How to Write a Marketing Plan

What is a Marketing Plan

A marketing plan provides direction for your marketing activities. Marketing plan need not be long or
cost to put together.

Example: Think of it as road Map with detailed directions on how to get to your destination. Sure there
may be a few bumps in the road perhaps a diversion or two, but if the marketing plan is carefull
researched, thoughfully considered and evaluated. It will help the organization/business achieve its
goals. The marketing plan details what you want to accomplish with your marketing strategy and helps
you meet your objectives.,

The Marketing plan

- Allows the organization to look internally in order to fully understand the impact and results
of past marketing decisions.
- Allows the organization to look externally in order to fully understand the market in which it
chooses to compete.
- Sets future goals and provides direction for future marketing efforts that everyone in the
organization should understand and support.
- Is a key component in obtaining funding to pursue new initiatives.

Every business needs a good marketing plan to succeed. If you believe in your product or services then
you should be happy to tell people about it. But you need a marketing plan to know what to say and
how to sell. So start by creating a simple 1 page marketing plan or mini marketing plan and review it in
few months.

Brief Outline of a Mini Marketing Plan

1. Mission
I. Executive Summary – The executive summary presents, in a very concise manner, vital
information contained in the marketing plan such as its marketing objectives, strategy
recommendations, marketing budget., projected sales and profitability.
A well-written executive summary is usually no longer than one or two pages. Because it
is a summary of the significant points and figures contained in the marketing plan, the
executive summary can only be composed after the marketing plan is completed.
II. Study Background
a. Brief history of the company – As the starting point for your paper, select a product
brand. Identify its manufacturer and write a brief history of this company.
Most companies’ historial background can be found on the internet. Whenever you
use material from the Internet, always cite your source.
Example: Metro Corporation is a Filipino company established in 2010. It is a participant in the local hair
care industry. It currently offers two types of shampoo for the female segment of the market:

-anti-dandruff shampoo

- anti-slit ends shampoo

b. Mission and Vision

Mission – A Mission Statement defines the company's business, its
objectives and its approach to reach those objectives.

Ex: The Metro Corporation mission statement reads “ We are a consumer goods
marketing company making quality and innovative products designed to improve
the well-being of our consumers.”

Vision – A Vision Statement describes the desired future position of the

company.
Elements of Mission and Vision Statements are often combined to provide a
statement of the company's purposes, goals and values
These statements can give you vital information on its business philosophy and long-
term direction.
Ex. The Vision of Metro Corporation is “ To be the leading company in developing
innovative consumer goods and services.”

c. Product/Service offerings – Go in detail about the product or service your

company intends to sell. Your business plan must convince investors why
your product is worth investing in and how it will solve your customer’s
problem. Since there is a huge likelihood that other businesses also sell the
same products as yours, you must be extra careful when creating this section
of your business plan.

Ex.

Example: Another example”

2. Situation Analysis

III. Macro-environmental Analysis- A macro environment refers to the overall, broader

economy and the forces affecting it versus a microenvironment, which focuses on a
specific sector or region’s economy. There are macroeconomic conditions or factors that
affect how all businesses operate, which, in turn, affect the economy as a whole. In
general, macroeconomics deals with:
Spending
Price levels
Aggregate production

 A macro environment involves forces that affect the larger

economy.
 A company should regularly perform a DEPEST analysis in order to
best serve customers and the economy as a whole.
 DEPEST refers to the six broad factors affecting the macroeconomy
– Demographic, Ecological, Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, and
Technological.
The Macro Environment consists of 6 different forces.
So called DESTEP/DEPEST or PESTEL

