Marketing plan development methodology

Developing an enterprise marketing plan is not an easy process even for a small company. Of course, you can always write a marketing plan in a few days, sketch out an approximate list of marketing programs from the ideas that first came to mind. But if you spend a little more time on the marketing plan development process, you will be surprised how much more valuable and high-quality result you get.

What's the secret? Firstly, the marketing plan is the final point of strategic planning, and in order to start thinking strategically, you need to tune in to this, take a fresh look at the market and customers, assess the prospects and risks. This attitude takes time and additional information. Second, the first ideas about a marketing communications plan often lie on the surface and come to almost every executive and marketing executive. Ideally, you are expected to have such a marketing plan that will significantly increase the demand for the product at minimal cost, which means you need to look for new ways to promote, develop new communication ideas and borrow only truly successful market experience. All this takes time.

In this article, we will tell you in the most practical way about the process and main stages of developing a marketing plan, discuss the common pitfalls when drawing up a marketing plan, and show you how to draw up a truly working business development plan.

Frequency of the marketing plan

Development and writing of a marketing plan takes place every year as part of the company's strategic planning process (usually from July to October). A marketing plan is a summary of a product's marketing strategy, therefore it includes a 3-5 year strategy, a refined sales plan, a budget for product promotion, and specific actions to increase the customer base for the coming year.

The marketing plan establishes the elements of the strategy (market share goals, target market, positioning and long-term competitive advantage), which must remain unchanged for at least 3-5 years. Each year, these elements must undergo minimal adjustments and be supported by new tactical programs aimed at achieving strategic goals. With any significant change in strategy elements, the company is almost always forced to reposition its product.

Here is an example that clearly explains the process of developing a marketing plan. The juice company aims to achieve leadership in the premium juice segment. In the first year of launching its product line, the company's brand is practically unknown and not represented on the market. Therefore, in order to achieve its goals, the company includes in its marketing plan such programs as conducting a large educational advertising campaign and trade marketing activities to build distribution.

A year later, the company conducts market research and realizes that the brand has a high level of knowledge in the market and is represented in all major stores. The company already includes completely different programs and marketing activities in the new annual marketing plan: it plans to release new products, promotions to increase the frequency of purchases and to expand the range at points of sale, advertising for retention and building brand confidence.

Marketing Plan Development Process

So where to start and how to write a marketing plan? Here is a sequential action plan for the formation of a marketing plan.

Development Phase Phase Description Market Trends Analysis The first thing to do is to understand the key market trends. First of all, assess the changes in the consumption habits of the target market (consumers): what properties come to the fore, how the attitude towards the quality and value of the product changes, how the purchasing power of the market and its sex-age structure change, new fashion trends in the lifestyle of the target audience. It is also important for a manufacturing company to understand trends in design, packaging, raw materials. Take a close look at media trends that can help you find underrated communication channels. Analyzing the product The second step is to evaluate the company's product: its quality and perception in comparison with competitors. Its fame and presence in the market. Define the strengths and weaknesses of your product: why they love it, what complaints about the quality exist. Understand who really appreciates your product in the market and why. Selecting your target market Determine which consumer group is your core target audience. Start with your existing loyal customer base first. Positioning and Competitive Advantages Build an ideal situation: how your product should be positioned in the market compared to competitors in order to be most attractive to your target audience. What benefits should your product have? Compare the ideal situation with the actual perception of the brand and you will get the necessary vector of the company's development. Strategy Development Knowing the ideal position to strive for, you can calculate the strategic goals of the business, develop a sales growth strategy, build distribution, develop the range and promote the brand to the market. Actual Yearly Plan Knowing the actual position of the product, you can plan the tactical actions for the year that will get you closer to the ideal position of the product in the industry.

We offer a ready-made checklist, with which you can draw up a ready-made marketing plan from scratch. The article details the structure and lists the main sections and marketing plan. We will tell you in what sequence it is more convenient to draw up a marketing plan, which elements of a marketing plan are mandatory, and which components can sometimes be overlooked. We are confident that our checklist will be suitable for protecting the promotion strategy of any product, because it is a comprehensive list of important information on the basis of which key strategic decisions are made.

Content of the marketing plan

The marketing plan has a fairly clear and logical structure, and its development is a process of more than one day. It will take you a lot of time to collect detailed information about consumers, to study the characteristics and conditions of the market, to determine the competitive advantages of a product, and much more. Get ready to process and summarize many different facts, consider more than one alternative to business development. Don't be afraid to spend time analyzing different strategy options.

On average, drawing up a high-quality marketing plan can take (depending on the size of the business and the number of product groups in the company's portfolio) from 1-3 months. And if you engage in marketing planning at the same time as solving current issues, then set aside for this process at least 2-4 months. 50% of this time will be spent on gathering information, 40% on analyzing and considering alternatives, and only 10% on drawing up the marketing plan itself.

The structure of a standard marketing plan has 8 elements and looks like this:

What is Executive Summary

“Executive Summary” - a summary or summary of the key areas of the marketing plan. This section of the marketing plan tries to outline the main conclusions, recommendations and goals of the company for the next few years. This section is the last you fill out, but when you present your marketing plan, you start with this section.

The practice of presenting key findings at the beginning of any presentation helps to adjust the leadership to the required presentation format, allows you to evaluate the main strategy and prepare questions without a detailed study of the facts. In this section of the marketing plan, the content, presentation duration, presentation format and preferred feedback form are often included.

