The four stages of a marketing plan

The task

• The work is to develop a marketing plan for a new or existing product — a document a business could act on.
• A new product is one not yet on the market; an existing product is one already being sold. Either is allowed, but the two are not researched the same way — a new product has no marketing history to audit, so the audit is done on the nearest competitor product or on the market it will be launched into.
• The work breaks into four stages, each with its own definition. Learn the definitions — they tell you exactly what must be in the plan.

Stage	What it means	What you produce
Marketing aims	Mission statement and corporate objectives	What the business as a whole is trying to achieve
The market situation	Marketing audit, SWOT analysis, marketing assumptions	An evidenced picture of where the product stands now
Marketing strategy	Marketing objectives, SMART goals, forecasting, contingency plans	What you will achieve, and how
The marketing plan	Marketing budget and a detailed action plan for implementation and future monitoring	Who does what, when, for how much, and how you will know it worked

Three depths of the same plan

• You are producing a document rather than answering questions, so what separates a weak plan from a strong one is how far each stage is taken:

Depth	What the plan does
The floor	Develop the plan: set aims, explain the market situation, create a strategy, write a plan. Complete, and it stops there
Sound	Fully explain the market situation, and make the strategy and the plan sound
Thorough	Evaluate the market situation, and make the strategy and the plan thorough

• What the words mean in practice:
  • Sound — the parts fit together and are supported by evidence. The strategy follows from the situation; the plan delivers the strategy.
  • Thorough — nothing is missing, everything is justified, alternatives were considered and rejected for stated reasons, and the plan anticipates what could go wrong.
  • Evaluate the market situation — do not just describe the audit and the SWOT. Say which factors matter most, why, and what they mean for the strategy.

The one rule the whole plan rests on

• Every stage must follow from the one before it. This is what markers mean by a sound plan.
  • The aims come from the business's mission and corporate objectives.
  • The situation analysis identifies the gap between where the product is and where the aims say it should be.
  • The strategy closes that gap, and is chosen because of what the situation analysis found.
  • The plan delivers the strategy, and the budget is sized to it.
  • The monitoring measures the objectives the strategy set.
• A plan where the SWOT identifies a weak distribution network and the strategy is a social media campaign is not sound, however well each part is written separately.

What a finished plan contains

• A typical structure, in order:
  • Executive summary — one page, written last
  • The business and its mission — mission statement, corporate objectives
  • The product — what it is, who it is for
  • Market situation — marketing audit, market research findings, Boston matrix, Porter's five forces, SWOT, assumptions
  • Marketing objectives — SMART, and linked to the corporate objectives
  • Marketing strategy — target market and segments, positioning, the marketing mix, the Ansoff position
  • Sales forecast — with the assumptions it rests on
  • Marketing budget — costed by activity
  • Action plan — activity, responsibility, date, cost
  • Monitoring and review — measures, review points, who reviews
  • Contingency plans — what happens if the main assumptions prove wrong