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7/24/12 10:43 AMThe 10 - Step Marketing Plan Template

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Step 1 – Define the Strategy

Strategy is carried out as a multi-step process, defined as:



Ten Step Marketing Plan Template© 2006 Sequent Learning Networks, Inc.

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1) Assessing the current situation (where you are)

2) Identifying the desired end state or goal (where you want to be)3) Mapping a path to achieve the goal (the strategy)4) Creating measurements to determine success factors5) Re-assessing the situation and revise the strategy

Each is described below:

SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, andthreats. The overarching goal of SWOT is to determine where the company’sproducts, services, or product lines fit within the context of the internal and theexternal environments. Conducting this analysis helps you to figure out where it istoday, and where it needs to be in the future. Use this table to organize the elements

Strengths (what you’re really good at) Opportunities (how to leverage your strengths)

Weaknesses (where you’re falling short) Threats (your vulnerabilities due to your weaknesses or competitor strengths)

An outcome of the SWOT analysis is to help you define what you’re good at and toleverage those strengths to determine the opportunities you might be able to takeadvantage of. Weaknesses reveal your vulnerabilities. By harnessing this data, you’llhave a way to validate and guide your marketing investments. From this exercise, youcan also derive some key marketing objectives which carry through to the next exercise.

The ultimate goal is to uncover opportunities on which your company can capitalize.




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Step 2 – Business Environment Analysis

Analyzing the business environment is situated as Step 2 in this template toemphasize its importance in data gathering. Steps 1 and 2, formulating strategy and

business environment analysis can actually go hand in hand. The reason is thatthese are surveying techniques that allow you to put the information into perspective.Business environment analysis actually can help feed SWOT analyses. The reasonfor this is that the business environment influences your strategies. For example, ancompetitive threat influences how you identify or prioritize new opportunities.

Marketing professionals often refer to environmental analysis as ‘scanning.’ Businessenvironmental analysis is not a one-time event; it is an on-going effort. It is incumbenton team members to adopt a focus on scanning the horizon and be constantly on thelook out for shifts and changes. Since the marketplace is always changing, your awareness helps you to understand business drivers and evolving customer needs,which leads to the identification of market opportunities, alert you to potential problemswith customers, competitors, and the industry in general. Another area on which youmay with to focus when deriving strategies for products or markets has to do withunderstanding of Key Business Issues – what are the compelling issues impactingcurrent marketing strategies and programs? Are there overwhelming issues relating tounmet demand or business need which has been uncovered?

To help understand or visualizing business issues is to organize them in a table like the

one shown below. List each key business issue and each possible marketing strategywhich could be considered in relation to each business issue – and then list anyresource requirements. Summarize these in the table below:

Business Issues Summary Matrix

Business Issue Possible Marketing

strategy

Resource requirements

when the marketing

programs are

assembled

Finally, write your business environment analysis based on the data you collect and make sure it’s aligned with the opportunities identified in your SWOT.

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Step 3 – Market Profiling

Market profiling involves the market research that needs to be carried out. Theultimate goal is to identify the attractiveness of the marketplace and the competitiveposture you wish to assume. From this, you can determine the ultimate demand for your product or service with respect to market share, revenue potential, andultimately, the profitability of your products and services. Market profiling is made upof the following activities:

1) Analyzing the industry in which your company compete. Here are someapproaches to identifying the characteristics of the industry:

a. Identify if there are any political issues in the geographic area of interest.b. Determine the general state of the economy.c. Understand any of the societal trends or issues which may be prevalent in

your area of interest.d. Consider the state of the technologies used in this market spacee. Secure actual growth rates of the industry using visuals to show the trend

lines.f. Find out if there are any trends you can discern being used within this

industry space.

g. Determine how products and services are actually delivered from supplier to customer.

