would you climb a mountain without planning it first?

Neither would we... So why is it that so many businesses do not bother to plan their marketing activity? It is no wonder that so many people believe marketing to be a black hole into which you pour money but with no return.

It is true that creating a marketing plan can be a time-consuming piece of work - but often this is the case only for the first year. In following years it should only be a case of revising it. In brief a marketing plan covers the following areas:

• Where are we now?

• Where do we want to go?

• How are we going to get there?

• Are we there yet?

In essence marketing planning can be seen as being like planning for a long journey. The marketing plan usually starts off with a:

Vision or Mission Statement

The vision for the business - e.g. "To be the nation's most respected caterer". The marketing plan must ultimately meet or go towards meeting this vision. Using the journey analogy it may be "I want to go skiing." Creating a good vision for the company is an excellent way of the focussing the mind of everyone working there - the one above was for a contract caterer who were unlikely to challenge the multinational market leaders in terms of sales, but certainly could grow as a result of being well respected by customers and staff alike.
Once the vision is laid down, the plan begins in earnest with the "audit" section - i.e. Where are we Now?

Audit Section - Where are we Now?

Market Overview

What are the target markets for the organisation? How big are they? What are the buying patterns? What do target customers actually want? Are they growing or shrinking markets?

Product / Service Overview

What product(s) or service(s) does the company produce? What makes them different from similar ones on the market? Are they growing or shrinking in sales? How do they fit together as a portfolio?

Marketing Overview

What marketing activity is currently being carried out? How effective is it? What is the brand personality of the product(s) or service(s)?

Competitor Overview

Who are the competitors? What is their strategy? How are their products and services better or worse than our own? How do they market themselves? What pricing strategy do they use?

External Environmental Analysis

Factors that are outside the organisation's control that may affect the business over the coming year. These are remembered by the acronym PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental). For example, changes to food safety laws could have an impact on a restaurant.

Internal Environmental Analysis

Factors within an organisation that can be controlled but may affect the delivery of the marketing plan. These may include staff morale, cashflow, training needs, internal communications, manpower resources, systems & processes and structural changes.

SWOT Analysis

An often mistaken item - a SWOT Analysis is merely a quick representation of all of the factors brought to light by the Audit Process. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The top section covering Strengths and Weaknesses are the internal factors (Product / Service Overview, Marketing Overview and Internal Environmental Analysis) and the bottom section covers Opportunities and Threats - the external factors (Market Overview, Competitor Overview and External Environmental Analysis).

Key Issues

Quite simply the most important issues raised and highlighted in the SWOT Analysis.

By now, a clear picture should have emerged of where the company is at. If following the vision above, you want to go skiing, the Audit Process will have highlighted that you neither live in the mountains or where there is thick snow. These will come out as key issues (other issues may be that you can not ski and do not have any equipment). So... where do you want to go?

Objectives Section - Where do we Want to Go?

Objectives must be SMART - that is Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic and Time-based. If any of these parts are missing, it is not a truly achievable objective. An example of a SMART objective could be: "To go to St Moritz by January 31st 2006." Specific? - yes, St Moritz is a specific place. Measurable - yes, you're either there or you're not. Agreed? - well hopefully family and friends have OK'd it! Realistic? - yes, why not? Time-based? - yes, there is a deadline.

The objectives must address all of the key issues raised and ensure that they lead towards the overall vision. They should also be in line with the more corporate objectives which will include financial targets for the year. If the objectives are in line with corporate goals and are SMART, they can be done - so How are we Going to Get There?

Strategy & Tactics - How are we Going to Get There?

Strategy and tactics are often confused, but it is vital to know the difference. The strategy should follow the vision and help meet the objectives laid down, but it should be broad enough to allow flexibility. A good strategy will last for years, while tactics will be constantly altered. A famous real-life strategy was used by the North Vietnamese Army when fighting the Americans - they knew that the only way to win was through a "long-term war of limited engagement." While their tactics changed depending on what actual battle they were fighting, the strategy never altered and was ultimately successful.

Using the journey analogy again, the strategy may be "I will get there by flying" whereas the tactics go into the finer details which are subject to change - e.g. the 09:15 from Heathrow on January 29th. That flight could for some reason be cancelled and new tactics would be required, but the overall strategy of flying would not need to change as a result.

Strategy

In the marketing world, there are many useful tools to assist in strategic planning. Often the strategy will already be laid down in the company's business plan, but it is essential to rehighlight it in the marketing plan. The strategy will include sections on brand and messaging, product development and target markets (including existing customers, new customers and the internal team).

Tactics

The tactics should follow the "7 Ps" - Product, Price, Place, Promotion, Physical Evidence, People and Process. For more details on this see the page on Marketing. By detailing what is going to be done from each of the 7 Ps, an action plan can be drawn up.

Action Plan

The action plan is what is actually going to be done. By going through the entire marketing planning process, an organisation can ensure that nothing is left out and that anything done is consistent. It should include deadlines, responsibilities and costings so that if budgets get tight during the year, decisions can be made easily about what will and what won't be done.

Monitoring - Are We There Yet?

Monitoring is the section that is most frequently omitted - but in many ways it is the most important. What is the point of spending any money or using up manpower if you don't know if it is working? Controls must be put in place to monitor every marketing activity carried out, and this monitoring should be done regularly so that tactics can be altered as need be. If a football manager picked a team and told them how to play then left the ground, only to return at full-time to find they had lost 5-0, fans would rightly ask why he wasn't watching? If he had been he would have spotted that the goalkeeper was useless! It is no different in marketing - something that seems like a good idea in advance may just not work in practice and it is better to scrap it sooner than later.

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Download a free Marketing Plan Template here (MS Word) >>

While this "short" guide to marketing planning may seem like a lot to digest, there is a lot more to it. Some of the tools used by marketing planners will be added to the website over time so please do look back every so often. For further reading, the best book on marketing planning is Malcolm MacDonald's Marketing Plans. Alternatively, if you would like a no obligations discussion, please contact Simon Brandon Marketing today.