Marketing Plan: Situation Analysis; New Pr

References

Executive Summary

The executive summary is a concise overview of the marketing plan. It is often the last section of the marketing plan written. Its purpose is to provide the reader with enough information to quickly judge whether or not the plan is feasible. This section of the plan should address, with brief summary statements, items such as your marketing objectives, goods or services included in the plan, resources required and projected outcomes. Remember that the purpose of a marketing plan is to serve as an internal sales document. Take your time when developing the Executive Summary: many experts consider it to be the single most important element of the marketing plan.

The Company

Mission statement

Mission statements are present-based and designed to convey a sense of why the company exists, to both members of the company and the external community. It is like a goal for what the company wants to do for the world. A mission statement answers the question, "Why does my business exist?"

Vision statement

Vision statements are future-based and are meant to inspire and give direction to the employees of the company, rather than to customers. A vision statement answers the question, "Where do I see my business going?"

Products & services offered

In this section, briefly describe your products, product lines, and services. What are you selling? Is it a good, a service, or more commonly, a combination of the two? What are the product’s benefits? What makes you think that this good or service is needed in the marketplace?

Goals/objectives

The Goals section sets both the financial and non-financial targets – where possible in quantitative terms – against which the company’s performance will be measured. It is acceptable to use lists or other information presentation techniques to improve the readability of this section of the marketing plan.

The Future

Projected outcomes

In this section, briefly describe what the projected outcomes of your marketing efforts will be. Is there a payback period? When will your proposed marketing plan produce a profit? Describe the type of outcomes you expect to achieve in both the short term and the long term? Essentially, you are presenting compelling evidence that your plan will work.

The Market

Primary target market

Target markets are a specific group of consumers at which a company aims its products and services. Your target customers are those who are most likely to buy from you. It’s important not to be too general in the hopes of getting a larger slice of the market. Try to describe them with as much detail as you can, based on your knowledge of your product or service. Be sure to include demographic, psychographic, geographic, generation, cohort, life stage, and other relevant attributes. While pinpointing your market so narrowly takes a little extra effort, those who aim at a small target are far more likely to make a direct hit.

Competitor analysis

The competitor analysis demonstrates that the company has a realistic understanding of who its major competitors are and what their marketing strategies are. The beauty of our free market system is that consumers have choice. And that open competition ultimately leads to higher quality, lower cost goods for the market.

In this section of the marketing plan, describe who your current competitors are, predict who any likely future competitors will be, and discuss the differences in competitive advantages or core competencies that exist among the competitors in the marketplace.

Knowing as much as you can about your competition (direct, indirect & substitute products) allows you to make informed decisions when it comes to implementing your marketing plan.

· Define who your current competitors are, what their position is in the market, and how much of a threat they are to your success.

· Are you competing with companies comparable in size? Or are they much larger?

· Are you competing against much smaller companies or boutiques?

· Are your competitors profitable?

· What do you do better than your competitors can do?

· What do your competitors do better than you can do?

· Can you anticipate the emergence of new competitors?

Points of Difference

An organization cannot grow by offering only “me-too” products. The greatest single factor in a new product’s failure is the lack of significant points of difference that set it apart from competitors’ substitutes. How does your product compare to competitive offerings vis-à-vis features and benefits?

Positioning

A positioning strategy helps communicate the company’s unique points of difference of its products to prospective customers in a simple, clear way. Describe how you currently (or propose to) position your product(s) vis-à-vis the competition in the minds of consumers. Proper positioning leads to competitive advantages and the development of brand equity.

Pricing

Pricing strategy

Pricing is a vital component of a marketing mix. Pricing strategy refers to the method companies use to price their products & services. Almost all companies, large or small, base the price of their products and services on production, labor & advertising expenses and then add on a certain percentage so they can make a profit. There are many different pricing strategies (ie price skimming, discount pricing, product life cycle pricing, competitive pricing, etc.)

A pricing strategy takes into account segments, ability to pay, market conditions, competitor actions, trade margins and input costs, amongst others. In this section, you will identify your pricing strategy and justify your choice.

Pricing objectives

Although supply and demand drive pricing decisions, they’re not the only factors. Typically pricing decisions are based on the objectives to be achieved. Objectives are related to sales volume, profitability, market shares, or competition. Some examples of pricing objectives include maximizing short run profits, increasing sales volume, matching competitors’ prices, encouraging smaller competitors to change industries, or meeting target rates of return.

Identify your pricing objectives.

Menu

Provide your pricing list here. If applicable, include package deals, bundled items, etc.

Situation Analysis

Industry statistics, trends & analysis

Use this section to demonstrate that you understand the industry in which you compete and that you are cognizant of trends impacting the industry.

Answer the following questions:

· What is the current value of the industry?

· Is the industry growing?

· What are some barriers to entry or threats to the industry?

PEST

A PEST analysis is an analysis of the external macro-environment. A PEST analysis helps you determine how these factors (political, economic, social and technological) will affect the performance and activities of your business in the long-term .

