MARKETING & BUSINESS PLANS

To carry out their responsibilities marketing manager whether at the corporate, division, business, or product level follow a marketing process. Working within the plans set by the levels above them, product managers come up with a marketing plan for individual products, lines, or brands. A marketing plan is a written document that summarizes what the marketer has learned about the marketplace and indicates how the firm plans to reach its marketing objectives. It contains tactical guidelines for the marketing programs and financial allocations over the planning period. Marketing plans are becoming more customer and competitor oriented, better reasoned, and more realistic than in the past. They draw more inputs from all the functions and are team developed. Planning is becoming a continuous process to respond to rapidly changing market conditions. The marketing process consists of : Analyzing marketing opportunities Researching and selecting target markets Designing marketing strategies Planning marketing programs Organizing, implementing & controlling the marketing effort

Analyzing marketing opportunities : To identify its potential long-run opportunities given its market experience & core competencies. For this, it needs to manage a reliable marketing research & information system. Marketing research gathers significant information about the market environment, both Micro environment & Macro environment. Selecting Target Markets : After analyzing market opportunities, it is ready to select target markets. Marketing practice calls for dividing the market into major market segments, evaluating each segment on the basis of size, growth, profitability and targeting those market segments that the company can best serve. Developing Marketing Strategies : Having developed the positioning strategy, the allocation of resources for marketing expenditure, marketing mix etc. strategy will have to take into account, changing global opportunities and effect any change if required and develop strategies accordingly.

Planning marketing programs : To transform marketing strategy into marketing programs, managers are to make basic decision on marketing expenditures, marketing mix and marketing allocation. Decide how to divide the total marketing budget among the various tools in the marketing mix - and decide on the allocation of the marketing budget to the various products, channels, promotion media and sales areas. Managing the Marketing effort : The company must build a marketing organization that is capable of implementing the marketing plan through sales persons, sales managers, marketing researchers, ad. Persons, product/brand managers, customer service personnel etc. For feedback and control, three types of marketing control through Annual plan, Profitability control and Strategic control. Contents of Marketing Plan : Each product level, product line, brand must develop a marketing plan for achieving its goals. The marketing plan is one of the most important outputs of the marketing process. Marketing plans have several sections, which are listed as follows :

Executive Summary : This presents a brief summary of the marketing plan, focusing on the objectives, strategies, and expected financial performance. It provides a brief overview, which is useful for quickly reviewing the major elements of the plan by the top management and also for easily comparing the product plans. The executive summary will also have a table of contents. Current marketing situation analysis : This section presents relevant background data on sales, costs, the market, competitors, and various forces in the macro environment. How do we define the market, how big is it, and how fast is it growing ? What are the relevant trends ? What is the product offering and what critical issues do we face ? Opportunity & Issue analysis : All the above information shall be used for SWOT analysis and related issues facing the product line. Objectives : Define the financial & marketing goals - sales, volume, market share and profit etc. Marketing Strategy : Broad marketing approach to be used to achieve plans objective - specifics of target markets, positioning, and marketing cost levels. It also outlines the specific strategies for each marketing-mix element and explains how each responds to the threats, opportunities and critical issues spelt out earlier in the plan. Action program : It is the implementation part of the plan. It spells out how the marketing strategies will be turned into specific action programs to achieve the business objectives.

Projected profit-loss statement : It forecasts the plans expected financial out comes & after approval by the top management, the budget becomes the basis for materials buying, production scheduling, personnel planning, and marketing operations. Monitoring & controls : It outlines the controls that will be used to monitor the progress and allow the top management to review implementation results and spot the products that are not meeting their goals & and taking corrective/remedial action.

Marketing Mix - In Marketing Planning : Where we are (SWOT) Where we want to be (OBJECTIVES) Designing market Strategy Developing market Plan/Program Appropriation Budgeting, estimating sales/profit

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