Marketing_Plan - Prash 1st

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Marketing Plan WorksheetsTo Accompany Marketing: A Practical Approach 7e

These worksheets will help you to prepare a Marketing Plan for a goodor service you have selected. Each section of the worksheets relates to

the material in one or more specific chapters in the text; if you areunsure how to complete a particular section, simply refer to thenominated chapter of the text for guidance or additional information.For an initial feeling for the structure and contents of a marketing plan,refer to the section in Chapter 1 headed The Marketing Plan.

Marketing plans do vary in depth and breadth, depending usually onthe importance to the firm of the product or service the plan is beingprepared for, and the time period the plan is intended to cover; an

annual plan for an existing line will be shorter and largely tactical,whereas a plan covering the launch and first three years of a majornew product venture will be strategic and much more detailed.

Plans also vary according to the type of industry, product and even thepreferences of an organisations management. Some organisationsrequire extensive planning to be completed before funds will beallocated to support any product, while others take a more flexibleapproach. In your marketing career it is likely you will encounter both

views towards planning. Here are three points that might help you toreconcile them:

Planning should never be an alternative to action

Planning should increase the chance of success by reducinguncertainty

The modern world changes quickly marketing planning must

have flexibility built-in.

Good luck compiling your own marketing plan!

Rix Marketing: A Practical Approach 7eMarketing Plan Worksheets

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iv. WE are trying to make good sales by attracting more customers as wecan rent a car or truck or ute to individual for short term contract so wecan rotate the money more frequently and can do good sale forinsurance options, GPS, trolley, ropes or boxes. And also as we aregood profitable company we are planning to invest our money to buymore cars for so we can provide more vehicles to reach the currentand future demand.


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Situation Analysis(See Chapter 2)

The next step is to conduct an analysis of the current situation facing your firm orproduct. One tip; focus only on the major or important factors that might influencemarketing performance. Don't worry about insignificant forces. There may be

nothing worth entering under one or two of the sub-headings. That's fine, let's notcreate issues or problems that really aren't there.

By the way, there are various ways of structuring a Situation Analysis in aMarketing Plan. Here we are using a Broad External Marketing EnvironmentAnalysis to assess the macro-environment your product will be facing, a SWOTanalysis to look at the current position of your product or firm, and a CompetitorAnalysis to assess the strengths, weaknesses and positioning of your maincompetitors.

Broad External Marketing Environment analysisThis is where you list any factors that you feel might have an impact on thepotential for your product.

Demographic environment

Are there any demographic trends that might influence your product population shifts, birth or death rates, migration?

Economic environment

Are there any economic events or trends that might impact on your product interest rates, exchange rates, inflation, consumer spending? Are these

international, national or regional?

Competitive environment

Is your industry or market highly competitive and volatile or mature andorderly? Do you face one or two large competitors or many small ones?

Social and cultural environment

What attitudes and behaviours might have an impact on your product or firm relating to health, work, leisure, time, your firm or product type etc?

Political and legal environment

What is the elected governments attitude/policies in your product area,what is the Oppositions, what particular laws or regulations might have animpact on your firm or product?

Technological factors

How might new production, communication or promotion technologies beuseful to your firm or product, how might they threaten or constrain you?


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Write yourBroad External Marketing Environment Analysis below:

Broad External Marketing Environment Analysis

Demographicenvironment

Looking forward to capacity of a person who ishiring a Car, Truck or Ute for their business orpersonal use. Mostly we are concern to focus onpeople or companies who would like to hireTrucks or Utes for long term rentals. Most of theworking peoples are looking for hire on very shorttime period, also the young age people prefer torent 4WD for off road use. The trucks and utesare hired by companies and individuals formoving their houses and machineries to otherplaces.

Economic environment

This affects our business in huge amount assome international customers needs facilities likeairport pick up and drop off which we areproviding them.

Competitive environment

Social and culturalenvironment

Political and legalenvironment

Technological factors


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SWOT AnalysisThink about your product or firm as it is now. Remember, it is important to bebrutally honest. Remember, you are looking for capabilities that give youcompetitive advantage (Strengths) or disadvantage (Weaknesses).

Strengths

In what marketing areas are you bigger, better, cheaper, faster than your

competitors?

Weaknesses

In what marketing areas are you smaller, weaker, more expensive, slowerthan your competitors?