These are: Demographic, Economic, Political, Ecological, Socio-Cultural,
and Technological forces. This can easily be remembered: the DESTEP model, also
called DEPEST model, helps to consider the different factors of the Macro
Environment.
A. Demographic - Demographic forces relate to people. The name refers to the term
Demography. The latter refers to the study of human populations. This includes
size, density, age, gender, occupation and other statistics. Why are people
important? Because, on the whole, their needs is the reason for businesses to
exist. In other words, people are the driving force for the development of markets.
The large and diverse demographics both offer opportunities but also challenges
for businesses. Especially in times of rapid world population growth, and overall
demographic changes, the study of people is crucial for marketers. The reason is
that changing demographics mean changing markets. Further, changing markets
mean a need for adjusted marketing strategies.
Therefore, marketers should keep a close eye on demographics. This may
include all kinds of characteristics of the population, such as size, growth,
density, age- and gender structure, and so on. Some of the most important
demographic trends that affect markets are:
World population growth – the world population is growing at an explosive rate.
Already in 2011, it reached 7 billion, while being expected to reach 8 billion by
the year 2030
Changing age structure= The changing age structure of world population is
another critical factor influencing marketing. In the future, there will be countries
with far more favourable age structures than others. For example, India has one
of the youngest populations on earth and is expected to keep that status. By
2020, the median age in India will be 28 years. In contrast, the countries of the
European Union and the USA have to face an aging population already today.
This may lead to harmful reductions in dynamism and challenges regarding the
supply of young workers who, at the same time, have to support a growing
population of elderly people
Changing family structure - Also, families are changing which means that the
marketing strategies aimed at them must undergo an adjustment. For example,
new household formats start emerging in many countries. While in traditional
western countries a typical household consisted of husband, wife and children,
nowadays there are more married couples without children, as well as single
parent and single households. Another factor comes from the growing number of
 women working full time, particularly in European nations. Together with further
forces, changing family structures require the marketing strategy to be changed.
Geographic shifts in population - One – and the most important – element of
geographic shifts is migration. By 2050, global migration is expected to double.
This has a major impact on both the location and the nature of demand for
products and services. The reason is that the place people can be reached has
changed, as have their needs because of the new situations. Other important
factors are the ethnic diversity that provides new opportunities, as well as
urbanisation.
B. Economic- The Economic forces relate to factors that affect consumer purchasing
power and spending patterns.
- Inflation rate – inflation is an increase in the level of prices of the goods and
services that households buy. It is measured as the rate of change of those prices.
Typically, prices rise over time, but prices can also fall..
Ex.
- foreign exchange rates
- consumer spending shifts
- consumer price index
- unemployment rate

For instance, a company should never start exporting to a country before having
examined how much people will be able to spend. Important criteria are: GDP,
GDP real growth rate, GNI, Import Duty rate and sales tax/ VAT, Unemployment,
Inflation, Disposable personal income, and Spending patterns.

C. Political- Businesses are always limited by the political

environment in which they exist. Laws and governments
regularly shape how a company can operate and even have
sway over the markets that companies can serve.

The primary instance where political factors play a critical

influence is when a company tries to move into a new market –
specifically one in a different country. The company must
understand the laws and regulations that dictate both the industry
it operates in and any specific rules it may be subjected to. It may
affect whether it’s financially responsible for the company to enter
the new market at all.

It’s also important to keep abreast of new legislation in the works

or tabled for passage. Understanding shifting political forces can help a
company change directions to skirt any serious impact should new
regulations or rules be passed.
 D. D. Ecological - Ecological factors are natural forces that shape a
macro environment. It is largely shaped by the ease of access
to natural resources used in the production and distribution of
a company’s goods and services.

Environmental concerns affect both access to natural

resources and the supply of natural resources a company can
utilize. As populations expand, access to natural resources
increases, which tends to lead to a depletion of said resources.
Pollution increases resulting from population growth also shape
the environment.

For years, there’s been a growing shortage of raw materials,

and a heavier emphasis is being placed on changing business
practices to utilize more sustainable materials. The hope is that
placing less burden on the environment will help to regenerate
ecological cycles and make materials both more plentiful and
more accessible.

E. Socio-Cultural

Socio-cultural factors relate to demographics in a sense but are more related to

populations and how they behave based on preference and values. Different societies
and cultural groups are characterized by different needs, which are often based on
different core values and preferences.

Cultures often develop a group mentality, which passes along core values and general
beliefs. It shapes how the individuals in such cultures shop and what they choose to
spend their money on. A business needs to pay attention to socio-cultural variances,
especially when moving into new markets.

The Socio-Cultural forces link to factors that affect society’s basic values,
preferences and behavior. The basis for these factors is formed by the fact that
people are part of a society and cultural group that shape their beliefs and
values. Many cultural blunders occur due to the failure of businesses in
understanding foreign cultures. For instance, symbols may carry a negative
meaning in another culture. To understand these forces, Hofstede’s cultural
dimensions can be used: Power Distance, Individualism versus Collectivism,
Masculinity versus Femininity, Uncertainty Avoidance etc. 
F. Technological - Technological forces form a crucial influence in the Macro
Environment. They relate to factors that create new technologies and thereby
create new product and market opportunities. A technological force everybody
can think of nowadays is the development of wireless communication techniques,
smartphones, tablets and so further. This may mean the emerge of opportunities
for a business, but watch out: every new technology replaces an older one. Thus,
marketers must watch the technological environment closely and adapt in order
to keep up. Otherwise, the products will soon be outdated, and the company will
miss new product and market opportunities.

