Use of Marketing Plans

A formal, written marketing plan is essential; in that it provides an unambiguous reference point for activities throughout the planning period. However, perhaps the most important benefit of these plans is the planning process itself. This typically offers a unique opportunity, a forum, for `information-rich’ and productively focused discussions between the various managers involved. The plan, together with the associated discussions, then provides an agreed context for their subsequent management activities, even for those not described in the plan itself.

The marketing planning process

In most organizations, “strategic planning” is an annual process, typically covering just the year ahead. Occasionally, a few organizations may look at a practical plan which stretches three or more years ahead.

To be most effective, the plan has to be formalized, usually in written form, as a formal `marketing plan’. The essence of the process is that it moves from the general to the specific; from the overall objectives of the organization down to the individual action plan for a part of one marketing programme. It is also an interactive process, so that the draft output of each stage is checked to see what impact it has on the earlier stages – and is amended accordingly.

Marketing plan

A marketing plan is a written document that details the necessary actions to achieve one or more marketing objectives. It can be for a product or service, a brand, or a product line. Marketing plans cover between one and five years.

A marketing plan may be part of an overall business plan. Solid marketing strategy is the foundation of a well-written marketing plan. While a marketing plan contains a list of actions, a marketing plan without a sound strategic foundation is of little use.

Do you need to write a full business plan?

In my view the answers are:

* Yes if you are just starting out in business you need the full business plan

* Yes if you are looking to raise finance, bank managers expect a business plan

* Yes if your business is in trouble and you need to make some tough decisions. Just getting your thoughts down on paper, both about the current problems, their causes and what you intend to do can be very empowering. When you have a plan you will feel in control but without a plan, you are likely to be desperately fire-fighting.

Start small and spend an hour writing our your thoughts about your current situation. The next day spend another hour writing down your ideas for the various options. The next day, look at your solutions and identify what is stopping you putting them in action.I am sure that you will start feeling in more control and won’t see extending your business plan as busy work.

* No if your business is performing well and you just want to fine tune it, then you don’t need to do the full business plan but I do recommend that you spend time outlining your current thoughts about where you are, where you want to go and your plans for crossing the gap. The more people in your business, the more the actions plans have to be developed.

Given the choice, I would much rather you prepare a one or two page business plan that looks at the big issues having given your business future two hours of thought, than not doing anything at all.

As an example of how you can keep a plan, short and to the point, one of the key Guerrilla Marketing tools is the Seven Sentence Guerrilla Marketing Plan.

What’s In the Business Plan Free Report?

This 17 page report is packed with information:

* 8 reasons for preparing a business plan

* 5 factors for a success plan

* 11 questions to ask and answer when preparing your business plan

* Why your bank manager wants to check your PARTS

* A template for assessing the knowledge and skills you need for business success

* 9 questions to ask about your strategy

* The importance of customer demographics and market segmentation

* A guide to helping you to find your niche

* Positioning price v quality

* 10 questions to ask about your marketing strategy

* Are you in the right business sector? This is a critical issue if you are just starting your business and the business plan report helps you to assess your business risk across seven industry characteristics and seven internal factors.

* Checklist to make sure your plan is up to scratch for the bank manager

How To Write A Good Business Plan

Today’s free guide will help you to write a good business plan.

I know everybody says “you must have a business plan” but have you really spent a few hours focusing your thoughts about the future of your business?

Probably not.

Writing a business plan is one of those tasks that business owners and managers know they should do but often don’t do unless the bank manager is breathing down their neck threatening to take away the bank overdraft.

This is a waste of a great opportunity to get your thoughts down on paper both to clarify your thinking and as a record of what you think you want to achieve and how you think you will do it.

It’s only by having the record that a written business plan provides that you can see how your ideas develop and change.

I’ve written this before but there is an old saying “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will do.”

Writing your business plan will encourage you to make choices which is important both in terms of what you will focus on achieving but also what you won’t do.