The Marketing Plan

Develop a marketing plan for an
attachment that a walker/runner puts on theuir shoes.  It is a mile tracker attached to the shoe
would count all steps/miles, even when you’re wearing your running shoes to
“run” errands or taking a walk through the park. Those steps/miles
count toward the overall wear and tear of the shoe and an a shoe tracker would
provide a more accurate mileage counter that lets you know when a shoe should
be retired. Here is what should be included:

• the tracker should be motion
censored, attach to one shoe, and account for each step

•it should be linked to a phone
app (for visual tracking purposes)

• it should suggest a shoe
change within 500-600 miles

• it should have the capability
to auto and manually sync with the phone app

• it should send an email when
it nears the time to replace shoes

• should be rechargeable

What is a Marketing Plan?

 “The formal
marketing plan is the symbol and essence of purposeful management,” in the
view of many marketing executives surveyed by The Conference Board.

“Formulation of a written
plan to guide the future operations of the marketing function, some marketers
contend, links in a practical way the customer oriented marketing concept and
the principle of management by objectives. What is more, in the words of one
executive, such a plan puts an end ‘to the intuitive approach to decision‑making
and to informal planning to meet day-to-day challenges.

“Those supporting use of a
formal marketing plan applaud especially the discipline of spelling out future
intentions in a written document. Several acknowledge that the element of
ritual in preparing a written plan may, on occasion, degenerate into ‘busy
work’ or ‘gold-plating.’  Yet they themselves
do not see this as sufficient reason to settle for anything less formal. Unless
all the key elements of a plan are written down, they say there will always be
loopholes for ambiguity and misunderstanding.

“The notion that
formalized marketing planning can become something of a straitjacket, leaving
too little flexibility for future marketing, action, is not borne out by the
experience of most of the marketers reporting. Many emphasize that for them,
formal planning is not mere adherence to standardized techniques sure to yield
standardized plans. As they see it, marketing planning in each company is a
search for logical goals for the component elements of the marketing function
and for logical ways of implementing these goals in the marketplace. This
search, it is felt, leaves plenty of room for diversity and adjustment to
individual marketing situations and management styles.”  (Hopkins 1972; 1)

The marketing plan is
frequently a part of an overall business plan, which includes operations, and
financial plans.  A single business plan
is most common in smaller organizations.  

Components of the Marketing
Plan

  A marketing plan is generally for a
twelve-month period. In order that they will be read, many firms place a
premium on brief marketing plans that are clearly written. The majority of
firms propose a single set of objectives and action programs. Some firms,
however, write into their plans contingency or alternative objectives and
action programs to be used in the event of competitive, consumer, or internal
changes during implementation of the plan. Consideration of alternative actions
is useful in planning for effective changes in market plans.

 I.  SITUATION ANALYSIS [ALSO
CALLED BUSINESS REVIEW]

“The marketing plans of
most companies begin with a review of the current market situation for the
product or product line covered by the plan. This review frequently includes
the product’s sales trend, competitive position, past promotional support,
market strengths and weaknesses. Depending on the complexity of the case or on
management preference, the review may take a few paragraphs or it may run to
several pages or considerably more…

“There are certain
managements that stress the importance of keeping the background analysis in
plans diagnostic rather than merely
descriptive…all data shown in this section should end in a conclusion, i.e.,
a problem or an opportunity.

 The situation analysis is
a realistic evaluation.  Problems may
result from internal resource limitations, environmental trends, or competitor
actions. They may influence the whole industry or just your company. Some may
be solvable while others may not be and require consideration in your action
plans. Opportunities can often result from environmental trends or a mistake by
your competitors. It may be useful to consider where the product is located in
the product life cycle.

The
situation analysis can be organized into three sections: 

· 
Market
Analysis 

· 
Competitor
Analysis

· 
Company
Analyses

II. OBJECTIVES

Includes both subjective and
quantifiable, measurable targets and all assumptions upon which they
depend.  Typical objectives include
sales, profits, market share, advertising awareness, etc. Objectives are
outcomes and cannot be directly controlled. 
For example, to spend four million dollars on advertising is a planned
action.  Advertising spending can have
several measurable outcomes or objectives; aided and unaided recall,
change in product positioning, or sales.  Be careful not to state planned
actions as objectives.

