A Marketing Plan: Key Components and Plan Outline

To get your marketing efforts off to the right start, you first must fully understand the strategic

goals of your organization. All good marketing plans begin with a comprehensive and intimate

understanding of the goals of the company. You will also be well served to review the vision

and mission of the organization. All of your marketing efforts should fully support these goals

and every marketing strategy and tactic should be designed with these goals kept firmly in

mind.

The First Step in Creating a Marketing Plan

Marketing plans must be based upon the goals laid out in the business plan, so a thorough

review and understanding of the company’s business plan is the first step in creating a

marketing plan.

Once you understand the strategic goals of the company, as a successful marketer you will also

fully understand the benefits of the products and services you offer, as well as who can benefit

from them and how you will sell and deliver them to those consumers profitably. You will also

seek to uncover and explore strategic opportunities that will help your business grow and

increase profitability through the delivery of superior products and services to an audience that

will benefit from them.

Once you have a strategy that describes your company’s products or services and how your

market will benefit from them, then you can create a marketing plan that will enable you to

communicate with your market, sell your product or service, and reach your organization’s

strategic goals. You may choose to include tactics for uncovering new strategic opportunities

that exist.

Below is an outline of a marketing plan that addresses the essential points of concern, along

with a brief discussion of each component in the plan. Keep in mind that every marketing plan

is different but each of the below components should be discussed in your plan.

Marketing Plan Outline/Example

A marketing plan for a company should include the following information:

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 Concise overview of report

 Overall strategies, main conclusions, and key points of the marketing action program

 Table of contents (appears after the items described above)

2. OBJECTIVES

 Company mission – mission statement, definition of the business, and contribution of

the unit and distinctive competence

 Financial objectives – return on investment, net profit, and cash flow

 Marketing objectives – statement of what is to be achieved through marketing activities

(for example, gains in market share, sales volume, profitability per unit, degree of

product introduction, innovation); must be stated in measurable terms (for example, 10

percent), with a given time frame (for example, 24 months), and internally consistent

(for example, following launch of product)

3. MARKETING ANALYSIS

 Markets/products overview – provides basics of the marketing plan and background

about market segments

 Marketing macro-environment trends – technological, economic, political, and legal

 Competition situation – describes major competitors in terms of size, goals, products,

marketing strategies, and any other relevant traits

 Distribution situation – facts and data on the products by channel and the changing

importance of each channel (by value and bargaining power)

4. SWOT ANALYSIS

 Strength and weaknesses of current marketing strategies

 Opportunities and threats – outside factors that can affect the future of the business

 Issues to be addressed – results of the SWOT analysis

5. MARKETING STRATEGIES

 Target market segments

 Competitive advantage by segment

 Positioning by segment

 Major decisions about all elements of the marketing mix – product strategy, pricing

strategy, communication strategy, and distribution strategy

 Cooperation required with other departments to reach targeted segments

6. MARKETING ACTION PROGRAMS

 Marketing mixes by segment – activities required to implement the marketing plan and

achieve marketing objectives

 Tasks and responsibilities

7. BUDGET

 Revenue – forecasted sales volume by unit and average price

 Expenses – cost of production, cost of physical distribution, marketing costs (for

example, product development, advertising, distribution channel training and

development, sales force training and payment, marketing research)

8. CONTROLS AND CONTINGENCY PLANS

 Controls – how the performance of the plan will be measured, schedule by which to

monitor its progress by comparing results against objectives

 Contingency plans in case of an adverse event (for example, delay in product launch,

technical problems)

Glossary of Terms

Overview

Your overview will be a brief description of your plan, what your goals are, and the assumptions

implicit in the plan, and the major actions you will take to achieve your marketing goals. This

will give the reader a short preview or synopsis so they at least have a general understanding of

what your plan is trying to accomplish and why.

