” and “Price” address their needs. The marketing mix (also known as the four Ps of marketing) determines the company's policy aimed at generating profit and satisfying customer needs.
A market typically consists of a number of submarkets characterized by different sets of consumer needs. The firm must create an appropriate marketing structure for each submarket. For example, the automobile market consists of the passenger car market, the company car market and the private car market, which have significantly different sets of consumer requirements.
Each element of the marketing mix represents a broad field of activity for a marketing-oriented organization; they must be considered both separately and in conjunction with other elements. A marketing mix structure that is satisfactory at a particular point in time may require revision because:
goods and services fall out of use or are improved;
new goods and services appear;
competition leads to a decrease in the price of the product (and, as a consequence, the profit margin);
advertising activities may be less effective than those of competitors;
the distribution location or distribution method may not accommodate emerging alternatives or changes in the business.
Marketing mix management is the key to a successful sales organization and the core of marketing planning.
What is marketing planning?
The term marketing planning is used to describe the methods of applying marketing resources to achieve marketing objectives. It sounds simple, but the actual process is quite complex. Each company has specific resources and pursues specific goals, which also change over time. Marketing planning is used to segment a market, determine its health, forecast its growth, and plan a viable market share within each segment.
The process includes:
performing marketing research inside and outside the company;
analysis of the company's strengths and weaknesses;
assumptions;
forecasts;
setting marketing goals;
development of marketing strategies;
program definition;
budgeting;
reviewing results and goals, strategies and programs.
The planning process is designed to:
improve the use of company resources to establish marketing opportunities;
strengthen team spirit and company unity;
provide assistance in achieving corporate goals.
And, in addition, marketing research as part of the planning process, they allow you to create an information base for the implementation of current and future projects.
What is a marketing plan?
A marketing plan is a document that sets out the main goals of marketing a company's goods and services and ways to achieve them. Although we are talking about products in this chapter, they almost always include some service component, such as after-sales service, advice from specially trained salespeople, and (in the case of consumer products) the art of selling. The marketing plan has a formal structure, but can also be used as an informal, fairly flexible tool:
to prepare arguments for the introduction of a new product;
when changing approaches to marketing the company's products;
when developing complete marketing plans for a department, division or firm for inclusion in a corporate or business plan.
In principle, a marketing plan can be prepared for one product in a separate trading area, but large-scale plans have become more common.
In the future, we will consider examples from various industries (production of investment and consumer goods, services). Although there are significant differences between the products produced, basic marketing principles apply to each. Yes, the way they are used varies, but the fundamental approach to creating a marketing plan does not change.
There is no issue too small or too big for a marketing plan. You can write marketing plans for dairy equipment in any region of the country, diaphragm valves - in one of European countries, and bathroom sets - in hotels in the Middle East. You might as well develop a marketing plan for the most different goods and services (from chemical products to fast food restaurants) at the regional, national or global level.
If we are talking about companies with subsidiaries, marketing plans for each of them are developed either by their employees or by employees of the head office. Each subsidiary's marketing plan is developed from separate, smaller individual plans.
The main condition for developing plans for divisions and subsidiaries is that they must be linked to the company's master plan. This doesn't mean you have to prepare a plan for every product or sales area. But if they are developed, they must be consistent with the master marketing plan.
A marketing plan cannot be considered complete unless it includes historical data, future projections, goals, and methods or strategies for achieving those goals. If the plan is being developed for a new product for which historical data is not available, it may be possible to use information about the product it replaces or estimates for similar products from a competing company.
In its simplest form, a marketing plan begins with the collection and evaluation of historical data. It usually contains detailed information about competitors, their strengths and weaknesses, advantages and disadvantages. Naturally, it should consider the strengths and weaknesses of your company, your successes and failures. But this is not a plan yet, but only the first step in its development. It is then supplemented with forecasts for the future, which suggests detailed description strategies that will be used to achieve the goals.
IN full form The plan provides an estimate of the resources required to implement it, examines its impact on profit and loss in detail, or includes a forecast of the company's financial report.
Why do you and your company need a marketing plan?
Managers of some companies believe that the efforts spent on marketing planning are not paid off by the results of plan execution. The manager’s time is supposedly too valuable and it is inappropriate to spend it on anything other than solving urgent operational problems. You may feel that you don't need a formal marketing plan. Many of the specialists have never participated in the development of a marketing plan throughout their entire working life in the trade or sales service of an organization, right?
It is impossible to manage a sales organization, even a very small one, or to prepare even a sales forecast without drawing up some rudimentary form of a marketing plan. Often, however, managers simply take some quantitative indicators, which they then adjust the presentation of facts to. This type of activity requires little effort, but demonstrates a clear lack of understanding of the marketing planning process.
In a highly competitive environment, it is necessary to be able to use “marketing” in order to direct “sales” in the direction the company needs. A marketing plan is one of the tools that allows you to complete the task. As a document with a formal structure, it obliges the one who writes it to present his thoughts, facts and conclusions in a consistent and logical manner so that others can understand them.
A properly prepared marketing plan should describe the company's policies and strategies that guide managers in their daily activities. Consequently, intervention by organizational leaders in operational management is required only in complex or unusual situations.
Summary
Planning is one of the main functions of management. A company's corporate or business plan guides its operations. The marketing plan is only one component of the corporate plan, so the planning process should be carried out as part of the company's master plan and budgeting process.
As a result of significant changes in the economic environment in the 1970-1980s. The focus of company management has shifted from long-term planning to the implementation of action plans, the implementation of which allows obtaining results in a short period of time and on the basis of which long-term strategic plans are improved. The new "strategic" planning assumes that management quickly responds to incoming information and uses it. This approach is also accepted by marketing specialists.
To prepare a corporate plan, a company must set performance goals, conduct an audit, and prepare separate plans for each functional area of the company. All of them (including the marketing plan) must be agreed and coordinated into a single corporate plan.
The goal of sales is to persuade customers to buy a company's product, but this is only one aspect of marketing. Marketing requires that a firm identify customer needs and match them with products and services so that the company can make a profit.
This requires understanding:
company capabilities;
customer needs;
marketing environment in which the company operates. A company's capabilities can be managed by controlling the four main elements of a company's operations (or marketing mix):
goods sold (Product);
pricing policy (Price);
methods of promoting goods (Promotion);
distribution methods (Location).
Marketing planning means analyzing the application of marketing resources to achieve its objectives. It requires segmenting the market, determining market position, forecasting market size, and planning viable market share within each market segment.
The basic principles of marketing are equally applicable to various industries (production of consumer and capital goods and services).
A marketing plan is a document that formulates a plan for marketing goods and/or services. General plan marketing consists of marketing plans for individual products or trading areas. A company's marketing plan establishes marketing goals and provides strategies for achieving them.