Situational analysis and conclusions

The situational analysis section is intended to quickly get a complete picture of the market, its size, trends and features. Such analysis helps to explain the choice of certain actions in the marketing strategy of the product. The main components of a situational analysis are:

• Analysis of the internal environment and resources of the company, including an assessment of the level of achievement of current goals and objectives
• Analysis of consumer behavior in the market, assessment of the reasons for buying and rejecting goods company
• Analysis of external factors of the company, competitors' behavior and key market trends

For more information on an example of a situational or business analysis of a company, see our article: A ready-made plan for conducting a strategic business analysis of a company

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Introduction
• 1. The essence and objectives of marketing planning
• 2. Stages of developing a marketing plan
  • 2. Mission and purpose of the company
  • 2. Market analysis
  • 2. Analysis of the organization's position in the market
  • 2. Analysis of the company's business units
  • 2. Defining a Marketing Strategy
  • 2. Marketing Plan Budget
  • 2. Evaluation and control of marketing activities
• 3. Features of marketing planning in industries and spheres of activity
• Conclusion
• Literature

The role of planning has recently begun to increase again. The belief that the market would regulate everything and indicate the direction of activity itself was not justified. Russian enterprises are increasingly resorting to setting specific goals and developing ways to achieve them.

At the same time, the heads of domestic enterprises are more confident in the need to use marketing tools to resist competitors, including at the federal and global levels.

The relevance of this study lies in the fact that with the growing well-being of the population, with an increase in the general level of culture and quality of life, it is more and more difficult for companies to maintain their position in the market. Consumer demands are growing and competition is getting fiercer. Consumers have a wide range of choices, and a company that does more than provide an inexpensive product wins. Quality, safety and brand awareness come to the fore.

In order to competently act in the market, not to be satisfied with what has already been achieved, the company needs a marketing plan that completely prescribes the company's marketing policy. The use of a marketing plan helps to increase control over the results of activities, allows you to assess your competitive position and develop a clear and specific plan of action to achieve the primary goals of the organization.

This work consists of three parts. The first part of the work reveals the essence of marketing planning and its goals. The second contains a detailed description of the stages of developing a marketing plan. In the third part, the differences in the preparation of marketing plans for enterprises in different areas of activity are indicated.

Question Purpose and main objectives of the business plan

Question The structure of the business plan and the content of its main sections

Question The main stages and problems of developing a business plan

A business plan is a document in which the goals of the enterprise are formulated, their rationale is given, the ways of achieving the funds necessary for the implementation and the final financial performance indicators are determined. As a rule, it is developed for several years (more often for three to five years) with a breakdown by year. At the same time, data for the first year are usually given with a breakdown by months, and for subsequent years - in annual terms. Often, when drawing up plans for operating enterprises, a rolling schedule is used, in which a detailed plan for the coming year is developed annually, as well as the general business plan is revised and extended for another year.

A business plan is developed by an entrepreneur (person or group of persons).

The circle of business plan users is very wide:

employees of enterprises who can participate in the preparation of a business plan.

Thus, the development of a business plan is necessary to solve the following tasks:

a clear formulation of the goals of the enterprise, the definition of specific quantitative indicators of their implementation and the timing of achievement;

development of interrelated production, marketing and organizational programs that ensure the achievement of the set goals;

determining the required amount of funding and searching for its sources;

identifying difficulties and problems that will have to be faced during the implementation of the project;

organizing a system for monitoring the progress of the project;

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Introduction
• 1. The theoretical basis of the marketing program and its relationship to the business plan
• 1. Business planning marketing. Problems in drawing up a business plan
• 1. Content, essence and structure of marketing business plan
• 1. The essence and meaning of the business plan
• 2. Development of a business plan for "Deja Vu" LLC
• 2. Description of the activities of the "Deja Vu" photo studio
• 2. Deja Vu photo studio marketing program
• 3. Improving the strengthening of the firm's performance and business plan with a marketing program
• 3. Development of ways to improve the marketing program and its relationship with the business plan of "Deja Vu" LLC
• 3. Development of an enterprise development plan
• Conclusion
• References2

marketing program business plan

The next stage in the organization's business plan, if it is poorly prepared, will become fatal for the enterprise and will lead to a clear lag behind competing firms.

It is also important to assimilate the theoretical policy of drawing up business plans for such reasons as the emergence of new generations of entrepreneurs in the modern economy who have not been in the positions of heads of organizations, and the economic environment tends to constantly change and this requires leaders organizations are miscalculating their ideas in a new way.

The business plan is the core of the business, including the definition of ideas and objectives, and evaluates the resources that are needed to achieve the set goals in a competitive environment.

The business plan has an answer to the question about the expediency of investing in a particular project, whether it will generate income that covers all costs.

A compiled business plan for an organization in modern Russia is an indispensable factor in the market. In the absence of a business plan at the present time, it is considered an absurdity on the part of entrepreneurship, and arouses obvious caution in future partners, consumers, and clients. A high-quality business plan makes it possible for an organization to flourish, achieve heights in a certain industry among competitors, as well as prospects for further successful functioning, development, prospects for expanding the productivity of new services, goods and the opportunity to choose rational methods for their implementation Bangs D. Guide to drawing up a business plan ... M., Finpress, 1998 .-- 184 p. ...

The purpose of the course work is to study the marketing program that is the basis of the business plan, to synthesize materials on this topic that are of practical and theoretical value. Prove the weight of the business plan for the implementation of a successful business, and most importantly, develop the business plan itself.

To achieve the set goals, the following tasks should be solved:

study the relevant literature that reveals the importance, essence of business planning;