Company Vision or Mission Statement

This section will discuss the philosophy of your business, who you wish to serve, why you wish

to serve them, and the manner in which you will conduct business. The vision or summary

describes why you are in business in the first place.

Objectives

This section will discuss the major marketing objectives you will accomplish through your plan

in quantifiable terms, along with a discussion of your budget and the major actions or

marketing initiatives you will undertake to accomplish those objectives.

Market Overview (A Discussion of Your Market)

This section will talk about the identified needs of identifiable groups of people and how your

products and services meet those needs. The more you know about the people you hope to

serve and the better your market research (“people research”), the better your plan will be.

Market Segments, Market Segmentation Strategy, Discussion of Needs and Requirements

This section will analyze your overall market and discuss the identified sub-groups of people

based upon their different needs and wants. You can probably never understand too much

about the needs and requirements of your market, and they are likely to be very diverse, so the

more you can segment your market and understand the unique needs and wants, the better.

Sales Goal

This section will provide an identified sales goal. It is impossible to create a successful plan if

you do not know what the goal is. You should also set sales goals within each market segment

and among each of your product lines.

Product Definition

This section will discuss each of your products and services and how each uniquely meets the

needs and wants of your market. What are you selling? What is unique about it? Why would

anyone buy it?

Communications Strategy

Thus far, your plan has talked about what you need to do. Now your plan must discuss how you

will do it. This section will also discuss how you plan to reach and communicate with each of

your market segments and how you will treat each differently. Discuss how you will position

your company based upon your unique selling proposition. Your unique selling proposition is

what you do that is different from anyone else and is the single most important reason you are

different than any other company. Your unique selling proposition is how you will differentiate

yourself from your competition.

Distribution Channels

This section will discuss and examine how you will deliver your products and services to your

customers. It would be a good idea to understand your customers’ preferred delivery method

and try to base your distribution on that model.

Competitive Analysis

This section will provide a full and complete analysis and discussion of your competition. Who

are they? What do they do? How do they do it? What are their strengths? What are their

vulnerabilities? Who are their customers? Why do their customers buy from them?

A Tactical Plan

This section will provide a detailed plan of all the communication channels you will use and all

the marketing communication tools you will use. In other words, carefully consider how you will

communicate with your market. Just some of the marketing tactics you might wish to include

are print advertising, public relations, publicity, direct marketing, direct mail, trade show

exhibiting, web and Internet marketing, outdoor advertising, and sponsorships.

Expense Budget

This section will provide a delineation of marketing communication tactics you will use and

budgets for each of them. You must know how much money it will take to carry out your plan

so that you can be realistic about the tools and tactics you will use.

Discussion of Sales and Marketing Resources Available

Carefully consider the resources you have available to you as you prepare to execute your plan.

Identify the financial and human resources you will need to translate your strategic plan into a

series of tactical successes. This is the place to fully discuss your sales and marketing

infrastructures and make sure they can support your goals.

Measurement/Evaluation

This section will discuss how you will measure each and every step of your plan. If you do not

know how to measure your marketing initiatives, you will have no understanding of how to

improve your marketing. Build predefined evaluation periods into your plan where at which

point you will measure your results and adjust your plan accordingly.

Keys to Success/Critical Issues

This section will discuss the most important parts of your plan, upon which your success will

depend. What are the absolute essential things your plan must accomplish and why?

Strategic Opportunities

It is a good idea to include a discussion about strategic opportunities in the marketing plan. You

probably will not know the specifics about the opportunities that will present themselves in the

future, but you should discuss how you will evaluate strategic opportunities when they arise.

Ask yourself, what other markets might present additional growth avenues for my business?

How will you know if opportunities are right for your business? In my experience, it is best to at

least talk about how you will evaluate strategic opportunities before they arise. A great way to

accomplish this is to use your company’s mission or vision as a guide as to what will define a

strategic opportunity worthy of consideration. You might also discuss ways to actively seek and

uncover strategic opportunities.