What is a marketing plan?
What is a marketing plan?
Outline or Table of Contents
Executive Summary
Situation Analysis
Objectives
Strategies
Tactics
Budget
Outline or Table of Contents
This page provides the organization for the plan. Remember to include page numbers as it will help during meetings or conversations to reference the exact pages.
Executive Summary
This page offers you a place for grounding the reader. This is a one page summary of the circumstances and principle recommendations within the plan. This will help the reader to locate where they may find further information of a particular subject.
Situation Analysis
This sections describes your current situation. This includes an explanation of past sales, competitors, recent sales, and profit results. The strengths and weaknesses in relationship to competitors also appears here. Finally, there should be a projection of the future for the particular industry; this involves a discussion of opportunities and potential threats.
Objectives
This area addresses the purpose for the marketing plan: is it to launch a new service/product or line of services/products, to boost revenue from existing services/products, or to implement new ways of marketing your services/products?
Each objective is quantified and has a limited time frame. This helps to measure the goals and their success. This also aids in comparing one marketing plan with another previous plan.
Strategies
Strategies help you accomplish goals. These are methods that can be used to get from point A to point B. Strategies are best used when they can be broken down to apply to other areas; for example, increasing sales through increasing your market share.
Strategies will also come in handy if your market changes. This will prevent your business from losing out on opportunities.
Tactics
Tactics are ways for following through with strategies. These are specific actions that will accomplish the goals of your business. In other words, tactics are a tangible fulfillment of a marketing vision, objective or strategy. For example, a commercial is the tactic for increasing exposure.
Budget
The budget is where you total all the costs of your tactics.
If your projected costs are more than your working capital or company worth, then prioritize the objectives, goals, strategies and tactics, also known as a revenue projection. Here you subtract the cost of goods for tactic A from the projected additional revenue using tactic A. The total is your gross additional revenue. Subtract the cost of tactic A from the gross. The remainder is the net revenue. For example:
Projected additional revenue using tactic A: $ 10,000
Cost of additional goods sold: 6,000
Gross additional revenue: $ 4,000
Cost of tactic A (an ad): 3,000
Net revenue: $ 1,000
After making such projections for each tactic, you will have a better understanding as to which would be most profitable or too risky.
In it’s entirety, the plan is a projected profit-loss statement. The profit side consists of the number of new services/products sold and the average net profit. The loss side is the cost of production, marketing, and distribution.
As overwhelming as it may seem to develop and customize a marketing plan for your business, keep this one fact in mind: If you plan to spend no money or time on marketing, then you lose profit share and potentially face an unstable future.
What is a marketing plan - To learn more about this author, visit Chari Darneal's Website.
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A marketing plan is a plan for how you will market your service/product or introduce a new service/product into your market niche. The plan consists of:
Outline or Table of Contents
Executive Summary
Situation Analysis
Objectives
Strategies
Tactics
Budget
Outline or Table of Contents
This page provides the organization for the plan. Remember to include page numbers as it will help during meetings or conversations to reference the exact pages.
Executive Summary
This page offers you a place for grounding the reader. This is a one page summary of the circumstances and principle recommendations within the plan. This will help the reader to locate where they may find further information of a particular subject.
Situation Analysis
This sections describes your current situation. This includes an explanation of past sales, competitors, recent sales, and profit results. The strengths and weaknesses in relationship to competitors also appears here. Finally, there should be a projection of the future for the particular industry; this involves a discussion of opportunities and potential threats.
Objectives
This area addresses the purpose for the marketing plan: is it to launch a new service/product or line of services/products, to boost revenue from existing services/products, or to implement new ways of marketing your services/products?
Each objective is quantified and has a limited time frame. This helps to measure the goals and their success. This also aids in comparing one marketing plan with another previous plan.
Strategies
Strategies help you accomplish goals. These are methods that can be used to get from point A to point B. Strategies are best used when they can be broken down to apply to other areas; for example, increasing sales through increasing your market share.
Strategies will also come in handy if your market changes. This will prevent your business from losing out on opportunities.
Tactics
Tactics are ways for following through with strategies. These are specific actions that will accomplish the goals of your business. In other words, tactics are a tangible fulfillment of a marketing vision, objective or strategy. For example, a commercial is the tactic for increasing exposure.
Budget
The budget is where you total all the costs of your tactics.
If your projected costs are more than your working capital or company worth, then prioritize the objectives, goals, strategies and tactics, also known as a revenue projection. Here you subtract the cost of goods for tactic A from the projected additional revenue using tactic A. The total is your gross additional revenue. Subtract the cost of tactic A from the gross. The remainder is the net revenue. For example:
Projected additional revenue using tactic A: $ 10,000
Cost of additional goods sold: 6,000
Gross additional revenue: $ 4,000
Cost of tactic A (an ad): 3,000
Net revenue: $ 1,000
After making such projections for each tactic, you will have a better understanding as to which would be most profitable or too risky.
