Marketing Plan
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.
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.
In most organizations, "strategic planning" is an annual process, typically
covering just the year ahead. Occasionally, a few organizations may
look at a practical marketing plan which stretches three or more years ahead.
To be most effective, the
marketing 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 program.
It is also an iterative
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.
Behind the corporate
objectives, which in themselves offer the main context for the
marketing plan, will lie the 'corporate mission'; which in turn
provides the context for these corporate objectives. This `corporate
mission' can be thought of as a definition of what the organization
is; of what it does: 'Our business is ...
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