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i am faced with challenge of definition of marketing plan,layout and its contents
please rescue me. thank youThis is a very wide and complex series of questions.There is probably no one right answer to questions asked but there are some that would be more generally accepted as being correct than others.
Marketing involves fulfilling needs and creating value for customers or users of goods and services.A marketing plan will be a plan on how an organisation seeks to achieve the goal of meeting needs of customers.How this is done will be linked to overall organisational objectives and strategy.For example, is the organisation a public or private sector entity, to what extent does it consider the needs of stakeholders other than customers and shareholders and how does it trade off long term versus short term success.The overall strategy of an organisation will also impact upon the marketing strategy.The three broad generic strategies developed by porter are cost leadership,differentiation and focus.The marketing strategy should be consistent with overall strategy of organisation.
Some of basic elements of any marketing strategy are product,price,place,promotion,people,process and physical evidence.These elements should be thought about and accounted for in the marketing plan.They should be consistent with generic strategy and with each other.How they interact with and influence each other must also be taken into account.For example, how can physical evidence be used to promote the product.
Hope that is of some use to you.I intend to post more details later.It is a wide topic.If you have any more questions about what I have posted please ask.Product- This will contain elements such as the breadth and depth of the product line carried.The reliability of product -generally there will be a trade off between reliability and cost so this will depend on generic strategy being followed.If differentiated product is being offered it will be expected to be more reliable.Likewise it will be expected to be more durable.Ease of serviceability will also be a factor to be considered.Basic performance of product at carry out its major function or functions for customers will also have to be considered.The number of additional features offered and the extent these can be tailored by customers will also have to be planned.From offering basic functionality to offering a bespoke product with extensive customer input.The ergonomics of design and aesthetics of product will also need to be designed in order to fulfill needs of target customers.
Price- Should it be high,medium or low.Should credit or financing options be offered?This should tie into overall market offering.Should
sales promotion be used to build up market share or could this be damaging to image of brand?Price should fit in with generic strategy-high price for focussed differentiated goods and services (Rollex for example) and low prices for cost focussed or cost leadership products.Place- Should product be sold direct to end users or through intermediaries?Should organisation follow an intensive,selective or exclusive distribution strategy?How much support or training should intermediaries be given?How much promotion should be aimed at intermediaries?
Promotion-This is made up of several parts.
What should be The promotional mix used.Promotional mix is made up of five major components-mass media advertising,direct marketing,sales promotion,public relations and personal selling.People-Internal marketing is a major factor here.How do we market vision of company to employees and other stakeholders.Do employees understand products and services offered?Do employees have opportunity to feed back information about customers concerns and opinions?
Process-How do we meet demand?Should we introduce a just in time system?Should we consider benchmarking our processes against other
organisations?
organisations?Physical evidence-How well are our products being presented to customers?Should we offer training to intermediaries employees to make sure the know how to present product?Should we offer stands on which our products can be presented and promoted?Should we offer financial incentives to intermediaries for presenting our products to end users in an appropriate manner?
The above contains just some of the questions a marketing plan should seek to answer.If you have any questions please feel free to ask.
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