Designing a Marketing Plan Appendix A Overview of

Designing a Marketing Plan Appendix A

Overview of Report n n n Executive Summary Company Description Strategic Focus and Plan Situation Analysis Market-Product Focus Marketing Program Financial Data Organization Implementation Plan Evaluation and Control Appendix A: SWOT Analysis

Executive Summary n n n Usually one page in length Summarizes the paper Should be able to gain a complete understanding of the paper from just this page

Company Description n Simply a brief overview of the company When was the company formed? n What does the company do? n

Strategic Focus and Plan n n Asks about the Company’s Long-Term Strategy Mission/Vision n n What is the company’s reason for existing? Some firms have established their mission n n Others may require you to figure it out Goals n n What does the company want to do? Establishes a direction for the company, and gives the company a means through which to measure its success

Strategic Focus and Plan n Core Competencies and Sustainable Competitive Advantage What is the company good at doing? n What will make your company successful against competitors in the long-run? n

Situation Analysis n SWOT Analysis= Overall Analysis n n n Actual analysis will be in Appendix A Outlines Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats Industry Analysis n What are the trends in the industry? n n n Offerings Sales Social Technological Economical

Situation Analysis n Competitors Who are their main competitors? n In which industry are they present? n What are their strengths/weaknesses? n n Company Analysis n What strengths will help the company to achieve its strategic direction, as previously defined?

Situation Analysis n Customer Analysis Who are your customers? n How many are there? n Where are they located? n What are their needs/wants? n What issues are important to them? n

Market-Product Focus n Marketing and Product Objectives n How will you market …existing products in existing markets? n …existing products in new markets? n …new products in existing markets? n …new products in new markets? n n These serve as objectives for the company (Remember, objectives are subsets of goals).

Market-Product Focus n Target Markets n n Points of Difference n n Which group(s) of people are you targeting? What can you give me that your competitors cannot? Positioning n What characteristics (demanded by customers) are you going to highlight?

Marketing Program n Product Strategy What are your products? n What separates your product from competitors’ offerings? n What type of packaging is used? n n What does it convey about the product?

Marketing Strategy n Price Strategy n What is the price of your product(s)? n n Promotion Strategy n n What is the justification for your price? How will you promote your product? Place Strategy n What are the steps in the company’s supply chain?

Financial Data n Very detailed in a formal report n For our purposes, we only need: n Past sales growth n n Reasons for fluctuations? 5 -year forecasts n Will not be exact- too difficult to pinpoint n But must be reasonable

Implementation n How will the products be “rolled out”? n Identify markets and the timeframe in which you will reach them