Opportunities

List any changes you have identified in the external marketing environmentthat may benefit your firm or product

Threats List any changes or potential events in the environment that may harm your

firm or product

Action Plans

For each SWOT factor you have identified outline a strategy to respond:o How might you further build on your strengths and overcome your

weaknesses?o How can you exploit your opportunities and minimise the potential

impact of your threats?

Write yourSWOT Analysis below:

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

We are providing faster and convenient services ascompare to our competitors like we are close to the airportso we can do pickup and drop off much faster than others.We have different locations where people need to hire ourvehicles for their needs such as green slopes, Tingalpa,Hendra, Transit Centre etc.

Weaknesses

As per the customers demand we need some more vehicleslike people movers for carrying 7-8 people at a time. Inholidays we get customers in group or families to hire ourvehicles and that makes us difficult to sale them twovehicles instead of one, though it is good for our businessbut we lose those customers for next time.

Opportunities

We can provide rental car franchise to individuals to growour distribution channel and make easy profit. By givingdiscount vouchers we can attract more customers or cansatisfy the current customers as well.


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Threats

Cost of buying new vehicles is high. From a technologicalstandpoint, renting a car to go the distance for a meeting isa less attractive alternative as opposed to videoconferencing, virtual teams and collaboration software withwhich a company can immediately setup a meeting with itsemployees from anywhere around the world at a cheapercost.

Competitor AnalysisWho will be your major competitors in this market, where are their strong andweak points, where might they be vulnerable to your new product?

There are various ways to undertake a competitor analysis; one method is to use agrid such as the one below. The attributes that are important in your particularmarket may well be different and more extensive than these.

You might choose to give each competitor a rating against each attribute, orsimply enter a comment. The advantage of this method of competitor analysis isthat you can see at a glance what you will be up against when you enter themarket. You may also see market gaps or competitive weaknesses that will behelpful to you when you develop your own strategy.

Write yourCompetitor Analysis below:

Competitor Analysis

Attributes Budget Direct Europcar Ace rental car

Product quality

New family cars,Provide roadside assistance

Good transportvehicles ,excellent andwell maintainvehicles

People movercars, Freeairport pickupand drop off

Brand equityLoyal in currentmarket

Well-funded andreputed

Creativecompany

Style

Economical, fuelefficient cars

Economical andheavy vehicles,comfortable forluxury classpeople andmiddle class

New and trendycars, Goodperformancevehicles

Price / valueCheap hiringrates

Expensive inprice but morevaluable

Competitiveprice

Market coverageExpanding intonew market

Big companyand big marketshare

Limited marketcoverage

AdvertisingComparativeadvertisement

Well known andless advertising

Pooradvertisement


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Sales teamstrength

Creative andprofitable salesteam

Professionalsand skilled salesteam

Fresh sales men

Gathering marketing informationIn reality, of course, we will most probably have conducted research beforedeveloping a Marketing Plan. To give yourself some practice, however, consider

the research project below; it is known as a concept test, and is often conductedbefore a firm makes a final decision on proceeding with a product developmentproject.

Concept TestProduct:

How big is the target market (describe one group you think will be interestedin your product - how many people or firms are there in this group?)

Describe the main want that your product satisfies?

o Describe other wants your product satisfies.o How do people in the target market currently satisfy these wants?

What feature of your product will give the target market better satisfactionthan they are receiving now?

Will the increase in satisfaction offered by your product be sufficient tocause some of the target market to switch to your product? If the answer is'yes', what proportion of people in the target market do you think might tryyour product? (note: be conservative, many marketers overestimate this)

Write yourConcept Test below:

Concept Test

Targetmarket size

Our market is targeted for promoting our product and service inBrisbane. We are growing our business in different location asper the customers demand. As our market is segment fordifferent group of people the market size is large and we arefocusing to provide long term contract to big companies for theirinternational employees. WE are providing Utes and Trucks forlong term hire.

Satisfiedwant

As we have economical cars, family cars and SUV for long trip.As per the current customer demand and looking for currenthiring ratio women in Australia are driving more than men sowe have put new cars specially for women which they likes todrive and that can satisfy their wants.

Productfeature

We have all cars from same brand and they are wellmaintained and serviced as per the requirements by thecompany. We provide clean cars and all cars have streetdirectory and all cars been checked before we give it tocustomers. They all pass through quality control which has fuellevel, odometer reading, and safety check, and all other general

check. We provide our customer loyal service about what they


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are hiring and what is included in their contract.

