1. Marketing Planning

2. Marketing Plan
A detailed statement of the marketing strategy. It provides information about the way in which the strategy was drawn up and how it will be implemented

3. Plan contents
Actual contents will vary depending on size & type of the company, but most will include the following:
An introduction or overview
Company objectives & related marketing objectives
Marketing strategy (how objectives will be achieved)
Action plans (giving details of the various activities, with target dates)

4. Plan contents (cont)
Detailed budgets, showing estimated revenue/costs for each department/product
A means of evaluating & monitoring budgets

5. Benefits of Marketing Planning
Encourages firms to reflect on their marketing activity, to develop sound marketing policies & to provide the means to evaluate them
Provides a means of encouraging an integrated approach to achieving objectives. Employees will know what their role is, which could be motivating, especially when they can see goals actually being reached

6. Benefits of Marketing Planning
Ensures that resources are in place when needed
Objectives & targets include time constraints, which could be used as a means of evaluation
Helps firms to utilise their strengths in meeting identified opportunities

7. Benefits of Marketing Planning
Overall, helps firms to avoid unexpected complications, or to plan how they will respond to the unexpected

8. Problems
A marketing plan may focus too much on product development or increasing sales and not enough on customer needs & requirements
The means of evaluating a marketing plan must centre on satisfying customer needs – not, for example, on how successful an advertising campaign is. Such a campaign might win awards, but does it result in increased sales?

9. Problems
Success of a marketing plan depends to a large extent on other areas of the company sharing the aim of satisfying customer needs. This requires effective communication
Marketing plans may be too long and contain so much information that the main points are lost
External factors may change, making the plan redundant or out of date – too much time planning may be a waste of time in a fast-changing evironment