Marketing Plan Outline

I.   Executive Summary

A high-level summary of the marketing plan.

II.   The Challenge

Brief description of product to be marketed and associated goals, such as sales figures and strategic goals.

III.   Situation Analysis

Company Analysis

• Goals
• Focus
• Culture
• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Market share

Customer Analysis

• Number
• Type
• Value drivers
• Decision process
• Concentration of customer base for particular products

Competitor Analysis

• Market position
• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Market shares

Collaborators

• Subsidiaries, joint ventures, and distributors, etc.

Climate
Macro-environmental PEST analysis :

• Political and legal environment
• Economic environment
• Social and cultural environment
• Technological environment

SWOT Analysis
A SWOT analysis of the business environment can be performed by organizing the environmental factors as follows:

• The firm's internal attributes can be classed as strengths and weaknesses.
• The external environment presents opportunities and threats.

IV.   Market Segmentation

Present a description of the market segmentation as follows:
Segment 1

• Description
• Percent of sales
• What they want
• How they use product
• Support requirements
• How to reach them
• Price sensitivity

Segment 2
  .
  .
  .

V.   Alternative Marketing Strategies

List and discuss the alternatives that were considered before arriving at the recommended strategy. Alternatives might include discontinuing a product, re-branding, positioning as a premium or value product, etc.

VI.   Selected Marketing Strategy

Discuss why the strategy was selected, then the marketing mix decisions (4 P's) of product, price, place (distribution), and promotion.

Product

The product decisions should consider the product's advantages and how they will be leveraged. Product decisions should include:

• Brand name
• Quality
• Scope of product line
• Warranty
• Packaging

Price

Discuss pricing strategy, expected volume, and decisions for the following pricing variables:

• List price
• Discounts
• Bundling
• Payment terms and financing options
• Leasing options

Distribution (Place)

Decision variables include:

• Distribution channels, such as direct, retail, distributors & intermediates
  
• Motivating the channel - for example, distributor margins
  
• Criteria for evaluating distributors
  
• Locations
• Logistics, including transportation, warehousing, and order fulfilment

Promotion

• Advertising, including how much and which media.
• Public relations
• Promotional programs
• Budget; determine break-even point for any additional spending
• Projected results of the promotional programs

VII.   Short & Long-Term Projections

The selected strategy's immediate effects, expected long-term results, and any special actions required to achieve them. This section may include forecasts of revenues and expenses as well as the results of a break-even analysis.

VIII.   Conclusion

Summarize all of the above.

Appendix

Exhibits Calculations of market size, commissions, profit margins, break-even analyses, etc.

PEST Analysis

A scan of the external macro-environment in which the firm operates can be expressed in terms of the following factors:

• Political
• Economic
• Social
• Technological

The acronym PEST (or sometimes rearranged as "STEP") is used to describe a framework for the analysis of these macroenvironmental factors. A PEST analysis fits into an overall environmental scan as shown in the following diagram:

Environmental Scan           /   \ External Analysis     Internal Analysis     /                       \ Macroenvironment  Microenvironment  |   P.E.S.T.

Political Factors
Political factors include government regulations and legal issues and define both formal and informal rules under which the firm must operate. Some examples include:

• tax policy
• employment laws
• environmental regulations
• trade restrictions and tariffs
• political stability

Economic Factors
Economic factors affect the purchasing power of potential customers and the firm's cost of capital. The following are examples of factors in the macroeconomy:

• economic growth
• interest rates
• exchange rates
• inflation rate

Social Factors
Social factors include the demographic and cultural aspects of the external macroenvironment. These factors affect customer needs and the size of potential markets. Some social factors include:

• health consciousness
• population growth rate
• age distribution
• career attitudes
• emphasis on safety

Technological Factors
Technological factors can lower barriers to entry, reduce minimum efficient production levels, and influence outsourcing decisions. Some technological factors include:

• R&D activity
• automation
• technology incentives
• rate of technological change

External Opportunities and Threats
The PEST factors combined with external microenvironmental factors can be classified as opportunities and threats in a SWOT analysis.

SWOT Analysis

A scan of the internal and external environment is an important part of the strategic planning process. Environmental factors internal to the firm usually can be classified as strengths (S) or weaknesses (W), and those external to the firm can be classified as opportunities (O) or threats (T). Such an analysis of the strategic environment is referred to as a SWOT analysis. The SWOT analysis provides information that is helpful in matching the firm's resources and capabilities to the competitive environment in which it operates. As such, it is instrumental in strategy formulation and selection. The following diagram shows how a SWOT analysis fits into an environmental scan:

SWOT Analysis Framework

Environmental Scan           / \            Internal Analysis       External Analysis / \                  / \ Strengths   Weaknesses       Opportunities   Threats | SWOT Matrix

Strengths
A firm's strengths are its resources and capabilities that can be used as a basis for developing a competitive advantage. Examples of such strengths include:

• patents
• strong brand names
• good reputation among customers
• cost advantages from proprietary know-how
• exclusive access to high grade natural resources
• favorable access to distribution networks

Weaknesses
The absence of certain strengths may be viewed as a weakness. For example, each of the following may be considered weaknesses:

• lack of patent protection
• a weak brand name
• poor reputation among customers
• high cost structure
• lack of access to the best natural resources
• lack of access to key distribution channels

In some cases, a weakness may be the flip side of a strength. Take the case in which a firm has a large amount of manufacturing capacity. While this capacity may be considered a strength that competitors do not share, it also may be a considered a weakness if the large investment in manufacturing capacity prevents the firm from reacting quickly to changes in the strategic environment.

Opportunities
The external environmental analysis may reveal certain new opportunities for profit and growth. Some examples of such opportunities include:

• an unfulfilled customer need
• arrival of new technologies
• loosening of regulations
• removal of international trade barriers

Threats
Changes in the external environmental also may present threats to the firm. Some examples of such threats include:

• shifts in consumer tastes away from the firm's products
• emergence of substitute products
• new regulations
• increased trade barriers

The SWOT Matrix
A firm should not necessarily pursue the more lucrative opportunities. Rather, it may have a better chance at developing a competitive advantage by identifying a fit between the firm's strengths and upcoming opportunities. In some cases, the firm can overcome a weakness in order to prepare itself to pursue a compelling opportunity.
To develop strategies that take into account the SWOT profile, a matrix of these factors can be constructed. The SWOT matrix (also known as a TOWS Matrix) is shown below:





SWOT / TOWS Matrix

	Strengths	Weaknesses
Opportunities	S-O strategies	W-O strategies
Threats	S-T strategies	W-T strategies

• S-O strategies pursue opportunities that are a good fit to the company's strengths.
• W-O strategies overcome weaknesses to pursue opportunities.
• S-T strategies identify ways that the firm can use its strengths to reduce its vulnerability to external threats.
• W-T strategies establish a defensive plan to prevent the firm's weaknesses from making it highly susceptible to external threats.