In it’s entirety, the plan is a projected profit-loss statement. The profit side consists of the number of new services/products sold and the average net profit. The loss side is the cost of production, marketing, and distribution.
As overwhelming as it may seem to develop and customize a marketing plan for your business, keep this one fact in mind: If you plan to spend no money or time on marketing, then you lose profit share and potentially face an unstable future.
What is a marketing plan - To learn more about this author, visit Chari Darneal's Website.
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Depending upon who you ask a marketing plan is either a necessary evil or tremendous waste of time. - That’s such a shame, but I think I’ve finally come to understand why this is. |
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| Discover all the good reasons why no matter what your profession or business, you need a marketing plan! |
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I'm a big beleiver in business plans - not the text book thing, the simple working, changing, living, breathing thing. Every business should use one (note I said use not have.) |
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| Learn what the 3 symptoms of businesses operating without a marketing plan are, and how to avoid them so that you can attract business, money and satisfaction faster and easier.
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| Do you want to shake up your sales results? It's time to rethink you're approach and come up with a plan that will produce results. |
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Dr. John OdaJohn Oda Ph.D NLP is a business peak performance expert, an author, and speaker frequently called upon to provide corporate training, workshops and seminars for many companies in the United States. He is an expert in coaching sales and business professionals in overcoming the behaviors and obstacles that may impede their sales results and affect their bottom line. Since 1995, John has created a speaking bureau such topics, which include: time management, sales training, human diversity, leadership programs and etc. He provides companies with a strategic plan to increase their bottom line by over 25 percent yearly. - Visit Dr. John Oda's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Joe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: http://www.business901.com Web/Blog: http://www.FundingYourNonprofit.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/business901 – Linked In http://www.twitter.com/business901 – Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) Jay Kubassek is a Canadian born entrepreneur, internet marketing genius, professional speaker, international real estate developer/investor, executive film producer, extreme sport enthusiast and a passionate supporter of several charities worldwide. In 2007, Jay's vision and dedication to help other entrepreneurs and business owners duplicate his marketing success led to the creation of his fourth company CarbonCopyPRO, an internet marketing firm already worth over 15 million dollars that has over 20 employees and contract workers with clients is 12 different countries. Jay resides in NYC with his girlfriend Jamie, three year old son Milo and dog Cooper. As executive producer he recently premiered his first film in the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. As an adventurist he is racing the 2008 Baja 1000 off-road race and is a member of the 2008 U.S. National Elephant Polo Team, The New York Blue who will be representing the US in the 2008 World Championships in Nepal. Visit Jay's Blog: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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Michel NerayMichel Neray has over 25 years of experience as an award-winning copywriter, an Internet pioneer, a tradeshow pitchman and a senior sales and marketing executive. An online pioneer, he was one of the first marketing professionals to embrace the Internet by building websites as early as 1993. In 1994, Michel co-authored a book entitled "The Great Crossover: Personal Confidence in the Age of the Microchip", which made it to Jack Canfield's Achiever's Recommended Reading List. Michel founded Portfolios.com in 1995, the world's first online source directory for creative professionals and one of the first websites based on community generated content. Since creating The Essential Message in 2003, Michel has helped thousands of independent professionals and entrepreneurs as well as growing corporations find a better way to differentiate, position and brand themselves. In 2005, his chapter "Everything Starts With A Conversation" was selected as the lead for the book, "Sales Gurus Speak Out" and re-published in 2008 for 'Awakening The Workplace Volume 3'. He is also a co-author of "In the Company of Leaders" (2008) with 40 top North American leadership experts. - Visit Michel Neray's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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![]() Chari Darneal (Visit Chari's Website) Chari Darneal is currently Vice-President and a Senior Business Coach of BusinessCoach.com. Chari is a passionate expert of organizational design, corporate culture, employee satisfaction, strategic planning, leadership and teambuilding. Chari coaches clients, provides training and co-develops other business coaches for the organization. Chari co-created the redesigned version of the workbook that BusinessCoach.com uses with their clients: The Complete Business Coaching Workbook: Valuable Tools for Creating Success & Fun in Business. She is also an experienced keynote speaker, speaking before private and public organizations of groups as small as 5 and as large as 2500. In addition to her responsibilities as the Senior Business Coach, Mrs. Darneal participates in on-going training and development to further her knowledge of the ever changing business world. Education B.S. Communications, Emphasis in Organizational Communication University of California, Davis Affiliations Chari is currently and active participant of the Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization and the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches.
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Depending upon who you ask a marketing plan is either a necessary evil or tremendous waste of time. - That’s such a shame, but I think I’ve finally come to understand why this is.



















