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4.Marketing plan - sample plan

	1. Mission	What is the overall goal of the company?
	2. Objectives	What are you trying to achieve (usually over the next year) must be measureable and specific
	3. Strategies	What resources need to be applied to achieve these objectives?
	4. Tactics (Plan and Time & Events)	Which elements of the marketing mix are most appropriate? Which weapons in the marketing armoury should you be using? Set out the detailed action plan including the time frame for all elements?

You are currently promoting your products. Why do you promote them in the way you do?
Why do you attend that exhibition?
Why do you continue to reprint that leaflet?

If you can satisfactorally answer questions like these, then that's great. My experience however is that all too often the answer is

"because we've always done it"
or
"because our competitors do it".

These are not good reasons, and they invariably come about because the above planning process has not been gone through. The "classic" approach to developing a marketing plan would involve the above process. Those of you who are not used to a " market led" approach to business might be inclined to think that this approach is too theoretical and not of the real world. Let me attempt to quash that view immediately.

The most successful, efficient and profitable companies are those that have a very clear vision of what they are trying to achieve and how they will achieve it. If these goals (objectives) are successfully communicated within the organisation then everyone is pulling in the same direction and all resources have the same end in mind. Profitable business growth is then just a matter of time.

Lets take a look at a simple hypothetical example for a car-manufacturing plant in the Midlands

Objective.
(The objective should be specific and measurable. E.g.)
To capitalise on the growing customer demand for energy efficient cars and secure 10 per cent of the small car market by 2005.

Strategy.
(What resources need to be committed in order to achieve the above objective)
By building a new 800 cc engine at our Midlands plant.
By distributing direct to consumers and bypassing the traditional dealers and showrooms.

Tactics.
(What are the individual activities that need to be carried out in order to fulfil the above strategy)
Explain the new distribution network to consumer and trade journalists.
- PR campaign
- Targetted radio advertisement campaign
- Produce leaflet

Set up a website able to take enquiries and orders
-

etc

Whether the above is a viable projet or not is not the point. What I am trying to demonstrate here is that the individual tactics (advertising, press releases, leaflets, sponsorship, etc) should be determined by the marketing objectives/strategies.

Just because you have always attended the Birmingham car show for the last 25 years it is clearly now not a sensible use of your limited resources given that it is primarily attended by members of the traditional distribution system.

Your current management team (especially your sales team) might argue very strongly for a continuation of attendance at the show. Also, given that you are attempting to do something different it is quite likely that your management team have little experience of the marketing tactics (armoury) available to support such a (new) strategy.