MarketingPlan
MarketingPlan
Marketingis a process that requires a lot of preparation, time and capital tolaunch it. Developing a marketing plan is one of the best ways for amanager of an organization to brace themselves for the future of thebusiness. A marketing plan is important in ensuring that anorganization spends appropriately and impudently. A successfulmarketing plan by an organization requires a comprehensive knowledgeof the organization’s target market, its competitive rank in themarket and the right tactics the management of the organizationshould employ in order to attain their goals for that particular yearor period. A marketing plan does not have to be rigid with a fixedbudget as it is advisable to sometimes chip in some new tactics so asto effectively achieve the organization’s goals. The marketingbudget is one of the components of the marketing plan and themanagement of any organization know how crucial it is in the event ofdeveloping the marketing plans for their companies. When developing amarketing plan for an organization, the management in thatorganization usually have at their fingertips the tactics that workedthe previous year and the ones that did not bear any fruits. Theorganization through its management should not dispose of thosetactics that failed to bring returns but should instead put them intoconsideration together with the successful tactics. They shouldafford these failed tactics more time to see how they will work inthe next year and also see if the funds need to be channeled to adifferent project.
Marketingplans are usually kept up on an annual basis at least. Nevertheless,if a company establishes a new service or product the company oughtto spare time to revise the master plan or create a different planthat can later be combined with the original plan as a supplement. Amarketing plan assists an organization to link well with itscustomers and therefore ensure continued growth of the organization("Developing a | The U.S. Small BusinessAdministration | SBA.gov", 2016). A marketing plan has a numberof components that are discussed below.
Componentsof a
Marketresearch-This one involves conducting an intensive research on themarket that deals with the services and products that the companyavails. This may involve collecting, organizing and writing downinformation about this market. Some of the areas that should put intoconsideration are the dynamics of the market and the blueprint thecustomer volume, segment of the market, customer needs, and theirbuying decisions. The new products in the market, sales in theindustry at the moment and standards set in the industry should alsobe considered in market research. ("How to Create a MarketingPlan", 2014)
TheTarget Market-A company is expected to have an in-depth knowledge ofits target market for its products and services in order to come upwith a successful marketing plan.
Product-The description of the product and the way it relates to the market.The product should consist of offers that ensure the company gets thelargest possible number of new customers and lure back the oldcustomers to the organization. These offers refer to such things asdiscounts, free trials, and packages. Although offers may not benecessary, they normally result in the rapid growth of customer base.
UniqueSelling Proposition. In order for an organization to from othercompetitors, it should have a robust selling proposition which is ofgreat importance. The trademark of many great organizations is theirunique selling proposition. A unique selling proposition givescustomers the reason to hope for reliability from the organization.(McDonald, 2007)`
MissionStatement-This should consist of the key market, who the company isselling to. The contribution of the company in terms of what it isselling should also be in the mission statement its distinction as inthe unique selling proposition.
DistributionPlan-This points out how clients will buy from the company, forinstance, whether customers will be buying from the company’swebsite directly or they need to purchase from retailers and otherdistributors. The company documents on the methods it will employ toreach to its customers.
MarketStrategies-An organization should scribble down a detailed marketingstrategies that it must use in order to achieve its goals. Some ofthe strategies the management put into consideration are advertising,networking, training programs, use of trade shows and writingarticles that tend to offer advice.
MarketingGoals-An organization should set marketing goals that arequantifiable. For instance, to acquire 25%, new clients, to sell 30products in a week or to increase the profits by 15% that year. Thegoals can also include the level of customer satisfaction, profits,and sales.
Pricingand Positioning Strategy-This one must be included in a marketingplan. The pricing and positioning of an organization ought to becoordinated. For instance, very low prices might deter clients frombuying. In this part of the marketing plan the company details thepositioning it wants and how the pricing supports it.
Benefitsof a .
Amarketing plan has a lot meaning. It, therefore, offers severalbenefits to an organization. The following are the major advantagesof a marketing plan.
Rallyingpoint. A marketing plan offers employees of an organization somethingto rally behind. Their confidence grows because they see that themanagement has the graphs in order and the company is heading in thecorrect direction. A manager who wants his employees to showcommitment in an organization shares with them the vision of theorganization in the coming years. A great number of people do notcomprehend financial projections. However, a documented marketingplan gets them excited
Thechart to success. Even though it is uncertain what might happentwelve months from now, a marketing plan is not a waste of time assome people might think. It is far much better to document aninaccurate plan than to have absolutely no plan. Without a marketingplan, the company will have no direction as the plan serves as acompass in a sea of economic challenges.
Toplevel reflection. A marketing plan allows managers to steal away sometime to actually think about their business whether it is giving theorganization and the employees what they want, whether they areearning enough from the products and whether they need to add sometactics to alter the direction of the results. ("Thening Processes | Oxford College of Marketing Blog",2012)
Operationalinstructions to the company. A marketing plan plays an important roleas the day to day guide to the success of the organization. It playsa more important role than the vision statement. For a genuinemarketing plan to be assembled the management ought to evaluate theorganization from the top to the bottom and ensure that all thepieces function together very well.
References
Developinga | The U.S. Small Business Administration | SBA.gov.(2016). Sba.gov. Retrieved 22 April 2016, fromhttps://www.sba.gov/managing-business/growing-your-business/developing-marketing-plan
Dibb,S. & Simkin, L. (2008). Marketing planning. London: South-WesternCengage Learning.
Howto Create a . (2014). Entrepreneur. Retrieved 22 April2016, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/43018McDonald, M.(2007). s. Burlington: Elsevier.
Thening Processes | Oxford College of Marketing Blog.(2012). Oxford College of Marketing Blog. Retrieved 22 April 2016,fromhttp://blog.oxfordcollegeofmarketing.com/2012/11/29/marketing-planning-the-importance-of-planning-and-the-planning-processes/