Your Marketing Plan Will Break---or Make Your Business!

The marketing plan is like a compass that helps you navigate the marketing world to a destination where higher Return on Investment and increased performance is realized. It is difficult to have much improvement without understanding the market and the internal resources of the company. One of the reasons why you conduct a solid marketing plan is that it helps YOU understand the market in a way that improves decision making.

In terms of investment and money it is not wise to put money where you don't know how to obtain a return. Conducting research helps you find methods of creating value but doesn't often go into how precisely that is going to happen. A thorough business plan will help understand the particulars and reduce the risk of loss.

Common marketing plan sections include.....

• Section I: Executive Summary
• Section II: Situation Analysis
  • Background on Organization
  • Market Needs
  • The Market
    • Market Demographics
    • Market Trends
    • Market Growth
    • Macroenvironment
  • The Company
    • Mission
    • Product/Service Offering
    • Positioning
    • SWOTT Summary:
      • Strengths
      • Weaknesses
      • Opportunities
      • Threats
      • Trends
    • Historical Results
  • Competition
    • Direct Competition
    • Indirect Competition
• Section III: Marketing Strategy
  • Value Proposition
  • Critical Issues
  • Financial Objectives
  • Marketing Objectives
  • Target Market Strategy
  • Messaging
  • Branding
• Section IV: Marketing Mix
  • Product
  • Pricing
  • Promotion
    • Advertising
    • Promotion
    • Direct Marketing
    • Public Relations
    • Social Media
  • Place
  • Service
  • International Markets
  • Implementation Schedule
• Section V: Financials
  • Sales Revenue
  • Product Sales Revenue
  • Channel Sales Revenue
  • Profitability
  • Return on investment
  • Break-Even
• Section VI: Controls
  • Implementation
  • Keys to Success
  • Market Research
  • Contingency Planning
• Section VII: References
• Section VIII: Appendices 
• Section IX: Tables 
• Section X: Figures 

Looking closely at the categories you will notice the many different aspects of the market covered such as local and/or international markets all the way through to contingency plans. Completing a solid plan will tell you an awful lot about what you should be doing and what you should not be doing. The detail and in-depth investigation will often make the difference between millions of dollars earned and millions of dollars lost!