Create a marketing plan for the year. The shortest company marketing plan. What is a Marketing Plan

21.09.2019

What are the main marketing plans?

Various approaches to planning are possible. Traditional planning typically involves dividing plans based on the time period for which they are intended. Including short-term, medium-term or long-term plans. However, there is no universal definition of planning periods.

Mid- and long-term plans are known as “strategic” plans because they look at business strategies over the long term. Often short term plans are called “business plans” or “corporate” because they represent guidelines for day-to-day activities. The application of a specific plan depends on the scope of activity and objectives of the company, the markets served, and the need to plan product release for the future.

Long-range planning is designed to assess overall business and economic trends over many years. The company's strategy is aimed at growing the relevant long-term objectives of the organization, which is important for the areas of the defense industry, pharmaceuticals and astronautics, where the development time for new products reaches 5-10 years. Long-term planning in these industries covers 10-20 years. But the development timeline for most companies is not that significant, with long-term planning targeting more than 5-7 years.

Medium-term planning is more practical, designed for a period of no more than 2-5 years (usually three years). Such planning is more tied to life, since it relates to the near future, and is more likely to be reflected in reality in terms of reality. The medium-term “strategic” marketing plan is based on strategies similar to the long-term ones. However, it is necessary to implement major decisions in a shorter time frame. Such decisions include the need for capital investment, the introduction of new products, the availability and application of resources and personnel.

Short-term planning (and budgeting), as a rule, is focused on a period of up to 1 year, involving the development of business or corporate plans and associated budgets. These plans are expected to look at the near future and details of what the company plans to do over a 12 month period. Short-term plans are considered the most detailed. They can undergo appropriate adjustments if necessary.

How to Write a 1 Page Marketing Plan: The Allan Deeb Technique

Fast and easy write a marketing plan, even if you are a pro in marketing, you can use this article electronic journal"Commercial Director".

Why do you need a marketing plan?

Lack of a marketing plan leads to the following problems:

spontaneous development of the company occurs without a specific plan of action;
there is constant conflict possible schemes, existing development options; there is a dispersion of funds, efforts, time;
the target audience is not defined, which periodically leads to the above problems;
chaotic product purchases, attempts at diversification product offer at the moment when you need to concentrate on the main product offering.

The marketing plan achieves the following goals:

systematize, formally describe the ideas of the organization’s leaders, conveying them to employees;
concentration of company resources with their reasonable distribution;
set marketing goals, ensuring control in their achievement.

What sections are included in the marketing plan?

grocery plan;
sales plan – increasing sales efficiency;
advertising and sales promotion plan;
research and development of new products;
distribution channel operation plan;
price plan, including future price changes;
marketing research plan;
physical distribution system operating plan;
marketing organization plan.

Structure and content of the marketing plan

Executive Summary (Executive Summary) – This initial section of the marketing plan provides a brief summary of the plan's major recommendations and objectives. This section allows management to quickly understand the focus of the plan. This section is usually followed by a table of contents for the plan.

Current marketing situation - this section describes the target market and the organization’s position in it. These sections include:

market description;
product review;
competition;
distribution.

Threats and Opportunities – This section outlines the main opportunities and threats for the product in the market. The potential harm of each hazard is expected to be assessed.

Marketing goals - this section characterizes the focus of the plan, initially formulating desired results activities in specific markets.

Marketing strategies are the main directions of marketing activities. Following them, organizations strive to achieve marketing goals. The marketing strategy includes specific strategies for operating in target markets, the marketing mix used, appropriate marketing costs. In the strategies that are developed for each market segment, it is necessary to consider new and manufactured products, prices, promotion of products, bringing products to consumers, it is necessary to indicate how the strategy responds to market opportunities and threats.

An action plan is a detailed program showing what needs to be done, when and by whom the accepted tasks should be carried out, how much it will cost, what decisions need to be coordinated in order to fulfill the marketing plan.

