handout - marketing planning template - dec 2014

Creating a Marketing Plan

Although the process is the same, different versions / levels need to be prepared in practice.

What are the components of the marketing plan.

Each component – how to create it

Prof S K Palekar prepared this for academic purposes and limited circulation : Oct 2014

Essentials of a marketing plan

SITUATION Under what circumstances the plan will operate and what are the

outcomes you have chosen to achieve. OUTCOMES AND CHOICES

The main core strategies should be clear be clear regarding what outcomes you expect and how you intend to work towards them. Strategy means the choices that you have made regarding what objectives will you work for and how will you deploy your resources towards these objectives.

ACTIVITIES : What are the “vital few” market-facing activities you will undertake during the plan period and what outcomes you expect. For each market / product it must be clear what will you plan to do and to what extent. On an exploratory basis (Innovation and Experiments) Scale up (Invest and build because it seems to work ) Harvest (maintain the level of activities but not to invest) Rejuvenate (re-innovate because things do not seem to work) Scale down (because it does not seem to work)Prof S K Palekar prepared this for academic purposes and limited circulation : Oct 2014

“What market are you in?”

Your answers will determine the amount and type of analysis that you will do in this section. Geographic market – specific regions of a country, nationwide, global? What consumer market are you in? What mfg-industry are you in ? Example : If your organization makes pencils, are you in the pencil

industry, the writing instrument industry, or the communication tools industry?

Once you have defined your market, you should gather the facts to answer the following questions to describe your market. If you are operating in several geographic markets that are sufficiently different, it may be helpful to answer these questions for each geographic market. Continued ...


3 Components Of a Marketing Plan

Marketing Strategy Plan Focuses on your analysis of the marketing environment. States the strategic choices (do’s and don’ts) made Has top management and cross-functional perspective Marketing Operations Plan Quantified and time-bound estimated impact of the above How resources will be allocated Schedules to be used by various departments for pacing Budgeting Information to Finance Month wise market wise plot of cash in and out


Many levels and versions of a Marketing Plan

Purpose For boss’s approval For connecting with peers for cross functional collaboration For disseminating to own employees For quarterly / monthly review and correction

Clearly identify Period : Full year 15-16 Organizational Unit : ABC company’s Export division Market : Middle East

Levels CEO makes division wise plans to the board Divisional Heads make product / plant / project / region wise plans Product makes plans for their own product Regional managers make plan for their own regions


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STRATEGY

OPERATIONS

OUTCOMES

- Discover 5 Cs- Diagnose Target Customer - Design Positioning- Designing Market Connection

- Deploy Resources

- Deliver Goals

WHAT SHOULD A MARKETING PLAN CONTAIN ?

A Marketing Plan should ideally have all three (1) Strategies (directional choices)(2) Operations (Resource Allocations and Efforts) (3) Outcomes ( targets )

Siemens MDP – Feb 2013 – Confidential Material – Please do not copy – Contact Prof S K Palekar – [email protected] - 9821046013Axis Bank – Max New York Life – MDP – Nov 2011Novartis – Next Destination MDP – July 2012Pfizer MDP – Feb 2013Pfizer MDP – Feb 2013 – Confidential Material – Please do not copy – Contact Prof S K Palekar – [email protected] - 9821046-13Siemens MDP – Feb 2013 – Confidential Material – Please do not copy – Contact Prof S K Palekar – [email protected] - 9821046013

Decide tentative list of marketing objectives

Scanning, interpreting and aligning with environment Tool 1 : Mechanism For Scanning PESTEL Factors

PESTEL : “Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Ecological, Legal” Tool 2 : Collate The Data And Interpret It

Take each and forecast impact on customer, company, competitor, collaborators Tool 3 : Insert Tentative Obj : Marketing Strategy Draft Plan

Prioritizing between pulls from different stakeholders Tool 1 : Identify Trends, Compulsions, Opportunities

For each party : customers, collaborators, competitors : environment / stakeholders Tool 2 : Current Status Vs Demands Of Stakeholders

Benchmark (A) Competitors on stakeholder satisfaction (B) Expectations Survey Tool 3 : Insert Tentative Obj : Marketing Strategy Draft Plan

All objectives may not be possible : shortlist for use

Market / Situation AnalysisDo not accept a marketing plan without this !

Out of 5 Cs, 4 Cs can be identified: Company, Customers, Competitors and Collaborators. Fifth C is “Context” : PESTEL

Company : What are the main opportunities and compulsions that will drive the company during the plan period ?

Customers : Out of all the current / future customers in the market, who are our target customers and what will drive their behaviour ?

Competitors : Out of all the current / future competitors who are our primary competitors and what is expected from them?

Collaborators : Out of all the current / future collaborators, what will drive their behaviour regarding support (or otherwise) to us?

Context : Which PESTEL factors will impact our company, our customers, our competitors and our collaborators and how ?