Technological factors refer to the creation of new technologies and

how they shape products, product development, and access to new
market opportunities. A perfect example of a strong technological
force today is wireless communication.

Nearly everyone in the world owns a smartphone, tablet, or laptop that

can quickly and easily be connected to the internet. It exerts a serious
impact on individuals and societies and their ability to patronize
companies freely.

Mobile technology is also shaping the development of new

technological devices and replacing ones that have become outdated.
A company needs to continually use the most up-to-date technology
in order to operate at its highest capacity and be aware of how
technological applications can better serve customers.
IV. Opportunities and Threats
Ex. Metro Corporation hair care

Opportunities Threats
Opportunities may emerge from the Threats may arise from pending
increasing consumer disposable income, government regulation banning the use
the growing teenager female population of harmful chemicals in hair-repair
 ir the premium placed by the youth shampoos.
market on sweet smelling hair.

V. Micro-environmental Analysis - Micro

environment refers to the
environment which is in direct contact with company and affects
the routine activities of business straight away. It is a collection
of forces or factors that are close to the organization and can
influence the performance as well as the day to day activities of
the firm. Six components of micro environment
are: Company, Suppliers, Marketing Intermediaries, Competitors, General
Public and the Customers.

Mostly, in the marketing environment, micro factors do not affect all the

businesses in the industry in the same manner. The reason is that every
business is different in size, capacity, financial resources, human resources
and overall strategies.

For example, competitors affect the business decision-making process.

MacBook Pro is a well-known brand of Apple Inc. Dell XPS 13 and HP Spectre
13 Laptops are giving Apple Inc. a tough time and certainly affect its decision
making. Apple is already introduced a functional keys touch bar. It is possible
that Apple Inc. introduces MacBook Pro with Intel Coffee Lake Processor in
mid 2018 to compete with its rivals and sustain the customer base.
a. The Company-

b. Suppliers - Actions of a supplier can influence the business

strategy, as they provide the materials for production. For
instance, if their services will not reasonable and timely that
will affect the production time and the sales due to delayed
process of production.

Example
If the supplier increases the prices of raw material they
provide to the company, it will impact the marketing mix
strategy of an organization, which will end-up with the increase
 in price of finished goods. Therefore keeping a strong relation
with supplier can help a company in getting an edge over
competitors.

c. Marketing intermediaries
d. Customers - The
customers are the central part of any business as
they tend to attract and retain most of the customers to
generate revenue. Therefore, organizations must adopt a
marketing strategy that attracts the potential customers and
retains the existing customers by taking into consideration the
wants and needs of customers and by providing the after sales
services and value-added services.

e. Competition - The competitors of an organization can have a

direct impact on business strategies. The organization must
know how to do a competitive analysis of competitors and
have a competitive advantage.  An organization must
understand, what value added services their competitor is
providing or the unique selling point of their competitors. How
they can differentiate from their competitors. What benefits a
company can offer to the customers which competitors does
not offer.

In other words, understand competitors marketing mix strategy i.e. product,

price, placement, promotion, people, process and physical evidence. Other
approaches for market competitive analysis is PEST Analysis, PESTLE
Analysis and SWOT Analysis as well.
An organization must understand that unawareness of competitors can make
it difficult beat the competitors and lead the market. It must know how
competitors react when there is a change in market environment such as
political and legal changes, technological change, change in consumers
behaviours can impact their business. They should also analyze how their
competitors are responding to market changes and what tactics they are
using to come up with better planning to these changes.
Example
For Instance, Videocon, BPL, Onida and others are competitors of Philip
Television in Television Market. The other form of competition is “Product
Form” in which customer seeks different features and functions in a product.
For example, a customer is willing to purchase a two-wheeler car which can
come with gears and without gear, automatic or manual. These are the
features of product and services which customer would be considered during
the purchase process.

f. Publics
VI. Strengths and Weaknesses
In understanding micro and macro environments a SWOT (Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis is commonly used in retail.
Strengths and weaknesses are those internal factors impacting an organization
while opportunities and threats are external factors that are outside of the
organization’s control.  

VII.
3. Marketing Strategy -
VIII. The Market
a. Market size
b. Market needs
c. Market trends
IX. Marketing Objectives
4. Marketing Mix
X. Marketing Strategies
a. Product/service strategy
b. Pricing Strategy
c. Place/Distribution Strategy
 d. Promotion/advertising strategy
5. Implementation and Control
XI. Tactical implementation
XII. Marketing Budget
XIII. Feedback and Control
XIV. Financial Projections