Outcome

As per our satisfied customers reviews we have increase ourservices and we have some loyal customers who are hiringvehicles all the time whenever they want to hire.

Now, hopefully you will have been objective in your answers to these questions.But, you still have only your opinion. A real concept test gathers information fromthe marketplace. Look again at the questions in the concept test. For each one,write how you would collect the data; specific secondary sources, surveyquestionnaires, experiments with actual product samples, observation studies.

Concept tests are quite difficult to properly conduct, but are essential to discover ifthere is a genuine, and sufficient, need for your product.


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Market Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning(see Chapter 4)

Now you are ready to identify specific groups of potential customers for yourproduct. Remember, we need to know not only who we are going to target, butmost importantly, that there are enough of them who will buy often enough for our

product to be viable.

BenefitsFirst, list the various different benefits buyers might be looking for in a product ofyour type for example, some motor bike buyers want a small runabout, somewant a means of getting to and from work, others want a powerful racer, otherswant to go touring on the weekends.

List your products Benefits below:

Benefits

1. As per different group we have different class of vehicles which aresuitable for each customers like we have family cars, some new cars forwomen, some heavy vehicles like UTE and Trucks for workers orcompanies and we provide them with full tank of fuel and nice and cleanas they want to drive for holiday or meeting.

2. To compete with the demand and to grow more in our business we arehiring more staff to provide wide range of services and product range.

3. We are trying to get new location to provide more facilities to ourtargeted customers and to grow more in future.

4.

5.

Market SegmentsNext, cluster the groups that might share one or more of the benefits you havelisted according to the segmentation dimensions (this will enable you to clarifyspecific groups of customers by identifiable characteristics).

List yourCluster Groups below:

Demographic (by age, gender, socio-economic group etc)

1. Youngsters

2. Working peoples

3. Tourists

Geographic (city or country dwellers, inner-urban/suburban, higher/lower socio-economicareas, different climatic conditions etc)

1. Near Air Port


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2. In City

3. At beach

Psychographic (lifestyles, personality-types, attitudes)

1. Young peoples want to go for long drive.

2. Working peoples want to use for some movements of goods.

3. Business class people use our services for meetings and personal use.

Behavioural (light or heavy users of your product type, specific reasons (benefits) forbuying your product type)

1. Young people use this less frequently.

2. Working people needs in their contracted time.

3. Business peoples use it throughout a year.

Select Targeted Customer GroupsNow, decide which of the segments identified above you have the best chance ofattracting with your product. (note: although you have not yet developed yourmarketing mix you will have some idea of the groups whose needs are not beingmet by current offerings)

Describe these using as many of the segmentation variables as necessary - themore complete a description of a targeted group the better.

Describe 3 Target Customer Groups below:

Target Customer Groups

1. Young persons

2. Middle class and workers

3. Business class

Finally, estimate the viability of the targeted segment(s). For each targeted group:

i. establish the total number of potential customers in the segment,ii. make a realistic estimate of the percentage of the segment your productcould win, (Tip: be conservative, most of us over-estimate the appeal of our

products!),iii. calculate the number of customers your product might have in thissegment.iv. estimate the target market's likely average purchase frequency (again beconservative)v. calculate total potential sales from the segment (no of customers xpurchase frequency)

The table below will help you with this section:


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Calculate yourTarget Segment Estimation below:

Viability of the targeted segments

Target Group 1 Target Group 2 Target Group 3

i. 18196 71435 67320

ii.

PositioningYou might choose to develop a positioning for your product/firm now, or when youbegin working on your marketing mix.

What image do you want customers to have of you or your firm that differentiatesyou from your competitors?

Write a succinct statement that outlines:

1. Your target market (this helps you get inside the minds of your idealcustomers)

2. The core benefit your product/firm offers these customers (this is the basicbenefit any product or firm in your category must offer if it is to attractcustomers.

3. The distinguishing benefit that can make your product/firm different and

special to these customers.

Tip: As you develop your marketing mix later in the Plan, keep checkingback on your positioning statement everything you do with the mix

should re-enforce your chosen image.

Positioning Statement

Target Market

Target is to achieve best seller award to local andinternational customers in summer holidays.