The program, as a rule, briefly characterizes the goals to achieve which the program's activities are oriented. Consequently, the program is a set of specific activities that must be carried out by marketing and other services of the organization to achieve the goals of the marketing plan. The course will help you achieve them faster."

Marketing budget – this section reflects the projected amounts of income, profits and costs. The amount of income is justified from a forecast position on sales and prices. Costs are determined as the sum of production, marketing and distribution costs. At the same time, marketing costs must be described in detail in this budget.

Section “Control” - it reflects the methods and procedures for control that are required when assessing the level of success of the plan. For this purpose, criteria (standards) are established on the basis of which progress in the implementation of marketing plans is measured.

Stages of developing a marketing plan

Stage 1. Determining the initial goals of the company’s development and activities.

Stage 2. Analysis of marketing activities. It is divided into three parts:

1) Analysis of the external marketing environment:

analysis of the economic and business external environment - the state of the economy, socio-cultural conditions, financial policy, technological conditions, socio-economic conditions in the company;
market environment: general market condition; its development; distribution channels, communications, state of the industry;
competitors' environment.

2) A detailed analysis of marketing activities involves analysis sales volume, market share, profit, marketing organization, marketing procedures, analysis of all elements of the marketing mix, control of marketing activities.

3) Analysis of the marketing system involves analysis of marketing goals, marketing strategy, responsibilities and rights of managers in the field of marketing, information system, planning and control system, interaction with other management functions, as well as conducting profitability analysis, analysis according to the cost-effectiveness criterion.

Stage 3. Formulation of assumptions, hypotheses regarding certain factors external to the company that may have an impact on its activities. It is worth classifying and presenting assumptions explicitly. The classification of assumptions can be carried out in the following areas - the organization itself, the specific industry and the country of operation.

Stage 4. Setting marketing goals. Defining and organizing goals – important aspect activities in the field of marketing. Almost any planning and management document on marketing now contains in one of its initial sections, at a minimum, a simple verbal list of goals, in obtaining which no special approaches or methods are used. But to strengthen the orientation towards final results in planning and management activities, with the intensification of the use of special management methods, the increasing need to increase the quality of individual management goals requires the use of special approaches and methods to build a system of goals.

Marketing has the following goals:

Satisfy consumer needs.
Provide yourself with a competitive advantage.
Increase your sales level.
Receive a certain profit.
Increase market share.

The core of marketing goals should be the specifics of the product or the need for it. If possible, goals should be focused not on consumer groups, but on their needs. After all, buyers are a fickle group.

Stage 5. Alternative strategies are developed that are aimed at achieving marketing goals. These strategies are detailed in relation to the elements of the marketing mix.

You can formulate pricing strategies like this:

setting product prices according to market position;
carrying out different pricing policies, depending on the markets;
development of a pricing policy, taking into account the pricing policies of its competitors.

In the area of product promotion, strategies can be noted that characterize communications with consumers, means and methods of organizing the actions of sales department employees in new markets.

The strategy for bringing the product to consumers includes:

channels used to bring the product to the consumer;
level of after-sales customer service;
activities aimed at achieving delivery costs;
sales in small batches or wholesale.

After these stages of marketing planning are completed, you need to once again ensure the ability to achieve your goals and strategies using various evaluation criteria, including sales volume, market share, resource expenditures, profit margins and other estimates of planned results and the ability to achieve them.

Stage 6. The set of marketing strategies, goals and activities to achieve is a strategic marketing plan, which at the next planning stage should be translated into working planning documents. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out operational scheduling.

Stage 7. At the stage of operational calendar planning or the development of detailed action plans, it is necessary to specify marketing strategies into detailed plans and programs in the context of each of the 4 elements of the marketing complex.

We are talking about developing action plans for each division of the organization, aimed at achieving specified goals based on selected strategies. It is necessary to contain answers to the questions - what, who, where and when, how and at the expense of what resources should be done for implementation marketing programs and plans.

