Role and Nature of a Marketing Plan - Coursework Example

Running Head: Marketing Plan Marketing Plan Customer’s Name Customer’s Course: Tutor’s Name: July 27th, 2012 Introduction The first section of this essay sets out to give clear discussions of what a marketing plan is, the relationship that exists between a marketing plan and a business plans and the uses of a marketing plan; the uses of the marketing plan will be divided in two broad categories that is the tactical use and the strategic use. The second section will outline the typical structure of a marketing plan and offer a brief but concise discussion of the potential differences that exist in marketing plans structures. The other section will offer a discussion of each of the elements as well as the purpose of the section, type of information that each section requires and the common sources of the information. The next section will offer a discussion of links and or independence between marketing plan elements, this will be closely followed by a discussion of the common misconceptions relating to a marketing plan. The last section will be a conclusion and it will be a reiteration of the main points that are discussed in the report. Role and nature of a marketing plan A marketing plan is defined as a plan that outlines a set of specific actions that need to be carried out so as to make the potential consumers and clients to have interest in the products or services you are offering and at the same time trying to persuade them to purchase the products and services (Luther, 2011). In essence most marketing plans cover a period between one year and five years. There exists a relationship between a marketing plan and a business plan. The two documents ought to complement each other though they operate at different scales within the organization (Hooley, Nicoulaud & Piercy, 2011). A business palm outlines what a certain business is all about in terms of what they do and what they do not do and what their core goals are. It covers more than the marketing in that it provides detailed information on the location, financing, staffing as well as the strategic alliances of the business. The business plan also contains the vision in that it explains in resounding terms the main purpose of the company. A company’s business plan offers an environment in which the company’s marketing plan must flourish, thus the two documents ought to be consistent with each other. There exist a number of uses for the marketing plans. Tactically the marketing plans are used for planning for a short term basis. In relation to these the tactical marketing plans places a lot of emphasizes on the current operations that take place in various departments in an organization. In essence short term planning is said to be a period of about one year or less. The managers use the tactical marketing plans to state what must be done by the various departments in the organizations in a period of about one year or less. The areas that are mainly planned for in tactical market plans includes areas such as the production unit, plant facilities, marketing, finance as well as marketing departments. Strategic marketing plans covers aspects that will be of concern to the organization on a long term basis for example most strategic marketing plans spans a period three year to five years. The strategic plans contains strategies that the organization will use when pricing their commodities, client acquisition, organizational messages, positioning, benefits of the commodities been offered by the organization, how the message and conveyed as well as market segmentation (Fill, 2009). In reality a strategic marketing plans offers a macro overview. Structure of a marketing plan There is no precise way in which marketing plans should be structured but the typical structure of a marketing plan is as outlined below: i) Situational analysis of the organization External environment (PESTLE Analysis) Corporate review Product category review Competitive analysis Consumer analysis Brand review ii) Available problems and opportunities SWOT analysis Opportunity analysis Problems iii) Strategic planning Marketing objectives Marketing strategies Targeting and segmenting Identification Positioning and branding iv) Marketing mix objectives, strategies and tactics Product Promotion Pricing place v) Evaluation and control Forecasting Budgeting Scheduling and timing Evaluation There exist some potential differences in structures of most marketing plans; this is mainly dependent on the industry that one is in or the products and service that they are offering to the customers. Also the marketing plan will also differ based on where it is a short term marketing plan or a long term marketing plan. Elements of a marketing plan A marketing plan has five basic elements namely; situational analysis, problems and opportunities, strategic plan, marketing mix, and control and evaluation (Wood, 2007). I. Situational analysis A situational analysis is more often than not termed as the foundation of a marketing plan. As the word ‘analysis’ suggests; it involves the examination of not only internal but also external factors that affect a business. Situational analysis provides an understanding of the factors that can influence the present and later future of the business (Malcolm & Morris, (n.d.)). These factors include; external environment of the business such as political, economic, social and regulatory factors, corporate review of the mission statement, corporate plan, organizational chart, and long term goals, product category review of general description and distribution profile, competitive analysis, brand review and consumer analysis. Situational analysis in that case will define the project growth, customers, competitors and a realistic assessment of the business. It will also set the specific objectives of the business hence identify the factors that are likely to hinder or support the set objectives. Basically, situational analysis is divided into two internal and external analyses (Luther, 2011). Internal analysis The internal situational analysis involves understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the organization based on factors such as organizational structure, staff, organizational culture, brand awareness and financial resources. The strengths are the either