A company's marketing plan is a plan that outlines its overall marketing strategy for the coming year. It must indicate for whom you are positioning your products, how you will sell them to the target category of buyers, what techniques you will use to attract new customers and increase sales. The purpose of writing a marketing plan is to outline in detail how to market your products and services to your target market.

Steps

Part 1

Conducting a situational analysis

Think about the goals of your company. The purpose of a situational analysis is to understand the current marketing situation facing your company. Based on this understanding, you can think through and implement the necessary changes in business. Start by looking at your company's mission and goals (if your company doesn't already have these, these should be defined first) and see if your current marketing plan is helping you achieve those goals.

For example, your company performs snow removal and other related winter views works You have set yourself a goal to increase revenue by 10% by concluding new contracts. Do you have a marketing plan that describes how you can attract additional business? If there is a plan, is it effective?

Examine your current marketing strengths and weaknesses. How is your company currently attractive to customers? What makes competing companies attractive to customers? It is very likely that it is yours strengths attract buyers to you. Knowing your strengths gives you an important marketing advantage.

Gather information about external opportunities and threats to your company. They will be external characteristics companies dependent on competition, fluctuations market factors, as well as from clients and customers. The goal is to identify various factors that can impact business. This will allow you to adjust your marketing plan accordingly later.

Assign responsible persons. When preparing a marketing plan, you will need to assign people responsible for specific aspects of promoting your company in the market. Consider which employees would be best suited to perform specific marketing functions and determine their responsibilities. You will also need to consider a system for assessing the success of these job responsibilities.

State your marketing goals. What do you want to achieve with your marketing plan? Do you see your end goal being to expand your customer base, inform existing customers about new services and quality improvements, expand into other regions or demographics, or something completely different? It is your goals that will form the basis for preparing the plan.

Develop marketing strategies to achieve your goals. Once you clearly define your marketing goals and vision, you'll need to come up with specific actions to achieve them. There are many different types marketing strategies, but the most common ones are listed below.

Approve the budget. You may have big ideas for promoting your business and expanding your customer base, but with a limited budget, you may have to rethink some of your strategy. The budget should be realistic and reflect both the current state of the business and its potential future growth.

Part 4

Preparing a Marketing Plan

Start with an explanatory note. This section of the marketing plan should include basic information about your product or service, as well as briefly describe the overall content of the entire document in one or two paragraphs of text. The primary preparation of an explanatory note will allow you to subsequently expand and describe in more detail individual points in the main text of the document.

Know that a prepared marketing plan is extremely useful to give to both direct employees of your company and its consultants for review.

Describe your target market. The second section of the marketing plan will address the research you have conducted and describe the company's target market. The text should not be written in complex language, instructions in simple key provisions will be sufficient. You can start by describing the demographics of your market (including customer age, gender, location, and industry, if applicable) and then move on to highlighting your customers' key preferences for your product or service.
List your goals. This section should not take more than one page of text. It must indicate the company's marketing goals for the coming year. Remember that the goals you set must satisfy five qualities: be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely.

Be sure to include needs and ideas for every department in your company (and even employee, if appropriate) in your marketing plan. It is also very important that the marketing plan is related and well integrated with the company's business plan and mission, public image and core values.
Include in your marketing plan any tables, graphs, etc. that you needed to create while gathering important information. It will also be helpful to include tables that explain key points in your plan.