As a rule, written instructions for drawing up action plans are also being developed, which are accompanied by forms and samples to fill out.

Stage 8. Marketing budget is developed. Its compilation helps in correct definition priorities between strategies and goals of marketing activities, in making decisions on the allocation of resources, in exercising effective control.

The budget is usually developed using a profit-based planning approach.

IN in this case the marketing budget is developed in the following sequence: forecast estimates of market capacity, market share, price, sales income, variable and fixed costs are determined; gross profit is calculated, covering all costs, including marketing costs, and ensuring set value target profit.

Variables and fixed costs, as well as the value of the target profit. This is how marketing costs are determined. They are detailed by individual elements of the marketing mix.

Marketing and sales: how to establish effective interaction

There are always problems with budget calculations

Roman Tkachev,

project manager for promoting the MDV brand, AYAK group of companies

Marketing expenses are not always perceived as an investment in attracting or retaining customers. Some view marketing spending as a fashion statement rather than an investment to improve profit margins. The reason is that the marketing department is often unable to present an assessment of its activities in the form of a mathematical model to management for review.

Determining the size of the marketing budget is a matter of strategic planning in the company's work. Consequently, the budget includes not only an estimate of promotion and advertising costs, but also costs for market research, development of external brand attributes, management of relationships with consumers, indication of sales channels, BTL and other relevant activities.

It is worth considering that marketing planning is intended to determine the organization’s position at the current moment, areas of activity, and means of achieving its goals. The marketing plan is central from the standpoint of conducting activities to generate a certain income. It provides the basis for all other activities of the organization.

You don't need to invent a wheel to create a marketing plan.

Anton Uskov,

General Director of PR agency Media_Act, Moscow

A company does not have to reinvent the wheel to plan its marketing policy. If you don't know how to create a marketing plan, it's best to seek professional advice.

The most effective and simple option is to put yourself in the shoes of a potential buyer or client, discarding your habits and preferences, and stopping using cliches and templates.

How is the execution of a marketing plan monitored?

In order to control the operation of the enterprise as a whole, it is necessary to develop a multi-level management calculation procedure, with the formulation of a development strategy, supported by a set of tactical measures. It is the solution of the last task in the activities of marketing and commercial services that the marketing plan is focused on.

The manager ensures control over the results of the activities of his subordinate units:

according to criteria in the marketing plan;
according to management accounting indicators;
on the performance of the unit.

Analysis of the implementation of the marketing plan also involves a comparison of the actual development of the situation and the planned or expected indicators for the reporting period. If the actual state is considered unsatisfactory, appropriate changes must be made. Sometimes it is necessary to revise the plans due to the influence of uncontrollable factors.

Marketing plan analysis can be carried out using 3 methods:

Marketing cost analysis;
Implementation analysis;
Marketing audit.

As part of the analysis of marketing costs, the effectiveness of various marketing factors is assessed. It is necessary to find out which costs are effective and which are not, and make the necessary adjustments. Sales performance analysis is a detailed examination of sales results to evaluate the appropriateness of a particular strategy.

Marketing audit is systematic, objective and critical assessment, a review of the main goals and policies of the organization’s marketing functions in the implementation of this policy, with the achievement of the goals. Marketing audit involves 6 stages:

It is determined who will conduct the audit.
The frequency of the audit is determined.
Forms for the audit are being developed.
An audit is carried out directly.
Presenting results to the management of the organization, making decisions.

A prerequisite in this direction is the dependence of the salary on the performance of duties. The share of real payments, depending on the results, should be quite significant (at least a third of the employee’s total earnings).

How to determine a marketing budget: calculation methods and expert advice

Information about authors and companies

PR agency Media_Act specializes in conducting advertising and PR campaigns in the regions. Has branches in almost all major cities countries. Among the main clients: the investment holding Finam, the Japanese tire manufacturer Yokohama, the distributor of roofing materials Diana-Trade, MTS. The agency has subsidiaries providing advertising, production and printing services.