Core Benefit

We are providing clean and maintained cars all the timeand we provide vehicle returns after office hours as well.

DistinguishingBenefit

We upgrade our vehicles time to time and sometimes asper the demands of the customers or to attract morecustomers.


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Customer Buying Behaviour(see Chapters 5 and 6)

Here, you need to identify aspects of your potential customers' buying influencesor patterns. What motivates their purchases for this type of product? How involveddo they become in the buying process? How do they gather information, compare

alternatives, make the purchase itself?

The insights you record here will be very useful when you come to develop yourmarketing mix - your choice of brand and packaging, pricing strategies, locationand type of distribution outlets, promotional messages and media.

Remember, the reason we are attempting to better understand our chosencustomer groups is so that a marketing mix can be developed that more exactlymeets their needs and buying situation.

If your product is a consumer good or service, complete this section.

Consumer products Consider again the specific groups of consumers you are targeting (see

Chapter 4). Reflect on their purchases of your type of product.

What social or group influences are likely to be present in their buying?Perhaps they belong to a particular sub-culture or social class. Do they taketheir lead from a reference group such as work colleagues or club members?Or, perhaps their purchasing is influenced by particular family members.

What psychological forces might influence their buying? What motivatestheir purchases of your type of product - value, a need for indulgence, theopportunity to have a good time with friends? What are their perceptionsabout the product category - some consumers for example, see importedproducts as superior to locally made; others buy Australian to be patriotic.

What information would consumers normally want to make an informedchoice about your product category, and where would they expect to findthat information? Would they first look in the Yellow Pages, Internet, or localpaper? Will they discuss the purchase with family and friends?

How do consumers actually make and carry out a purchase decision for yourtype of product? Do they make the decision at home or at the point of sale?Will they be prepared to buy 'sight unseen', that is from a catalogue,brochure or Web site, or will they want to touch and test before making apurchase commitment?

Are there particular times of day, days of the week, or seasons, when theyare more likely to buy?


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Consumer Products Statement

ABEL Well do a deal! Absolutely!

Consumers prefer our service because they can choose their rates andadditional things like GPS, Trolly, Rope, Boxes as per their requirements fortrip. They can reduce their rates buy booking online and they can inquire

about hiring on phone as well. We have more convenient locations as percustomers need like they need to pick up our vehicles which are near to cityand air port etc. We are most demanding for our vehicles because we havecompetitive price which is quit cheaper than our competitor and moreconvenient locations. Even our time is more convenient for all which is 7daysfrom 7 AM to 7PM.

If your product is sold to other organisations, complete this section.

Business products

Nature of demand

Think about the typical organisation who might buy your product. Why dothey need it? What is the demand for your product derived from? Perhaps itcomes directly from the demand for their own product(s), or maybe it simplyassists the smooth running of their business, or perhaps helps them tomaintain staff morale.

Is the demand for your type of product stable, or does it fluctuate widelyfrom period to period, and if so, in response to what influences?

Type of buying situation

Is the purchase of your type of product typically a straight re-buy, modifiedre-buy, or new task purchase?

Buying centre

Who would normally place orders for your type of product - a PurchasingManager, junior assistant, technical staff?

Who else might exert influence on the choice of product or supplier?

What factors will motivate each person in the buying centre?

Buying process

How is the purchasing of your type of product normally carried out - is it aquick decision made by one individual, or a lengthy, group process?

What are the typical purchase frequencies and quantities for your productcategory?

What expectations do buying firms have for pre- and post-sale service? Do theyexpect to buy on credit or receive other financial incentives?


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Marketing MixYou are now ready to develop a marketing mix for your chosen product. In this

Workbook section, and the next three, you will develop strategies for the productitself, its pricing, distribution and promotion.

Make sure you keep referring back to the information and insights you haverecorded in the earlier parts of your Marketing Plan - a marketing mix shouldreflect the needs and situation of the chosen target market(s).

Remember too, that while you will work on each element of the mix separately,they should be consistent with each other; in marketing terms, the elements of amarketing mix are interdependent - that's why it's called a mix!

Product Strategies (see Chapter 7, 8 and 9)Product description

Remember - a product can be a physical good or an intangible service

Describe your good or service in terms of the wants it can satisfy. (see alsoChapter 1)

Product classification

Is your product a consumer good, business good, or a service?

