Marketing planning involves deciding on marketing strategies that will help the company achieve its overall strategic objectives. In this lesson we’re going to show you what a marketing plan looks like.

• Executive Summary: The purpose of this section is to provide a brief summary of the main goals, objectives and recommendations for management review and decision making.

• Situational Analysis: This section describes the target market and the company’s position in it, including information about the market, performance, competition, and distribution, it includes:

  • A market description that defines the market and its major segments, customer needs and the overall marketing environment.

  • A product review

  • A review of competition

  • A review of channels and distribution

• SWOT Analysis: This section is designed to assess the major strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the company and its products.

• Marketing Objective & Issues: This section states the main marketing objectives that the company would like to attain in the coming period, and discusses the key issues that might affect these objectives.

• Marketing Strategy: Outlines the broad logic by which the business plans to achieve its marketing objectives, and the specific target markets, positioning, and budgets. It also outlines specific strategies for each element in the company’s marketing mix.

• Actions and Tactics: This area of the marketing plan outlines how marketing strategies will be turned in to specific actions, tactics and programs, answering the following questions: What will be done? When will it be done? Who is responsible? And how much will it cost?

• Budgets: This section details a formal marketing budget for all activities outlined in the previous sections. It forms the basis for marketing’s operations, including materials, production, scheduling, personnel and other activities.

• KPIs and Controls: The final section outlines the key indicators that will be used to monitor progress and allow management to review the implementation and success of the overall marketing plan.