Yazdan Jafri

Notes- Developing and implementing a marketing plan

How is a marketing plan determined? This puts the marketing strategy in to action. The plan must be realistic and take in to account the internal situations of the business. The most important considerations are: Finance- amount which is available; Operational issues- if organisation can cope with demand; Competitor actions; consider action that may be taken by competitors. Some businesses may take different approaches after the first few years. Some may continue with their initial plan. Others may analyse and adjust. Issues for analysis Usefulness must be looked upon when making a plan. Factors such as management techniques business must be looked at and the see the plan for usefulness. Put the plan in to context of the business such as competitiveness environment. The correct budgets must be sets which are realistic such as marketing.

Questions: 1) A marketing plan is a detailed statement which identifies different actions needed to be taken in order to ensure the business achieves their objectives in the future. 2) A marketing plan includes: Description of target market; Description of Competitors; Description of Product or Service; Marketing Budget; Pricing Strategy; Description of Location. 3) Marketing plans allow the business to prepare for future promotions of a product. This will help them to market correctly as according to the market climate. And also ensure they sell the maximum amount of goods. It lays the foundation for the business to achieve their future goals such as sales targets to break even etc. 4) Company finance allows the business to make realistic plans which is a critical element of a good quality marketing plan. The firm can assess if there plans can be funded with the finance that they have available. It also then allows them the opportunity to raise the funds needed to inject more cash in to the cash flow.

Yazdan Jafri 5) Operational issues can also affect the plan and it outcomes quite dramatically. They must assess if the business can cope with the increased demand that they will face when marketing plans are in place. This could lead to a miss in sales that could potentially be achieved. 6) Competitive environments must also be considered as they will affect the business after the plans are in place. The business must take in to account the potential price wars that may come in to play due to competitiveness. This would lower the margins and not help the business.

7) Marketing budget is financial plan for the marketing of a product or product range for a specified period of time. 8) The budget will give the business a set amount which they can use and set their plans accordingly. It will also ensure that they dont overspend and keep their expenditures such that the business can cover. Not only this it shows the marketing objectives in numerical terms such as market share.