Can you further classify it into an appropriate sub-category (see Chapter 7for goods and Chapter 9 for services classifications.)

Note how these classifications might affect your product strategies.

Likely adoption rate

If yours is a totally new product assess it on the basis of the fivecharacteristics that seem to influence the speed of product adoption.

Product lifecycle stage

What stage of lifecycle is your product category at? (remember, PLC refersto the category, not your specific version or brand) Note any implicationsthis might have for marketing strategy.

Product mix


Business Products Statement

We do a deal for some businesses that need our trucks and utes for long termcontract. The demand is really fluctuated throughout a year and it is wide fromperiod to period. As we do a good deal with our existing customers for longterm contract they buy from us frequently when they need our service. Wehave the nearest locations to construction sites which are more convenient forour customers so the managers of any company come to us for hiring our

vehicles more and more. They ask for advance booking for next year and wedo provide suitable time period and vehicles for them. AS we provide vehiclesbecause of some security reasons the process of hiring is little lengthy and wehave to be accurate while putting the data in our system as well. If thecustomer has previously hired from us then the process becomes easy and itsaves lot of time and we give some discount to the existing customers as well.

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List the sizes, variants, colours, types and levels of service, options etc youwill include in your product line.

Brand

What will you call your new good or service? Assess your brand against thecharacteristics of a good brand.

Will you use an individual, family or combined brand strategy?

Packaging

If your product requires packaging, what materials, styles, colours will youuse?

What information and promotional messages will you include?

Other product features

How will you use design, colour, quality, warranties and servicing to addappeal to your product?

At this stage you should have a clear outline of the good or service you areplanning to offer to the market and how you will manage its various aspects.

Describe yourProductStrategies below:

Product Strategies

Productdescription

We provide the vehicle hiring services which is more indemand for business peoples from oversees and local aswell. They use our services for transportation or for businessuse.

Productclassification

We provide a kind of transportation service. Which is

convenient for workers, business class peoples and otherpeoples for moving their equipments or for travelling?

Likelyadoption rate

We provide cheap price, good locations, better customerservices, good vehicles as per the trends. Thats why peopleare using our service really quick.

Productlifecyclestage

At the moment we are on maturity stage so we almost at thetop in market. We are focusing to be stable in this stage.

Product mix

We have added new features like heavy promotions andsome other services with our vehicles for specialrequirements like baby seats etc.

Brand

Packaging

Other productfeatures


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Pricing Strategies (see Chapter 10 plus Chapter 9 foradditional aspects on pricing services)

Now you are ready to establish your pricing strategies.

Pricing goals

Is your main aim to make an initial level of profit, to establish your product inthe market place with a certain level of sales, or to fit into an existing marketand avoid "rocking the boat"?

Product cost

Prepare a cost schedule for your good or service - distinguish betweenvariable and fixed costs. You may have to estimate some costs at this stage.

Expected price

What price will customers expect to pay for a good or service like yours?

(this is normally expressed as a range) What factors have you used to establish your expected price?

Price elasticity

What do you believe is the shape of your demand curve? Will demand bevery or not very responsive to changes in price?

Setting the base price

Set an initial base price using the three methods outlined in the text - cost,demand, competition.

Cost-plus

Take the product cost established above and add an 'acceptable profitmargin (or mark-up)

Demand

Use your expected price above to estimate the price you believe customerswill be willing to pay for your product.

Competition

List the prices that the three most direct competitors to your product arecharging. Note any advantages or disadvantages that these products mayhave compared to yours. In particular, consider whether you want to bepositioned above or below competitors' prices.

Now, it is a matter of judgement for you to consider the three methods, andfinally to set the base price for your product.

Adjusting the base price

You need now to establish the price(s) that your customers will actually pay.

Discounts and allowances

List any price reductions you will make for large quantities, trade customers,


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fast payment, or promotions.

Freight

If your product needs to be transported, calculate how you will adjust yourprice to account for freight costs.

Other pricing tactics List other pricing tactics you might use, such as flexible pricing for different

customers, line pricing, odd pricing.

Also consider how you will respond if a competitor attacks you with price -it's always better to be prepared for this possibility.

You should now have a comprehensive pricing strategy in place.