the tangible or intangible positive factors that promote the specific objectives. On the other hand, weaknesses are the factors that delay the attainment of the set specific objectives. External analysis External situational analysis is the examination of the external environment factors that affect the running of the business either positively or negatively. These external factors include, but not limited to; customers, competitors, partners, suppliers and market trend. It is therefore important for a business to understand these external factors for it to thrive in a competitive business environment (Wood, 2007). II. Problems and opportunities Problems and opportunities are simplified as SWOT, opportunities analysis and problems. SWOT is further divided into internal strengths and weakness and external treats and opportunities naming the acronym ‘SWOT’. Internal strengths are factors such as product offering, customer service level and distribution network of an organization. Internal weaknesses on the other hand are factors such as poor organizational culture and poor distribution strategies. External opportunities include factors such as market share and customer loyalty. Threats are external environment factors that influence the business negatively such as policies and competition. Problems are issues that are not necessary ‘bad’ but needs to be overcome. These include competitors, product ranking in the market, and long product life cycle. Finally, opportunities refer to areas that are of advantage to the business like the areas the competitors are not covering. Once these opportunities are identified, they are innovated to take the advantage of the opportunities (Naver & Slater, 1990). III. Strategic planning Strategic planning is considered as the general focus of the business. It involves marketing, decision making in terms of production, human resource management and other issues that shape the direction of the business (Luther, 2011). It is also observed that strategic planning involves innovation such that both services and products can meet the objectives set by the organization. In addition, marketing is the key contributor in strategic planning since it is the work of marketing management to know the connection between environment and business. Therefore, the strategic planning seeks to answer the following questions; i. Where is the business now relative to production and services delivery ii. Where is the business heading iii. Is the business on the right track in terms of meeting its objectives iv. How is the business planning to achieve the specific objectives, and v. Where should the business be IV. Marketing mix Marketing mix is commonly summarized as 4Ps. These are price, place, product, and promotion. It is important to establish a good marketing mix before the business commences. These different variables (4Ps) are not constant but can change depending with the performance of the business. Pricing services and products influence the general performance of an organization. Though pricing is determined by a number of factors, the major determinants are cost of production, price of variation in the market, marketing and advertising expenses, and cost of distribution. Pricing therefore goes up or down depending on the position of these variables in the market environment (Malcolm, & Hugh, 2011). Place is the location of distribution of the products. Place of distribution depends on whether the product is a premium consumer product, consumer product and/or business product. If say the product is a consumer product, it needs to be placed accessibly and made available. In other words, the product has to be brought closer to the customer. Yet, if the product is a premium product, then it needs to be distributed and made available at selected places like stores (Malcolm, & Hugh, 2011). Promotion involves marketing the product to the customers through communication by a number of ways of advertising. Promotion is mainly determined by the pricing and product. For example, if the product is new in the market, it requires making the customers aware of the brand hence promotion (Malcolm, & Hugh, 2011). Nevertheless, if the product is already in the market, it required remaining the customers about the product which is known as product recall promotion. Product is the first variable in the marketing mix since if there is no product there is no business. Product can be further divided into three categories namely; core, tertiary and augmented product. Product as a variable changes due to the ‘life cycle’ which consequently changes the other variables. V. Control and Evaluation Control and evaluation is done as one of the marketing plan management strategy. It therefore requires examination of the possible strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats that were not identified at the beginning of the implemented marketing plan (Naver & Slater, 1990). It is put in place to evaluate the overall performance of the implemented marketing plan or marketing strategy. In a formal business, it entails forecasting the future of the marketing plan relative to the specific objectives of the organization (Malcolm & Morris, (n.d.)). It also involves budgeting for the marketing plan so as to fund activities like promotion and distribution. In addition, it requires proper scheduling and timing of the events and variable position in the market environment. Finally, it involves evaluation of the all the process including control so as to innovate and change accordingly. Links between marketing plan elements One of the interdependence of the elements of a marketing plan as outlined in the paper is that all the elements of the marketing plan presents a detailed plan of the organization’s efforts towards the marketing of its product(s). This is clearly seen through the analysis of the various components that make up the marketing plan and to which they can be considered as the constituent whole of the marketing plan and to which these components have to be interrelated to form the whole marketing plan for the organization (Kerin & Berkowitz, 2006). The various elements of a marketing plan(s) act as constituent parts of the whole, for the whole to function properly. For instance, the situation analysis whereby the external environment is evaluated presents the ground