Essential Components of Examples of Marketing Plans
Some business owners open up a business even without any background in marketing. But, as well know, a good business marketing strategy is starting with a good marketing plan. We may find hundreds of examples of marketing plans in the information superhighway of cyberspace. However, how will we know which one is done right? Here are the essential components of the “right” examples of marketing plans:
1. Executive summary
Examples of marketing plans should begin with an executive summary. This part introduces your company and the overview of the history of your company is found here. It also includes the mission and vision statement of your company, which reflects your company’s overall philosophy. And finally, it should emphasize the vital points of your marketing plan and outline your objectives.
2. Situational Analysis
This section is also known as the current situation. This must give a detailed description of your target market which includes their key demographic characteristics like their age, location, gender and income. You may obtain this information either by conducting your own research through talking to other businessmen and using online search engines, or you can hire a market research firm to do the job for you.
3. Competitive Analysis
Examples of marketing plans should include a competitive analysis. This should contain the list of your competitors, an outline of their market share, including a description of their business offerings, objectives, and their strong and weak points.
4. Marketing Strategies
Good examples of marketing plans must contain this vital component. This section contains the 4 P’s in business marketing. First is product, which deals with the specification of products or services that you’re offering and how it relates to the needs and wants of your consumers. Second is the pricing, which is the method of setting a price for the products/services including discounts. It may be in a form of time or energy and may not always be monetary. Next is the placement or simply the place of distribution of your product, which pertains to where you sell your products (online or retail), which industry and to which division (families, young adults, men, women, etc). And lastly, promotion, which includes branding, advertising and sales promotion.
5. Financial Analysis
This section contains the cost of the implementation of your market plan. Make list of your proposed marketing strategies including the cost associated in implementing them. Create also a time line for the implementation of each strategy. And finally, include all the projected expenses, revenue and return of investment.