Describe yourPricing Strategies below:

Pricing Strategies

Pricing goals

Product cost

Expectedprice

Priceelasticity

Setting thebase price

Cost-plus

Demand

Competition


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Adjusting thebase price

Discountsandallowances

Freight

Other pricingtactics

Distribution Strategies (see Chapter 11)

You must now decide how you are going to ensure your product is convenientlyand effectively available to your customers.

Channel tasksList the various tasks that will need to be performed to give customers access toyour product; physical handling, storage, delivery, order processing, installation ortechnical services, returns, servicing and repairs.

Note next to each of these who, ideally, will perform these tasks, you or amiddleman.

List yourChannel Tasks below:

Channel Tasks

Task description Who is responsible

1. Radio announcement 97.3FM channel partners

2. Booking Agent Reception staff

3.Online

Website developers

4. CSO Sales agents


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5. Exhibition/Fairs/Shows Marketing Manager

Channel choicesNote the channels currently available (e.g. through wholesalers to retailers, direct

to retailers, online, catalogue etc) Note also any characteristics of the market, yourproduct, the available middlemen, and your own preferences and capacities andfinancial strength that might suggest why one type of channel should or should notbe used.

Note the channels that other suppliers of your product type are using.

Outline your possible options forChannel Choices below:

Channel Choices

Channel description Benefits/

1.Radio channel 97.3 FM

Repetitive advertisement every dayto all listeners

2.

3.

4.

5.

List your competitors Channel Choices below:

Competitor Channel Choice


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Channel selection

Review the channel tasks and channel choices above. Now you need todecide on the channel you will use.

Will you distribute to end-users directly yourself or use middlemen?

If direct, how will you do this - Internet, own outlets, own trucks etc? I

If indirect, how many levels and what types of middlemen will you use?

Distribution intensity Review the factors determining distribution intensity. How many outlets will

you use in each market area?

Selection of channel members

It may be too early to identify individual middlemen to help you distributeyour product, but you can certainly consider the types of firms andindividuals you want to deal with - their size, skills and capabilities, theirways of doing business. Keep in mind that the destiny of your product maywell be in their hands.

You might also note the type of arrangement you would like to have withthese middlemen an informal agreement, formal contract, long-term /short-term, extent of their responsibilities.

Location of outlets

If you are considering having your product available from your own outlet(s),you need to consider where it will be and how customers will access it.

Look at a map of your catchment area (the area your customers will comefrom). Consider the roads, traffic flows, boundaries such as rivers, highways,railway lines (even small details can be critical, such as whether there is aright turn arrow at traffic lights on an intersection leading to your outlet).

Remember the three rules of real estate: location, location, location! List allsuitable sites.

Consider also aspects such as proximity to public transport, parking, ease ofaccess to the building, opportunity for signage and physical presence.

Outline the details of yourChannel Choice below:

Channel Choice

Channel Selection

Distributionintensity

Channel members

Outlet locations


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You should now have a clear strategy for making your good or service easily andcost effectively available to selected target customers.

Promotion Strategies (see Chapter 12)Your task here is to prepare a plan to promote your product.

Campaign plan

Smaller firms will usually develop their own promotions. For a major promotionalstrategy it is likely that you will brief specialist promotional agencies to developyour campaign. Either way, you will need to include several aspects in yourMarketing Plan.

Customer situation and buying motivesFirst review the analysis of your targeted customer groups (see that sectionabove). In particular, check* what motivates purchases in this product category, and* what media do the target group read, listen to, watch.* when, where and how do they buy products in this category

Promotional objectivesWhat do you want your promotional activities to achieve? Be specific; build brandawareness, communicate a distinct advantage over a competitor, demonstratehow to use the product?What specific messages should your promotion communicate?

Campaign themePromotional activities are often constructed around a theme, a central idea thatsuccinctly communicates the chosen promotional appeal. In other words, the

theme can be related back to the objectives of the promotion. Themes areexpressed as a slogan (Oh! What a feeling, Which Bank?). The theme is then usedconsistently across all forms of promotion and helps to integrate the variouselements.

List yourPromotion Strategies below:

Strategies


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Campaign plan

Customersituationandbuyingmotives

Promotionalobjectives

Campaign

theme

Promotional activitiesWhat tasks do you plan to allocate to the various forms of promotion?

List yourPromotional Activities below:

Promotionalform

Task

Personal selling

Advertising

Sales Promotion

Public relations /

publicity


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Choosing specific mediaYou know your targeted customers, their buying motives and patterns, and theirmedia usage.

