Marketing Plan Structure and Analysis

Posted on Oct 20, 2024 in Economy

T1: Marketing Plan

Marketing Plan Index Analysis

Internal Analysis: History, Corporate Identity, Functional Areas (Financials, HR), Segmentation, Target, Positioning, 4Ps, Loyalty. External Analysis: Macro Environment (PESTEL + Profile); Micro Environment (Competitors – Benchmarking, Suppliers, Market, Sector, 5 Forces).

Marketing Plan Definition

A written document that outlines the objectives to be achieved in a set period, based on analysis and research. It includes the strategies and resources required to meet those goals.

Key Points:

  • It is a physical document meant for review and approval by executives.
  • It has systematized and structured content.
  • It defines responsibilities and establishes control procedures.

Benefits of a Marketing Plan

  • Improving how activities are coordinated.
  • Increasing the company’s readiness and preparedness for change.
  • Reducing conflicts about the company’s direction and goals.
  • Improving communication.
  • Pushing management to think more strategically.
  • Aligning resources better with opportunities.
  • Providing a strong framework for regularly reviewing actions.

Advantages of a Marketing Plan

  • Creates a clear action plan aligned with the company’s marketing and sales goals.
  • Prevents confusion by ensuring everyone knows what needs to be done, improving collaboration across departments.
  • Allows the company to easily track progress toward goals, helping drive smooth growth and increased revenue.
  • Ensures consistency over time, keeping the same strategies even with team changes.
  • Connects the company’s overall goals with its sales efforts, ensuring everyone is moving in the same direction.

8 Keys to an Effective Marketing Plan

  • Time Horizon: Set plans for different time periods (e.g., short-term plans focus on quick wins like increasing sales, while long-term plans aim for bigger goals like building a strong brand).
  • Structured: Organized clearly, similar to a table of contents, to make it easy to follow.
  • Coherence: Ensuring all elements fit together and align with the brand. Tools like SWOT analysis, STP model, and marketing mix help in setting objectives and understanding the market.
  • Own Language: Easy comprehension.
  • Action Plan: Outlines what activities will be carried out, their purpose, and the resources needed.
  • Creative: Thinking outside the box to find innovative solutions that differentiate the business.
  • Metrics: Used to track progress through analytics and KPIs, making it easy to evaluate performance.
  • 360° Approach: Crucial, considering both digital and physical marketing aspects to ensure comprehensive control over all areas.

T2: Types of Marketing Plans

Strategic Marketing Plan

The broadest type, focusing on long-term goals and strategies. It defines the broad objectives and should be generalized for everyone.

Tactical Marketing Plan

Breaks down the strategies of the strategic plan into specific actions, with medium-term objectives. Includes details on channels, budgets, and specific targets. Can be guided depending on the campaign.

Types:

  • Digital Marketing Plan
  • Content Marketing Plan
  • Social Media Marketing Plan
  • Relationship Marketing Plan
  • Product Marketing Plan
  • Social Marketing Plan
  • Internal Marketing Plan

Operational Marketing Plan

Details the daily tasks, responsible persons, and deadlines. Focuses on the implementation of short-term strategies, according to the tactical one.

Marketing Planning Process in Three Main Stages

Strategic Analysis, Strategic Marketing Decisions, Operational Marketing Decisions:

Stages 1 and 2 (Strategic Analysis):

  • Analysis of the External Situation: Looking at external market factors – competition, trends, and customer behavior.
  • Internal Situation: Assessing the internal capabilities, resources, and challenges of the company.

Both analyses combine to create a Situation Diagnosis, which helps in understanding where the company stands in the market.

Stage 3 (Marketing Objectives):

Set clear goals based on the situation diagnosis.

  • Quantitative: Measurable achievements for the company, expressed in concrete figures. They refer to increases in: market share, profitability, sales volume, penetration.
  • Qualitative: Propose more generic and less tangible goals. The most significant are those that refer to the notoriety and image of the product, service, or brand.

Stage 4 (Marketing Strategies):

  • Strategic Corporate Decisions: Defines the company’s vision, mission, and competitive strategy.
  • Portfolio Strategies: Chooses product-market options within the company’s activities.
  • Segmentation & Positioning: Identifies target segments and positions the brand accordingly.
  • Functional Strategies: Focuses on the marketing mix – product, price, distribution, and communication strategies.

Stage 5 (Operational Marketing Decisions):

Action plans, marketing budget, forecast income statement/projected cash flow. For a strategy to work, it must be turned into clear actions. It’s important to appoint someone to manage and carry out the plans on time and provide the needed resources. Actions on product, price actions, channel changes, actions on place and sales force, communication actions, action plan (the marketing budget & the forecast income statement).