Roman Tkachev, project manager for promoting the MDV brand, AJAK group of companies. Graduated from Altai State University (specialist in international relations, orientalist) and Yanshan University (PRC) (Chinese language, international marketing). Involved in the development and implementation of a supply planning system and an accounting and analysis system commercial offers by MDV brand.

Group of companies "AYAK"- founded in 1996. Distributor of world famous manufacturers of air conditioning equipment. It has about 50 regional representative offices, more than 2000 dealer companies in the Russian Federation and the CIS countries. Official website - www.jac.ru

SOSTAC is a widely used tool for marketing and business planning. It is among the most popular marketing models that have stood the test of time.

In this article, you will learn how to develop a marketing plan to promote a company using the SOSTAC model.

Created back in the 1990s by author and speaker PR Smith, the SOSTAC® framework has earned a good reputation among authorities. It is used as a basis by business representatives of various sizes, including start-up entrepreneurs or international organizations around the world.

The SOSTAC marketing plan addresses six key areas, namely:

Stage 1. Analysis of the current situation

The first stage of marketing planning is to analyze the current situation. This is an overview of your project - who you are, what you do and how your online sales happen. External and internal factors affecting your business are also considered.

In this section you will draw big picture your project. To do this, consider the following questions:

Who are your clients today (make a portrait of your target audience and their avatars).
: What are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities or threats to the entire organization?
Conduct a competitor analysis. Who are your competitors? How do they create competition (eg price, product, customer service, reputation)? What are your key differentiators?
Make a list of all the customer acquisition channels you use and how successful each one is for your organization. What works well and what doesn't?

Below we will take a closer look at an example of target audience analysis.

The target audience

This section should analyze who your target audience is. This is important to clearly represent your existing customers and understand who you are actually targeting. If you work in a competitive environment, think about what is your unique proposition (), if you have one?

Customer personalization helps you see your existing customers and understand their motivations for purchasing. Creation will also help you overcome barriers to new clients. To create a series of avatars, collate and analyze your existing CRM system data and order history, and then build a profile picture of your existing customers based on that.

For online trading, information you may want to consider from your CRM system data may include:

Male/female gender - what is the percentage?
Age profile - what is the average age and is there scope for developing age group categories?
Location/Address Data - The percentage of customers living in and outside your region.
Purchase history. Create a clearer picture of purchase history, average order, brand preference trends, and products ordered by size, for example.
Payment method for the purchase (for example, credit or debit card upon receipt).
The route taken for the purchase. Have you made purchases through a search engine, email newsletter, affiliate site, or contextual advertising?
Frequency. How often are purchases made?

Based on these data, we move on to the second stage. We need to turn this data into more personal information that can be relevant to your organization.

Creating Customer Avatars

For example, we have collected data about the target audience and now consider two avatars for a fictitious online t-shirt store:

Avatar A - Sergey:

Sergey is a professional, he is 28 years old, he rents an apartment in Moscow, he is a bachelor with a high level of income. He is very passionate about football. He loves to show his support for the football club by purchasing a new fan's shirt from the online store every year.

It’s more convenient for Sergey to place orders online and communicate using social networks, in which he follows the latest news in the world of football and football product launches. Since the World Cup provides an opportunity to introduce a collection of international fans' shirts, this allows Company X to contact Sergey and offer him an international fan's shirt in addition to his favorite club shirt.

Scenario for interaction of avatar A with an online store:

Sergei read last news about the World Cup on your favorite football blog. He noticed that the blog was offering an exclusive promotion - you can order any World Cup T-shirt from company X and save 10% by following the link to www.vash-magazin.ru/worldcup. Sergey follows the link and ends up on the website of company X, which provides him with a selection of T-shirts available to order with an exclusive 10% discount. He selects a T-shirt in his size and completes the purchase using his credit card.

