Marketing · Week 14
The Marketing Plan
The final session: what marketing planning is, why it matters, and every component of a marketing plan, from the executive summary, company information, environment and current situation through SWOT, objectives and the full marketing strategy (STP and the 4 Ps) to action programmes, budget and controls.
1Marketing planning
Market planning
The process of gathering strategies and tactics to achieve the defined marketing aims of an organisation. Its outcome is the marketing plan.
Marketing plan
A business document that outlines the marketing strategy, usually for a specific period (e.g. the next year), with details such as costs, goals and action steps. All relevant parties should refer to it.
A good marketing plan includes:
- The value proposition
- Target market and customer information
- Competitive positioning
- Promotion strategies
- Distribution channels
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The budget
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Marketing is crucial to success, second only to creating a stellar product or service. Without marketing, people don't know about your product, and without customers you don't have a business.
- Small businesses may put a mini marketing plan inside their business plan, or attach the full plan as an appendix.
Session objectives:
- Understand the purpose of marketing planning
- Explain its importance for organisations
- Identify the components of a marketing plan
2Purpose of marketing planning
- Marketing decisions involve many people with different responsibilities. Planning defines the role and duties of marketing executives in reaching the company's objectives.
- It emphasises the best and most economical way to allocate marketing resources, and gives direction to marketing operations.
- It includes implementing plans, programmes and budgets for the marketing strategies.
AMA definition
Marketing planning is "the work of setting up objectives for marketing activity and of determining and scheduling the steps necessary to achieve such objectives".
- Planning is the starting function of management. It ensures sustainable survival in a dynamic environment.
- For a business, planning is always strategic: decide where you want to go and how to get there, and don't leave the future to chance.
- Marketing is described as the railway engine that pulls all the other departmental wagons. It puts the customer at both the beginning and the end of the business cycle: define needs → turn them into products → deliver satisfaction → earn income.
3Importance of marketing planning
| Benefit | What it means |
|---|---|
| Avoids future uncertainty | Thinking ahead reduces surprises |
| Coordination and communication | Links departments towards the same goals |
| Successful implementation | Marketing operations run to a plan |
| Systematic thinking about the future | Forces management to plan product growth, market growth, channel design, promotion and profitability |
| Balances resources against opportunities | Puts money where the market opportunities are |
| Market enlargement | Focus on growing the market, not just maintaining it |
| Performance appraisal | A standard to measure results against |
| SWOT use | Capitalise on strengths, minimise weaknesses and threats, open up new opportunities |
| Reduces adverse consequences | Of unfavourable circumstances beyond management's control |
It applies to the whole organisation or to individual strategic business units (SBUs).
4Components of a marketing plan
- Executive summary
- Company information
- Marketing environment analysis (macro forces)
- Current marketing situation (customers, competitors, suppliers, channels)
- SWOT analysis
- Objectives and issues
- Marketing strategy (STP + 4 Ps)
- Action programmes
- Marketing budget
- Controls
| Component | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Executive summary | A brief summary of the whole plan: key insights, strategies, programmes and financial projections. An investor should see the whole picture from it. It's the plan's narrator |
| Company information | Vision, mission, brief history; current size, scale, products; current performance, market share, growth rate, profitability; resources, people, management, structure and culture |
| Marketing environment (macro forces) | Demographic, economic, natural, technological, political & legal, social & cultural environments (from the environment-scanning session) |
| Current marketing situation | Customer analysis and competitor analysis (see below) |
| Suppliers | Identify and evaluate potential suppliers |
| Marketing channels and logistics | Suitable channels, arrangements, conditions, and issues in developing channels and logistics |
| SWOT analysis | Internal strengths & weaknesses, external opportunities & threats; how to exploit opportunities, reduce weaknesses and face threats |
| Objectives and issues | Company objectives and the issues that may affect strategy and implementation |
| Marketing strategy | The customer-driven strategy: segmentation, targeting, positioning and the marketing mix |
| Action programmes | How strategies become actions: what, when, who, and how much it costs |
| Marketing budget | The budget for the strategies; projected profit and loss statement and other financial projections |
| Controls | How progress will be monitored and results reviewed; measures of return on marketing investment |
Current marketing situation in detail
Customer analysis
- Current markets: potential markets, buying attitudes and preferences, needs and wants
- Purchase behaviour: what, when, where, how much; the buyer decision process
- Market trends and expected growth
- Product review: main features, types of customers and markets
Competitor analysis
- Nature of competition and key competitors
- Their size/type, image/reputation, resources/capabilities
- Their products, market share, growth rate
- Their marketing strategies
- Key findings
The marketing strategy section
| Part | Contents |
|---|---|
| Market segmentation | Possible segmentation variables; segmenting the market; evaluating segments by size and growth (demand, sales, growth, profitability), structural attractiveness (competitors, substitutes, buyer and supplier power) and company objectives and resources |
| Targeting | The target market(s) chosen, a brief overview, and a profile of each target consumer |
| Positioning | Positioning strategy; differentiation, competitive advantage, customer value; positioning map; positioning statement |
| Product strategy | The physical product; attributes (characteristics, quality, features, style and design); branding, packaging, labelling, product line |
| Pricing strategy | Customer price perception, pricing objectives and strategies, method of calculating the final price, suggested price |
| Distribution strategy | Consumer needs, channel objectives, channel strategy and network |
| Communication strategy | Communication objectives and message, promotional mix, push vs pull |
It ties the module together
The marketing strategy section uses everything from earlier sessions: environment (macro forces), STP, product and branding, pricing, promotion/IMC, and channels.
🧪 Try it — Marketing plan checklist
Tick the components your plan covers. Your progress isn't saved.
Exam focus
Quiz 14 / Activity: develop a marketing plan for a new product of your own for the telecommunication industry:
- Take a telecom company (e.g. a Sri Lankan mobile operator)
- Invent a new product for it (e.g. a student data bundle with a study-app zero-rating)
- Follow all the steps from analysing to implementing: summary → company → environment → current situation → SWOT → objectives → STP and 4 Ps → action programmes → budget → controls
Terminal questions:
- The importance of marketing planning (see the table above)
- How environmental scanning supports a plan: the macro forces feed the opportunities and threats in the SWOT and shape objectives
- How to recognise the current state of marketing programmes: the customer, competitor, supplier and channel analysis of the current marketing situation
5Quick revision sheet
| Concept | Remember it as |
|---|---|
| Market planning | Gathering strategies and tactics to reach marketing aims |
| Marketing plan | Business document: strategy, costs, goals, actions for a set period |
| AMA | Set objectives + determine and schedule the steps |
| Marketing | The railway engine pulling the other departments |
| Importance | Less uncertainty, coordination, implementation, resource balance, market enlargement, appraisal, SWOT |
| Components | Summary · company · macro · current situation · SWOT · objectives · strategy · actions · budget · controls |
| Executive summary | The narrator: the whole picture for investors |
| Macro forces | Demographic, economic, natural, technological, political-legal, socio-cultural |
| Strategy | Segmentation → targeting → positioning → product, price, place, promotion |
| Action programmes | What, when, who, how much |
| Budget | Projected P&L |
| Controls | Monitor progress; return on marketing investment |
?Self-check quiz
15 questions on this week. Answer them all, then press Check my answers. Your best and latest scores are saved and shown on the subject page.