Marketing Plan

Entrepreneurship (10th Ed 2016)

by Robert Hisrich, Michael Peters,
Dean Shepherd
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A BUSINESS PLAN AND A
MARKETING PLAN

 Marketing Plan:
 The marketing plan focuses on all marketing activities of a venture for one year or more
 The marketing plan will vary significantly for a firm depending on the industry, target
market and the size and scope of the organization
 it is also a standalone document that needs to be managed on a short-term basis to
ascertain whether the venture is meeting its goals and objectives
 Business Plan:
 The road map for the entire organization over time
 It focuses on not just marketing issues but also such decisions as research and
development, operations, manufacturing, personnel, financial projections and
analysis, and future growth strategies
 UNDERSTANDING THE MARKETING PLAN

 Once the entrepreneur has gathered all the necessary information, he or she can
sit down to prepare the marketing plan
 Primarily the marketing plan establishes how the entrepreneur will effectively
compete and operate in the marketplace and thus meet the business goals and
objectives of the new venture
 Once the strategies of how the business will operate have been established, the
entrepreneur can assign costs to these strategies, which then serves the important
purpose of establishing budgets and making financial projections
 It is designed to provide answers to three basic questions
 Where have we been?
 Where do we want to go (in the short term)?
 How do we get there?
 CHARACTERISTICS OF A MARKETING
PLAN
 Some important characteristics that must be incorporated in an effective
marketing plan are as follows:
 It should provide a strategy for accomplishing the company mission or goal
 It should be based on facts and valid assumptions. It must provide for the use of
existing resources. Allocation of all equipment, financial resources, and human
resources must be described
 It should be simple and short. A voluminous plan will be placed in a desk drawer and
likely never used. However, the plan should not be so short that details on how to
accomplish a goal are excluded
 The success of the plan may depend on its flexibility. Changes, if necessary, should
be incorporated by including what-if scenarios and appropriate responding strategies
 It should specify performance criteria that will be monitored and controlled
Cont…
 Marketing System

 The marketing system identifies the major interacting components, both

internal and external to the firm, that enable the firm to successfully provide
products and/or services to the marketplace
 Cont…

 The environment (external and internal) plays a very important role in

developing the market plan
 These factors should be identified and discussed in the industry analysis
section of the business plan
 It should also be noted that these (External) factors are typically
uncontrollable but need to be recognized as part of the marketing plan
 There are internal environmental factors which, although more controllable
by the entrepreneur, can also affect the preparation of the marketing plan
and implementation of an effective marketing strategy
 Steps in Preparing Marketing Plan

 Defining the Business Situation

 Defining the target market: Opportunities and Threats
 Considering Strengths and Weaknesses
 Establishing Goals and Objectives
 Defining Marketing Strategy and Action Programs
 Marketing Strategy: Consumer versus Business-to-Business Markets
 Budgeting the Marketing Strategy
 Implementation of the Market Plan
 Monitoring the Progress of Marketing Actions