Political factors in include government regulations and legal issues that could potential impact your organization. Examples include:

· Tax policy

· Employment laws

· Environmental regulations

· Safety regulations

· Trade regulations

· Political stability

Economic factors affect the purchasing power of potential customers. Examples include:

· Economic growth

· Unemployment rate & policies

· Interest rates

· Exchange rates

· Inflation rates

Social factors include the demographic and cultural aspects of the external environment. These factors affect customer needs and the size of the potential market. Examples include:

· Consumer demographics, cultural limitations

· Lifestyle attitude

· Education

· Health consciousness

· Population growth rate

· Age distribution

· Career attitudes

Technological factors can lower barriers to entry, reduce minimum efficient production levels, and influence outsourcing decisions. Examples include: automation

· Technology incentives

· Technological advancements

· The role of the Internet

· Rate of technological change

SWOT

A SWOT analysis focuses on Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats and helps provide direction for an organization. It accomplishes this by assessing the organization's strengths (what an organization can do) and weaknesses (what an organization cannot do) in addition to opportunities (potential favorable conditions for an organization) and threats (potential unfavorable conditions for an organization). When brainstorming your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, be sure to ask your friends, family & colleagues for input. We often have a difficult time seeing our own strengths and weaknesses. Here are some simple rules for successful SWOT analysis:

· Be realistic about the strengths and weaknesses of your organization when conducting SWOT analysis.

· SWOT analysis should distinguish between where your organization is today, and where it could be in the future.

· SWOT should always be specific. Avoid grey areas.

· Always apply SWOT in relation to your competition i.e. better than or worse than your competition.

· SWOT is subjective. 

In SWOT, strengths and weaknesses are internal factors.

For example, a strength could be: 

· Your specialist marketing expertise.

· A new, innovative product or service.

· Location of your business.

· Quality processes and procedures.

· Any other aspect of your business that adds value to your product or service.

A weakness could be:

· Lack of marketing expertise.

· Undifferentiated products or services (i.e. in relation to your competitors).

· Location of your business.

· Poor quality goods or services.

· Damaged reputation.

In SWOT, opportunities and threats are external factors.

For  example, an opportunity could be: 

· A developing market such as the Internet.

· Mergers, joint ventures or strategic alliances.

· Moving into new market segments that offer improved profits.

· A new international market.

· A market vacated by an ineffective competitor

A threat could be:

· A new competitor in your home market.

· Price wars with competitors.

· A competitor has a new, innovative product or service.

· Competitors have superior access to channels of distribution.

· Taxation is introduced on your product or service.

Marketing Strategy

Media mix

A media mix is the combination of communication channels your business can use to meet its marketing objectives. Typically, these include newspapers, radio, television, billboards, websites, email, direct mail, the Internet and social media, such as Facebook or Twitter, and more. Combining these channels in a media mix enables you to communicate in the most effective way with different types of customers and prospects at different stages of the purchase decision. An effective media mix delivers the right marketing message to your customers and prospects at the lowest cost and with minimal waste.

There are many methods that companies use to reach their target market. No one method works all the time, but most methods work some of the time. Developing a marketing mix is not unlike making a cake. Using flour alone does not make a cake. It takes other ingredients, carefully chosen, blended and handled to come up with a receipt for a cake that most people will like.

To come up with the right marketing mix, may take trying different recipes until the right mix is found. Each business will have to choose the methods that are best for them. There is no "one size fits all".

Determine which media you will use as part of your media mix.

Promotional mix

Sales promotions are designed to persuade a potential customer to buy your product. These are typically short-term tactics to boost sales. They include such things as coupons, frequent buyer clubs, loyalty cards, raffles, discounts, in-store displays trade shows, samples, in-store demonstrations, and contests. You should also note that sales promotion programs typically work best they convey a sense of urgency. Typical sales promotion programs last two to three months at most; any longer and people stop feeling the sense of urgency to act immediately. The following outline may help you in putting together your sales promotion program:

· Introduction & justification: why propose a sales promotion program in the first place?

· Objectives: what do you hope to accomplish with the sales promotion program

· Promotional offer: what is the nature of the promotion?

· Eligibility: what is your target?

· Timing: when will the promotion be implemented and how long will it last?

· Date plan: what is your timetable for mobilization?

· Support & administration: who and what shall be involved in its implementation?

· Sales plan: what is your sales quota from the promotion?

· Assessment: what are your criteria for success and how do you measure it?

Marketing calendar

A marketing calendar is exactly what it sounds like: a plan that details your marketing mix for the entire year. 

Based on the media mix you selected above, now we determine where, when, and how often we’ll execute on these vehicles. For instance, perhaps you will use Google adwords as one of your vehicles. When will those ads run? How many will you run? How often? At what cost per click? Will you run them daily, year-round? Or will you only run them during your peak season?

This calendar should be detailed enough that anyone could pick up your plan and execute on it without asking you a single question.

Marketing calendars can be created using Google, spreadsheets, etc. They should have columns for activity (media), start date, finish date, size (if applicable), cost, publication you’ll be using (if applicable), ad theme, goal, employees or contractors needed to complete the project, a place to record results or effectiveness, etc.

You should also include lead time that might be necessary to produce your media (ie booth display design & production time, ad design time, mailing time, etc.)

Marketing budget

A marketing budget is an estimated projection of costs required to promote a business' products or services. Developing a solid marketing budget is an important part of creating a plan of action that is realistic and will help improve revenues. In this section you’ll estimate, to the best of your ability, the costs associated with each of the activities proposed in the media mix & promotional mix.

Develop a summary of costs and include a total annual estimated cost figure. You may want to develop multiple scenarios: low cost, medium cost and high cost estimates with the understanding that the costs will most likely be somewhere between the low and high estimates.

Again, be sure to include additional costs that you might incur (ie design costs, mailing costs, etc.).

Evaluation / Control

Measurements & objectives

Now that you’ve gone through all of the effort to write your marketing plan, it’s important to set measurements & objectives so we know if the media & promotional mix you’ve selected are supporting your goals.

In this section, you’ll identify how you will measure your success and in what ways your objectives have been met.

At its most basic level, you need to identify how you will determine if your marketing efforts were successful.

References

Including outside references in a marketing plan helps establish credibility. Statistical information, research, industry data, etc. are all powerful components to include in your plan.