Will you accept a travel plan without the planner looking at the map, weather and travel mode alternatives?

Check List for Situation analysis (5 Cs)

You will need to decide based on your business the following parameters Macro environment (the big picture) Market (size, share, growth, segmentation, seasonality trends, etc.) Internal Trends (sales and cost analysis) Product or Service (description) Competition Consumer or Customer (segmentation, attitudes and behaviour) Distribution Channels (direct and indirect channels) Evaluation of Previous Marketing Initiatives Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats Issues Analysis

Remember Always state the source of information : internal, secondary sources such

as government, census information, public bodies and published reports. In addition to presenting the facts, answer the question, “what does this

mean to my business?”


Check List for Customer Analysis

Quantify each customer segment (or Key Account) by size, frequency, profitability, and any other grouping that makes sense in your industry.

Who are they? What are the demographics of your consumers?

What products or services does each buy?

How do they buy your products and services?

Where do they buy your products and services?

Why do they buy your products and services?

What are their attitudes toward your product or service versus your competitors’?

For each of these questions, remember to ask the additional questions “why” and “what are the implications for my business”. This information comes from internal sales information and research


Check List of Competition Analysis

Analysis of Key competitors / and Leading organizations Definitions : “Key competitors” provide product similar to ours and

target the same customers. “Leading organizations” are the largest, or most profitable, or the most innovative. For each of these Their products - how do they differ from yours? How does their pricing and positioning compared to yours? What marketing activities do they use? How successful have they been? What are their strengths and weaknesses compared to yours?

For each of these questions, remember to ask the additional questions “why” and “what are the implications for my business”. This information can be found in the competitive intelligence system if you have one or you may need to gather this information specifically for the marketing plan.


Check List of Connection (Channels) Analysis

Characteristics of each distribution channel?

Trends & new developments in each distribution channel?

Strengths & Weaknesses of each distribution channel?

How successful is your organization in each distribution channel?

% sales does each distribution channel contribute to your business?

How cost-effective is each distribution channel?

Shares within each channel ?

For each of these questions, remember to ask the additional questions “why” and “what are the implications for my business.” If you use indirect distribution channels, analyze your business within each key wholesaler and retailer. In many organizations, this analysis is part of a separate sales plan. This information can be found in the internal sales and financial system and supplemented with industry reports and internal sources.


Previous Marketing InitiativesWhat worked and what did not

Learnings from successes/ failures

What were the quantifiable objectives for this initiative?

Briefly describe the initiative.

How did the initiative perform against the objectives?

What was the key learning from this initiative?

Recommendation : continue ? Discontinue ? Change ?

This information can be found in the internal sales and financial system.


Research and Evaluation

Ways you will measure the overall objectives, summarizes the evaluation tools you will use to track the effectiveness of the strategies and tactics, and describes the research you will use to obtain any information that you were unable to obtain for the situation analysis of this marketing plan. List the research and evaluation methods, responsibility, timing, and cost.


Financials

A profit and loss statement.

The marketing budget includes all the costs associated with the strategies and tactics that fall in the marketing area of responsibility.

The profit and loss statement essentially demonstrates the financial effect of the initiatives in the marketing plan.

It covers the business unit or product category that is the subject of the marketing plan.

Revenues include forecasted volume times average price. Expenses include cost of sales, distribution, and marketing expenses (from the marketing budget).


Is this the first time ?

If this is the first time your organization has prepared a marketing plan, it may seem daunting. You may not have all of the pieces of information that are listed in this article. Remember that this is a process and the information and analysis will improve over time.

First, find out what you information you already have and what you need to obtain. Then, gather all the information you can for this year. If necessary, pay for information that is important to you. For the information that you are not able to obtain, either because of budget or because it would require a research study, include it as a planned tactic in the research and evaluation section of the marketing plan.

There should be a person who leads the marketing planning process.

The people to involve in the marketing planning process are those whose areas of responsibility will be impacted by the marketing plan. Their involvement will increase the success of the marketing plan


How does a marketing plan document help ?

How does a marketing plan help you ? Provides structure and rigor to decision-making. Links deployment of budget / resources to purpose Gathers / distils learnings of the organization in one document Charts a path to achieve business objectives. Creates Objectives, strategies / sub-strategies for a timeframe

A marketing plan answers the following questions Assumptions of ext / int environment you will operate under? Opportunities / Problems you are facing? Business objectives you expect to achieve? What exactly do you sell? To which customers? Why should they buy your product / service vs competitors’? How will you communicate with your customers? Who will do what, when? How will you measure your progress ?


Why should you create a marketing plan ?

Greater discipline in the planning process

Strategic direction for an organization / SBU

Action plan for marketing-related activities

Formal record of marketing-related decisions

Back up for budget and internal resources

Dialogue / Engage senior management

Basis for cross-functional communication and buy-in


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