for making basic decisions that relates to the objectives and the strategies that are being sought to be accomplished through the marketing plan of the organization without which the marketing plan elements would not work coherently or work congruently towards the attainment of the organizations objective(s). In other words, the whole marketing plan function can be said to be issue based in such a way that the accomplishment of the various elements of the marketing plan are heavily reliant on the incorporation of all the elements of the marketing plan (Lehmann & Winer, 2002). For instance, the issue of increasing products sales in the market can also be solved through redesigning products, packaging and aggressive marketing but analysis of the situation, environment, competitors and SWOT is needed for a better outcome and hence the interrelation of the various marketing elements. Another way through which the marketing plans elements are interdependent is that each element of a marketing plan presets the stage for the other element right from the first element to the last and hence the interrelation. For instance, the problems and opportunities elements whereby the SWOT analysis is conducted to realize the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, then analysis of the opportunities followed by the problems presets the stage for the formulation of the marketing plan objectives, strategies, targeting and market segmentation, identification of how the organization can gain a competitive advantage in the market and also the way the organization can position and brand its products in the market (Cohen, 2005). Further supporting this argument is to hypothetically think of a situation where an organization first starts by drawing the marketing plan budget, without even considering drafting the objectives, mission of the marketing plan, the analysis of the environment and having an insight of what the competitors are doing in the same industry, would but be hypothetical if not a waste of time. Therefore, such marketing activities cannot occur haphazardly without accomplishing some stages of the marketing plan, otherwise the detailed marketing elements (Porter, 1998). Assumptions There exist a number of misconceptions relating to a marketing plan. One of the major misconceptions is that most businesses think that they are too small to have marketing plans. Despite the size of the business each business needs to have a marketing plan so as to get the best form its marketing investment (Wood, 2010). Another common misconception is that companies think that if “they have marketing plans they we have a marketing plan: we are running ads.” At times advertising campaigns act as a valuable marketing tactic and it is one among the many ways that a company can deliver it’s their marketing messaged to their current and potential customers. Thus companies have to have an integrated plans that clearly stipulates a number of tactics and how the tactics will work together to realize the goals. Another common misconception is that marketer thinks that they know what the customers think. It is crucial to understand one customer, what they think, how they feel, who they are and the reasons they have form buying from you. Marketers have a misconception that they already know what their customers think but this is usually not the case (Zaltman, 2003). The other common misconception in marketing plan in the fact that they think they are marketing to the prospects and not to their current customers. Organizations need to market to both the current and prospective customers. Customers are not yours forever and thus one need to regularly reinforce them so as to keep and retain them or they may face the risk of losing them to the competitors. Another misconception is that it is difficult to predict prices of commodities for the future costs. Though there exists some uncertainties the predictions made are usually not far from the true figures. Most individuals also think that it is costly and time consuming. Though the process can be expensive and times consuming the benefits that they have if implemented in the right manner are many. Thus an organization needs to implement the marketing plans carefully so as to achieve the level of benefits that they require. Conclusion Marketing plans are essential documents that every business needs to as to succeed. Managers of organization need to implement the marketing plans in the most effective way and manner. When drafting marketing plans, the marketers need to follow certain structures. Marketing plans have two major categories of uses that is; the tactical uses and the strategic uses. Marketing plans have a linkage between all the elements since it aims at achieving a similar goal that is the marketing of their products. Marketing plans have various misconceptions and the marketers need to know them so as to know how to deal with them. Therefore with a proper marketing plan both small and large organization will achieve the success levels that they need. References Cohen, W. A. (2005). The Marketing Plan. 4th Ed.. New York; John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Fill, C. (2009). Marketing communications. New Jersey: Pearson Education. Hooley, G., Nicoulaud, B. & Piercy, N. (2011). Marketing strategy and competitive positioning. New Jersey: Pearson Education. Kerin, H., Berkowitz, R. (2006).  Marketing. 8th Ed. New York; McGraw-Hill Irwin.   Lehmann, D. R. & Winer, R. S. (2002).  Analysis for Marketing Planning. 5th Ed. New York; McGraw-Hill Irwin.   Wood, M. (2010). Essential guide to marketing planning. New Jersey: Pearson Education. Zaltman, G. (2003). How customers think: Essential insights into the mind of the market. Boston: Harvard business review press. Malcolm, M & Hugh, W (2011) .Marketing Plans: How to Prepare Them, How to Use Them. USA: Wiley Luther, W (2011) .The Marketing Plan: How to Prepare and Implement It. New York: Amacom. Malcolm, M & Morris, P. (n.d.) .The Marketing Plan.UK: Butterworth-Heinemann Wood, M (2007) .The Marketing Plan Handbook. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Naver, J & Slater, S (1990) .The Effect of a Marketing Orientation on Business Profitability: Journal of Marketing, 53(4): 20-22. Porter, M (1998). On competition. 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