2) Understanding the competitors with whom you compete. In order to carrythis out, here are some suggestions:

a. Make a list of competitors, along with the products they offer. Can youdetermine the total revenue of all competitors combined? This couldgive you a rough estimate of the size of the overall marketplace.

b. Determine the brand images of each of the competitors.c. Identify how each of the products are positioned in the market and withrespect to other competitors.

d. Find out who their suppliers are.e. Determine the number of employees on staff, and whether they are

hiring more people or cutting back, and why.f. Make a list of the kinds of activities they engaged in over the past year

or two. For example, did they introduce new products, adjust their prices, embark on advertising campaigns, etc.

i. Take this list and figure out what you think they might do next,

and…




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and…ii. Make a list of the kinds of things you might want to compete.

g. Use the following table to create a profile for each competitor:

Name of Competitor

Name of Productor Products

Estimated MarketShare (and

supportingassumptions)

What is thestrategy of this

competitor withrespect to this

product?

What are theweaknesses of the

product? Is thecompetitor vulnerable?

Why should a customer choose our product over

the competition?

3) Identifying market segments and ultimate customers to pursue. Marketsegments represent groupings of customer types who have similar needs.Market segmentation helps the product manager or marketing manager to tailor aspecific marketing mix to satisfy the needs of a group of customers (a segment).

Market targets are sub-groups with similar needs. For each of the followingexercise, you may be broadly defining market segments, or defining markettargets within those segments. The more finely focused your efforts, that is, onyour target markets, the more focused your marketing programs will be. Sincecustomers are driven by needs (problems that need to be solved), your completeunderstanding of these segments, and the targeted groups will help you withmore finely tuned marketing programs. Use this questioning technique to helpyou:

a. Name the segment or segmentsi. Use age, geography, or other means• Example – People living in the northeast states

b. Define the targeti. Use more detailed categorizations

• Example – Employed males aged 50-60 living in New YorkState with incomes over $75,000





Ten Step Marketing Plan Template

© 2006 Sequent Learning Networks, Inc.Page 7

State with incomes over $75,000c. Define the buying process. Depending on the kind of product and the

market (business to consumer products versus business to businessproducts), you need to be able to define how people make purchasingdecisions. In businesses, the decision maker may be different than theactual user of the product. Consumers, depending on whether the productis a daily staple, durable necessity (cars, appliances, etc.), or impulseitem, the buying process is different.

4) Forecasting sales volumes and market share. Most people equate forecastingto short-term estimates of sales or unit volumes. Forecasting to evaluate marketopportunities and potential profitability is a long-range planning activity and ismore complex. The reason becomes clear when considering that all businessestry to create forecasts so they can put business and marketing programs intoperspective. For example, marketing programs may require periodic investmentsor product groups may be considering the launch of a new or improved product,or businesses may be considering expansion into new markets. Therefore, keydecisions are made based on forecasts. Unfortunately, most forecasts are

inaccurate. That’s because they are forecasts. It is a difficult task at bestespecially in industries where market conditions can change rapidly.

However, we can try to minimize the errors of forecasting by trying to understandas much about the market environment as possible so that we can determine if there is a market for a product or service, where that market is and how much of it can be captured over what period of time? Once the market is understood andbelieved to be attractive, one can then determine what investment should bemade in marketing activities to access that market. Your market share forecasts

may be driven by some of the following (although these will vary by industry andmarket):

a. The maximum number of customers in a market areab. The number of customers whose needs create an interest in specific

products and servicesc. The rate at which customers actually use products




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c. The rate at which customers actually use productsd. The affordability of products being offerede. The value and benefits of the products being offered

If you were running an airport and wanted to find out the probability of successfor a retail store selling travel supplies and impulse items, you might need tofind out how many passengers go through the airport every day. You wouldneed to understand the number of planes, their capacity and schedules inorder to figure out how many people would actually be passing through agiven area, and then make assumptions about the number of people whowould have an interest in shopping in that store. Further, you would want tofigure out how much an average purchase might be in that store and multiplythat amount by the number of people who you believe might go into that store.

This is just the beginning…

Without further elaboration, it can be seen that the research involved in market profiling is critical. You need to understand the industry, the competitors and potential customers to understanding the size of the market for the opportunities inwhich you are interested.



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Sharon Goods



this is just what i needed for my project. thanks

reply06 / 15 / 2012

duydongmarketervn

thanks pro

reply05 / 29 / 2008You must be logged in to leave a comment.SubmitCharacters: ...UploadSearch books, presentations, business, academics... Search

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