You also know the characteristics of the various media types. Using these data youcan now choose specific media vehicles to spearhead the mass communicationaspects of your promotion.

Outline your specific media choices, not just television, radio, newspapers, email,Internet, but specific stations, shows, publications, web sites, social media, blogs.

Most firms today are using the Net as a major promotional medium. You will needto decide if your site will be for advertising, to effect transactions, to providecustomer service, or a combination of all three. You will also need to consider howyou will attract visitors to your site Search Engine Optimisation, banner ads,Twitter, Facebook fan page, reciprocal links, plus a range of other directionalreminders in other media.

Outline yourMedia Choices below:

Type of Media Benefits

BudgetingYou will look at budgeting the elements of your Marketing Plan in the nextsection, but at this stage you should note the costs of the various promotionalactivities you are planning. Remember, even large marketing organisationsnever have enough funds to do all the promotion they would like. Budgeting isusually a compromise between the amount required to do the job, and the

amount realistically available.

Your promotional strategy plan is the final element of the marketing mix for aphysical good. You should now have a set of four integrated plans that willgive your product its best chance of successfully appealing to your targetedcustomers.

Additional Services Strategies (see Chapter 9)If you are compiling a marketing plan for a service, the strategies you haveworked through so far will be relevant and useful (except of course, for those,

such as packaging). There are also three additional elements of the mix oftenused by services firms:


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Physical Evidence Strategies

How will you add tangibility to your service? How will you allow potentialcustomers to feel your service in the way they can with a physical goodsuch as a pair of shoes or a car? Consider aspects such as yourpremises, signage, ambiance, furnishings, information and advertisingmaterial, staff uniforms etc)

People Strategies

If yours is a people-based service, what types of people will be ideal asthe points of contact with customers age, gender, personality,knowledge, skill, attitudes?

Some marketing plans will also include job specifications, recruitment,induction and training other firms cover these aspects in a HumanResources Plan.

Process Strategies

How will you manage the experiences customers have when they

interact with your firm? Consider processes for initial contact by phone,email or in person, contacts during service delivery, and contacts attime and place of purchase.

Describe yourService Strategies below:

Service Strategies

PhysicalEvid

enceStrategies

PeopleStrateg

ies

ProcessStrategies

Budget and Marketing Metrics (see Appendix


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D)You are now ready to prepare a Budget and Action Plan for your marketingstrategies. The simplest method of budgeting for marketing activities is tobegin with the Income Statement format.

Sales BudgetThe sales budget should be built from forecasts of sales volumes of individual

product lines, to individual customers or within specific sales territories.

If your product has a sales history this will obviously provide a good guide. Fora brand new product you may want to construct forecasts at three levels -optimistic, pessimistic and best estimate.

Fill out the table below to calculate yourSales Budget::

Optimistic Pessimistic BestEstimate

Forecast Sales

Units p.a$ p.a.

Cost of salesThis will be constructed on the same basis as the sales budget

$ p.a.Gross Profit

$ p.a.Marketing expensesThese can also be built up by product or territory

Advertising

Personal SellingSales PromotionPublicity / public relationsOnline / DigitalOther expensesDepending whether you are preparing a budget for an individual product, a division, or anentire business, you may budget for other marketing and administration expenses.

Product developmentMarketing researchTechnical servicesTraining

Administration - Rent- Staffing- Utilities

Finance

Action Plan / MetricsUse the table below to record each marketing activity planned for the period,who is responsible for undertaking it, when and at what budgeted cost or

performance level.


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Fill out the table below to formulate yourAction Plan:

Strategies Responsibility(person /

department)

To beundertaken by

(date)

Budget /Marketing

Metric(see Ch 14)

Marketing research / analysis

Product strategies

Pricing strategies

Distribution strategies

Promotion strategies

Congratulations! You have prepared a comprehensivemarketing plan.

The most important requirement now is to make sure your MarketingPlan is a living document. Put it into action and then continuallyrefer back to it as the period unfolds to check the performance of

your marketing activities.

Will things turn out exactly as you planned? Almost certainly not! Buthaving the Plan gives you the best preparation to effectively respondto the market changes, competitive activities and mishaps you mightencounter.

Documents

Marketing_Plan - Prash 1st