Avatar B - Katya:

Katya is a professional, she is 33 years old, she is in a relationship. Katya loves to keep up with the latest fashion trends, and it is convenient for her to place orders in her favorite online store. Her boyfriend is a big football fan, he loves to keep up with football fashion and buy new fan T-shirts with the image of his favorite team. Katya may face the hype surrounding the World Cup. This will encourage her to shop at Company X for her boyfriend. She will purchase merchandise featuring the team they will be supporting during the tournament.

Scenario of interaction between avatar B and an online store:

Katya received an email from one of her preferred online stores. This letter includes a marketing promotion for Company X - an advertisement offering to order a World Cup T-shirt using a promotional code. She decides that this would be a great gift for her boyfriend and goes to the website www.vash-magazin.ru. She's not sure which team T-shirt she should order, so she calls customer service. She explains her situation to the sales consultant and places her order for the fan's T-shirt over the phone.

This way you have a detailed picture of your customers and can prepare appropriate advertising campaigns for them. To begin with, you can create 2-3 customer avatars for each group of similar products.

Stage 2. Setting goals

The second stage of your marketing plan system should focus on your goal. Once you have defined your goal, it is important to make it as precise and unambiguous as possible. To do this, the goal must meet the following points:

Specificity. What specific indicator are you planning to work on within the given goal?
Measurability. How do you plan to measure effectiveness? Will it be monitored through quantitative or qualitative analysis, for example?
Reachability. Can you, in principle, achieve such a goal in the foreseeable future?
Relevant and realistic. In this case, when developing a marketing plan, we mean the possibility of achieving this goal precisely with marketing tools, and not with development, for example.
Time limit. Have you set a specific time period for the task to be completed?

For example, if we return to our fictitious online t-shirt store, we can create the following goals:

Goal 1. Engagement: Increase the number of existing customers served through the online store by 50% by July 2017.
Goal 2. Attraction: increase brand awareness in the period from April 2017 to July 2017, measure the parameter through Google analytics.
Goal 3: Engagement: Increase email frequency from one email per quarter to one email per week from May 2017 to July 2017.

Stage 3. Strategies for achieving goals

Strategy talks about how you are going to achieve your goals. This general idea about achieving goals.

Using an online T-shirt store as an example, we will determine what questions need to be answered in the strategy block of your marketing plan.

Goal 1 is to increase brand awareness between April 2017 and July 2017, measured through Google analytics.

It is necessary to increase the brand presence in certain online channels that target the audience of football fans.

What is the most cost-effective route to market?
Are there our key customers in these channels?
Where can we get more customer attention?

Study your competitors, understand what online marketing tools they do and don't use, and take advantage of first movers.

Goal 2 is to increase the number of existing customers served through an online account by 50% by July 2017.

Analyze your existing customer base and how they interact with your online store.

Goal 3 is to increase the frequency of emails from one email per quarter to one email per week from May 2017 to July 2017.

How does the company currently interact with subscribers?
Who are your competitors and how do they send out mailings?

The answers to questions like these will help you determine a strategy for achieving your goals.

Stage 4. Tactics for achieving goals

Tactics contain the specific tools you plan to use to achieve the goals of your marketing plan. When you write your strategy, you will describe each tactic in more detail, as well as specific KPIs for each tactic.

In the example of a T-shirt store, let's assume that we have chosen three tactics to implement these strategies: SEO, Contextual Advertising and E-mail Marketing.

Tactic 1 - SEO

When analyzing competitors, it was revealed that one of the key disadvantages of company X is its small marketing budget. However, website search engine optimization does provide the company with a field of competition.

To understand the positive impact SEO can have in increasing brand awareness among your target market, it is necessary to conduct keyword research.

Tactic 2 - Pay per click - contextual advertising

Just like SEO, keyword research will give you an idea of how much budget you'll need. contextual advertising. Most of your competitors don't use a lot of keywords in their advertising, so this is where you can benefit. It also helps increase brand awareness.