Warnings

It is necessary to review the marketing plan at least once a year to check the success of the strategies used and to rework those components of the plan that were unsuccessful.
Many are critical important factors marketing plan are dynamic. As they change over time, the marketing plan needs to be revised.

Andy Dufresne couldn't have escaped Shawshank's toughest prison for lifers without a plan.

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

Therefore, what a marketing plan is, who it’s suitable for, and how to develop it yourself, we’ll look at it in this article.

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

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

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

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

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

Example of a Marketing Plan

The plan is different

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

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

Do I need it?

Whether or not your company needs a marketing plan is, oddly enough, very simple to determine.

If you want to go with the flow of your business, and it doesn’t matter that you are being bitten by competing sharks, and you are happy with everything, then you don’t need a marketing plan. But I want to warn you that you won’t last long with such attitudes.

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

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

As with any business, there are pros and cons to marketing. After all, in our life everything does not happen just like that.

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

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pros

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

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

This, of course, is to say in one phrase. And if we talk to several, it will turn out like this:

See the picture of the future;
You know how to allocate resources;
Improve your business;
Identify problems;
Predict the results;
Eliminate any shortcomings.

Minuses

Creating a good plan takes time and also requires investment. This is actually a short-term loss, but for businesses on a tight budget, it may be enough to close their doors.

In general, there are disadvantages. And they are closely related to the risks that can await you. And here are a few more unpleasant disadvantages:

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

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

And who will do it?

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

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

A good option would be to involve a staff member or even an outside specialist, for example, in such a difficult task. Just make sure in advance of the competence of the specialists.

And I want to draw your attention to the fact that if you are not the one doing the development itself, you will still have to approve it.

So don’t rush to close the article. You must know what elements a plan consists of and how to create it.

What should I write?

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

It all depends on the specific situation, because every little detail influences the preparation of a plan. For example: market trends, audience, geolocation.

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

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

Determining the overall goal of the plan;
Selection of persons responsible for the preparation and content of the plan;
the company's previous and current position in the market;
Determination of planning goals and deadlines;
Detailed development of actions to achieve goals;
Detailed budgeting for each expense item;
Taking into account risks and actions in case of unplanned situations;
Maintaining and adjusting the plan.

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

Are there any templates?

Now we come to the most interesting part – the templates. I have prepared a marketing plan for you based on the example of different businesses, and I warn you right away that these are not accurate or detailed plans.

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

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

1. Dairy plant

The goal of the marketing plan is to bring to the Moscow market New Product by January 2019. And our plan for this purpose will look like this.

Marketing plan for product launch

2. Children's clothing store

The goal of the marketing plan is to increase the customer base by 20% and increase the frequency of visits to the clothing store by 50% by February 2018. A sample of this version of the plan is shown in the picture below.

Marketing plan to increase the base

3. Beauty salon

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

Marketing plan to increase sales

Step-by-step development instructions

Now we will show you how to write a marketing plan yourself using detailed examples.

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

Step 1. Goal

Target

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

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

And you can even draw up a marketing plan for carrying out a promotion. And here is an example of possible goals:

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

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

By the way, this is a must, since the plan can be drawn up for a month, a year, or even several years.

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

Step 2: Columns

Columns

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

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

At this step you do not need to fill out every item. You just need to take and form the required columns in order to start filling them out in a few steps.

Step 3. Analysis

Analysis

Now let's get down to the plan itself, let's figure out how to create it. And this is perhaps the most important and mandatory step in any marketing plan.

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

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

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

3.1 Company mission

3.3 Creating an “ideal client”

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

Therefore, part of your plan will be to create “”. It is from this that further communication and sales markets will be built.

Who are these people? Where can you find them? What do they value? These questions need to be answered. Again, we determine who is responsible and set deadlines.

3.4 Existing problems

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

For example, the most common ones are that there are few clients, advertising doesn’t work, it doesn’t work well.

In general, anything can be a problem. And here every little detail is important, since all identified problems will help in drawing up a plan for further action.

3.5 Future goals

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

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

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

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

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

3.6 Other tests

I won’t go into detail, since everything is individual, so I’ll just give examples of analyzes that a marketing plan may include:

Business process analysis;
Market analysis;
Product analysis.

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

Step 4: Achievement Tools

Tools of Achievement

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

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

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

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

For example, this could be: new, work with, improving the percentages of each stage, introduction, improvement, delivery speed, product quality, etc.

Is the goal to increase sales by 50%? We think about ways to achieve this indicator, how to implement and organize them, and determine the deadlines.

And now I will tell you a little more about some standard points that can be taken into account in this step.

4.1 Detachment from competitors

Competitor analysis has been carried out. It is now on paper, or rather in a table. It is necessary to highlight your advantages, create a (Unique Selling Proposition), and set pricing.

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

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

Step 5. Other

Other

A ready-made plan is just part of the company's development. In addition to drafting, it must be implemented.

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

5.1 Risks and actions

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

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

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

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

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

5.2 Adjustments

Adjustments may involve risks. These are immediate changes to the plan in the event of force majeure events.

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

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

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

Step 6. Summary

Ready-made marketing plan

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

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

Briefly about the main thing

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

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

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

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