III. MARKETING STRATEGIES

“A marketing strategy is a
broad directional statement that describes how marketing objectives will be
accomplished.  Within our marketing plan, the marketing strategies
represent a first overview of various marketing tools and how they will be used
to achieve the marketing objectives.  While marketing objectives are
specific, quantifiable, and measurable, marketing strategies are
descriptive.”  [Hiebing and Cooper 2000 pg. 159.  Marketing
strategies provide a linkage between your objectives and your specific planned
actions.

IV.
ACTION PLAN (THE MARKETING MIX)

Defines as specifically as
possible the detailed actions, timing and implementation of the marketing
mix including product, promotion, price, and place (distribution) as
appropriate to the situation.  This
section of the market plan is based on the foundation of a strong situation
analysis.  An effectively prepared
situation analysis leads directly to marketing strategies and specific
marketing actions.

  V. 
CONTINGENCY PLANS (OPTIONAL)

Contingency plans are useful
when assumptions underlying the market plan have a significant degree of
uncertainty or risk.  “What
if?” analyses can include a sensitivity analysis using spreadsheets.  For example, high and low sales forecasts can
be used to determine effects on objectives.  Contingency plans include
alternative action plans.

  APPENDICES

Analytical details are placed
in appendices where they can be referred to when necessary.  Each item in the Appendices must be directly
referenced in the body of the market plan. 
Appendices often include sales forecasts, pro forma financial
statements, budgets, and any detailed analysis of the action plan.

Market Plan Outline

(Your case analysis should include all items that apply to the specific
case)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Limit to one page providing
complete coverage of each section of your plan.  The reader should be able
to have a basic understanding of all aspects of your plan.  The summary
assists the reader in understanding your plan.

The rest of the elements are
very detailed and you or your group may not be able to find every piece of
information.  Existing companies keep
trade secrets and those pieces of information will only be available to
insiders.  Items marked with an (*) will
be optional.  For the rest, good
marketing plans address each of them in either depth or a mention when data is
scarce. 

SITUATION ANALYSIS

Introduction

Market
and Industry Definition

Product
Sales History

Previous
Performance Versus Objectives

Market/Customer
Analysis

Market
Size

Market
Growth

Market
Potential and Forecast

Market
Segments

Consumer
Behavior

Competitor
Analysis

Competitor
Descriptions

Competitor
Strategies

Market
Shares

Company
Analysis

SWOT
Analysis

Internal
Factors

Strengths

Weaknesses

External
Factors

Opportunities

Threats

MARKETING
OBJECTIVES

Examples
of marketing objectives include:

Sales Revenues

Market Share

Profits

Return on Investment

Customer Satisfaction *

Customer Repeat Purchases *

Advertising Day After Recall (recall
of an advertising message 24 hours after it airs)*

Salesperson Quotas *

Growth in Distribution Outlets *

Sales by Specific Distribution Outlet
*

MARKETING
STRATEGIES

Examples of marketing strategies
include:

Entering a new market to increase sales
revenues

Introducing a new product to build a
market

Introduction of a new promotional
campaign to increase brand awareness

Introduce a low price product line to
build market share

ACTION
PLAN [THE MARKETING MIX]

Product

Price

Promotion [Advertising and promotional
plans]

Public Relations

Sales Force

Distribution 

Marketing Research *

CONTINGENCY
PLANS [NOT OPTIONAL PLEASE INCLUDE]

APPENDICES
[AS APPROPRIATE]

Forecasts/Market Analysis

Pro Forma Financial Statements

Budgets

Action Plan Analysis

Media Plans

Timelines and Schedules

References

Hiebing, Roman G. and Scott W.
Cooper  (1990) The Successful Marketing Plan: Brief Edition, NTC Business Books:  Lincolnwood, Ill.

Hopkins, D. S. (1972) The Short­Term Marketing Plan,  The Conference Board: New York, N.Y.

Lehmann, Donald S. and Russell
S. Winer (1997) Analysis for Marketing Planning. Irwin McGraw-Hill:
Boston, MA.