Tactic 3 – Email Marketing

It is necessary to develop an email marketing strategy so that your existing customer base receives regular messages. The tactics that will be used will include options for what should be included in the content of the emails to ensure that you get enough clicks to the site and conversions to purchases.
This tactic will involve leveraging your existing customer base and encouraging them to recruit friends and colleagues to join your weekly newsletters.

Stage 5: Actions

The fifth stage of your marketing planning system focuses on how to put your plans into action. The action section covers what must be done in each of the tactics listed in the previous section of the SOSTAC plan to realize its goals.

To achieve the goals above, we have identified three tactics. Now we list examples of actions necessary to implement each tactic.

This is not an exhaustive list, but merely provides examples and a brief description of what to consider:

Actions for Tactic 1: SEO

Keyword analysis. What keywords are we targeting?
Page optimization. We must optimize site pages for key queries to ensure better ranking in Yandex and Google.
Content - regular blog posts on the topic of the site.
Creating a link mass. Create a target group of sites where you could post information about your project with a link to it.

Actions for tactic 2: Contextual advertising

Keyword analysis. What queries can drive profitable traffic?
Budget.
Landing pages. What pages will people land on when they enter certain queries?

Actions for Tactic 3: Email Marketing

Create email scripts for various actions on the site (subscription, purchase)
Creating reporting to analyze subscriber engagement in the newsletter
Analysis of mailing profitability

Stage 6. Monitoring the results

The final stage of planning is to ensure that you can review and evaluate your performance in the future based on the goals set in stage two.

Consider which tactics to set that are tied to your goals and set up weekly or monthly reporting to ensure you're on track to achieve your goals.

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 will be suitable for protecting the promotion strategy of any product, because it is an exhaustive list of 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 conditions of the market, to determine the competitive advantages of a product 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 spend time analyzing different strategy options.

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 laying out the key takeaways at the beginning of any presentation helps align management with the presentation format required, allowing them to evaluate the underlying strategy and prepare questions without detailed examination of the facts. 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 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 should know exactly what financial indicators want to achieve in every 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, then it 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 please the 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 presence of seasonality in 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 the deterioration of the financial condition of 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 of these metrics will help you make the most of your marketing budget.

Therefore, monthly sum up 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. A medium-term "strategic" plan is based on the same strategies as a long-term plan, but major decisions must be made in a shorter time frame. 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 immediate 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 and what implications would it have for the financial plan to seek additional Money to purchase components externally? All of these (and many more) issues need to be discussed and agreed upon with functional managers and the company's 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 in the right place V 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 creates difficulties in involving sales personnel in marketing activities or planning marketing. Today, especially in smaller 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 the initially negative reaction of consumers to 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 manufacturers of cars and detergents, for example, the environmental policy of the state is of great importance. As a rule, national legislation strictly regulates the sale of drugs and pharmaceutical products; May be controlled or banned in some countries certain types fertilizers and pesticides.
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, are changing 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 supermarkets in Europe shopping centers in the 1970-1980s changed the distribution structure of literally all goods - from food products to DIY store products (largely aided by increased 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 given 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 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 plans for marketing dairy equipment in any region of the country, diaphragm valves in one of the European countries, and bathroom kits in hotels in the Middle East. You might as well develop a marketing plan for a wide variety of products and services (from products chemical industry to fast food restaurant services) at the regional, national or global level.
When it comes to 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 divisional plans 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 strong and weak spots 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.
The full form of the plan provides an estimate of the resources required to execute the plan, examines in detail its impact on profit and loss figures, or includes a forecast of the company's financial statements.
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” to needed by the company direction. 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 they can be understood by others.
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 product promotion (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. A master marketing plan consists of marketing plans for individual products or sales areas. A company's marketing plan establishes marketing goals and provides strategies for achieving them.