T3: Internal Analysis

Definition of the Company

  • Brand History: Key events and dates.
  • Corporate Identity: Includes corporate image, visual identity, communication, mission, vision, values, and culture.
  • Current Target: Segmentation (demographic, geographic, psychographic) and target audience – buyer persona example.
  • Image & Positioning: Desired consumer perception, market position, and positioning map (graphical tool to compare with competitors and guide strategy). Steps: List competitors, choose two key values, create a matrix, and survey consumers.
  • Functional Areas: Covers commercial strategy, quality certifications, financial resources, HR, and production.
  • Loyalty Program: Analyze if there’s a program, its type, customer categories, and benefits offered.

Current Marketing Mix

Product

Analyze product tangibility, lifecycle stage, role in the portfolio, and importance for differentiation. Use Kotler’s model (4Ps: Product, Price, Place, Promotion) to understand and deliver value. Evaluate product levels and their impact on strategy.

Price

Review pricing strategies and adjustments (e.g., special offers, regular discounts, price per weight).

Communication

Review recent communication activities (messages, tools, channels, and budget). Explore advertising, PR, promotions, and customer journey mapping.

Corporate Visual Identity

Analyze identity elements such as iconic symbols, typographic logos, corporate colors, and logotypes. Understand different types (isotype – Apple, imagotype – Nike, logotype – Google, isologo – HP) and ensure characteristics like clarity, memorability, distinctiveness, and consistent use across all platforms.

External Analysis

What is the Marketing Environment?

  • Micro-environment: The business stakeholders whose actions affect the company (the company itself, suppliers, marketing intermediaries, competitors, market and audiences).
  • Macro-environment: Includes the major social forces that influence the microenvironment (demographic, economic, natural, technological, political and cultural).

Macro-environment: PESTEL Analysis

  • Political Factors: Government decisions and political stability affect the business environment (e.g., job creation policies, government regulations).
  • Economic Factors: Trends like consumer spending, income changes, GDP, taxes, and employment/unemployment rates impact company performance.
  • Social Factors: Demographic: Family structures, migration trends, education levels, and population diversity; Cultural: Shifts towards eco-friendly, sustainable lifestyles.
  • Technological Factors: Technological advancements and usage data that could impact the market.
  • Ecological/Environmental Factors: Issues like raw material shortages, pollution, government intervention, and recycling regulations.
  • Legal Factors: Changes in legislation affecting sectors, data privacy, employment laws, tax laws, and licensing requirements.

The Strategic Environment Profile evaluates the macro-environment’s impact on the company using a scale from very negative (VN) to very positive (VP).

Micro-environment: Essential Parts

  • Market: Market composition, consumption data, consumption habits, trends (past, present, future).
  • Sector: Information on the industry (present, current, and trends).
  • Competition: Benchmarking.
  • Suppliers
  • Porter’s Five Forces

Competitors: Direct competition (same target audience, same needs as pure products); indirect competition (anything capable of replacing our product or brand).

SWOT Analysis

Note: Do not add extra information in the SWOT; always use information from the previous analysis; identify the different points (W1, T1, etc.) – importance of the acronyms; it is advisable to identify points with the PESTLE; they should allow us to guide subsequent strategies; it is advisable to identify in order; it is concluded in an extra point, never as part of the internal analysis.

T3 Extra: Market Segmentation

Step 1 – Identify Segmentation Criteria

  • Demographic (age, income, gender, and household size)
  • Geographic (location (urban vs. rural), climate)
  • Psychographic (lifestyle, values, and interests – e.g., health)
  • Behavioral (frequency of purchase and benefits sought – e.g., price, quality)

Step 2 – Define Market Segments

  • Identifying young urban professionals
  • Families with children
  • Older adults
  • Health and fitness-conscious individuals

Consider characteristics, incomes, lifestyle, purchasing behavior, segment size.

Step 3 – Quantify the Market

Assumes a total market of 10 million prepared food units sold annually, with urban young professionals (2 million units), families with children (3.5 million units), older adults (2.5 million units), and health-conscious (2 million units).

Step 4 – Analyze Market Potential

Assessing whether it’s beneficial to target specific segments based on sales volume and the effort required, which helps in setting realistic marketing objectives (e.g., aiming to sell 100,000 units per year by targeting 5% of the young professionals segment).

Step 5 – Develop Marketing Strategies for Each Segment

Deciding whether to target all segments equally, focus on one, or adopt a differentiated approach (e.g., using social media campaigns and subscription services for young urban professionals, price promotions and family meal packs for families with children, traditional media advertising and affordable options for older adults).