Marketing plan definition. Marketing planning. Problems caused by not having a marketing plan

It is not enough to produce goods, deliver them to shops and wait for the moment when consumers themselves start buying and talking about the product. In modern conditions, when every sphere is overflowing with competitors, you literally have to fight for every client. The tools of this war are marketing knowledge and skillful planning.

Goals and development of a marketing plan

If a business is going to be successful, then it must move twice as fast as the rest. Experience says something like this successful people in the business world. Another rule is to think on paper: in diagrams, numbers and, importantly, in terms of time.

Given the fact that the main driving force the entire activity of a company is the process of selling its goods or services, marketing plan is perhaps the most important strategic document. It will clearly reflect current position company, goal and means of achieving it. After the document is approved by management, it should be submitted to the attention of other departments directly or indirectly related to strategic action companies.

The marketing plan is divided into two types in terms of terms: short-term - from 6 months to 1 year, and long-term - from 3 to 5 years. Depending on the external factors during the implementation of the goal, minor changes can be made, but without concessions and changes to the planned plan.

How to compose?

The marketing plan should give a detailed description of potential customers, details of where they can see the product and how they will make a decision to make a purchase. Before you start drawing up a plan, you should answer the following questions and clearly define the boundaries at the moment, since this information forms the basis of the plan.

Strategy: What role will the plan play in the context of overall business processes?
Mission: what needs to be done and for what purpose?
Target audience: who are the marketing measures aimed at?
Competitor analysis: who are the competitors and who have what advantages?
Unique product offer: what are the differences over competitors?
Price factor: what does the consumer get for his money?
Promotion plan: how does the target audience know about the company?
Budget: how much do you need and how much is there?
List of actions: what should be done and in what sequence?
Analyzing the results: what can be improved, what can be discarded, and what can be left as is?

Answering these critical questions will help clarify the way forward. Now you should consider each item separately.

Strategy

The marketing strategy plan should reflect the main direction of the company's movement, and the rest of the parts will tell you how to do it. Suppose an entrepreneur is interested in expanding the network retail stores for the sale of building materials and wants to achieve the location of customers in new regions. Then the goals of the marketing plan will be to present your product in a new market segment. At the next stage, the strategy is divided into short-term and long-term measures.

It is also important to be able to distinguish between the two important concepts, often found as a description of one action: marketing plan and strategy. The difference is that the first term describes a list of actions, while the second describes how to implement them.

Mission

It is generally accepted that the formation of a mission and the spread of an idea is characteristic of large corporations that have achieved a certain level of fame in their field. This was the case until recently. New trends in the business world are encouraging businesses with social dimensions: a company can simultaneously conduct commercial activities and carry an idea from the field of universal human values. To this end, companies hold entire events to emphasize their own solidarity with the opinion of the majority: charity exhibitions and other public events.

But successful businessmen are distinguished by the fact that they find non-standard solutions. The mission can be applied as a marketing tool. Perhaps a marketing plan of this nature will require additional investments in organizing and holding events, but in the end it can serve as a good promotion tool.

The target audience

At this stage, you will have to answer the question: who are the people who will help the business achieve its goals? Target audience - a segment in the society to which advertising should be addressed and which can become real customers in the future.

The company's marketing plan begins with the creation of a psychological and social portrait of the target audience. Market research is a great help in this matter. They can be found ready-made or ordered from specialized companies. You can also do it yourself. To do this, it is necessary to objectively answer a number of questions:

Who are the potential customers?
Where can you find them?
What is important to them?
What problems do they have?
How will this product help them solve their problems?

It is necessary to create a sketch of the "ideal client" and build further stages with an eye on him. This will help you personalize your marketing messages as much as possible.

Competitors

When developing a marketing plan, you need to study in detail the competitors, their approach and product promotion systems. At the same time, we must not forget that there is business ethics, when rough copying of competitors' materials, open competition and belittling their product through their own promotional materials... In some countries, this aspect is controlled by special laws.

Information obtained from competitor analysis is subject to careful scrutiny, but not used in your campaigns. If you look at examples of the marketing plan of other companies, at this stage they answer the following questions:

Competitor strengths: how do they attract customers?
What kind Additional services provide?
How does the “ideal client” perceive them?
What can they improve in their work?
What does your plan look like against the background of their actions?

The purpose of this stage is to compare and objectively assess your own capabilities. After the conclusions are drawn, it is necessary to prepare a plan to get ahead of them according to certain criteria.

USP - a unique selling proposition

USP should be implemented in the form of a specific product or service, which is fundamentally different from competitors' proposals. If there is no such proposal, then the marketing plan of the enterprise has the right to propose the creation of such a product.

But professional marketers know how to separate USP from the most common product. As an information base, two points are used that have already become known at the previous stages: what problems the client has and how and how this product can help in this.

Examples of

How to create a USP successfully? It is appropriate here to recall the ad for M & M's chocolates. She attracted attention by the fact that the inscription appeared on the wrappers: "Melts in the mouth, not in the hands!" Obviously, during the development of the USP, experts noted the concern of buyers when chocolate candies can get your hands dirty, and suggested a solution.

Another example is Domino's pizza, whose motto is: "Wait 30 minutes or get it for free!" Here the specialists simply put themselves in the customer's shoes: what is he experiencing at the moment? Hunger, of course. Every minute of waiting is very difficult for a hungry person. Marketers have shown human understanding, and it has had its effects.

Price factor

At this stage, competitors' prices and their own prices are considered. In the process of pricing, the marketing part is taken into account only indirectly, since it is influenced by completely different factors: the cost of raw materials, technologies, labor, transportation and the expected profit.

Ultimately, however, the price factor can have a significant impact on sales. It all depends on the type of product. There are goods for which the price cannot be low under any circumstances. Usually they belong to the category of luxury: diamonds, cars, etc. In this area, it makes no sense to rely on low prices.

On price factor you can place a bet when it comes to selling clothes, gadgets, appliances or furniture. Here it should be borne in mind that the consumer evaluates the product in terms of value for money.

activity

Event management refers to short-term advertising campaigns. Great results can be expected if the idea of an event is combined with a socially significant event and the company's own mission. As a rule, you need to prepare for such events long in advance.

Examples: holding a tree planting event on Environment Day, flash mobs or entertainment on Children's Day, etc. Before the event, it is a good idea to send out a press release to the local media and get their attention. If the idea finds a general response, then the company will receive media coverage and advertising in its context.

The marketing research plan will help to identify successful ideas and ways of presenting such events.

Budget

How much money will it cost to implement a massive marketing campaign that can reach the entire target audience? The budget must be set several months in advance.

When planning a budget, there are two options: a solid budget that allows you to buy the best sites for advertising or a small budget, from which you need to squeeze the maximum.

In the second case, the selected sites and advertising channels should be reviewed. Expensive channels are eliminated and more accessible ones are left. Another option is to reduce the amount of advertising with the same amount.

It is also necessary to determine what is profitable: to have your own marketer on the staff with the skills of a designer, copywriter and video editor, or to order materials from advertising agencies... In general, the marketing plan budget in the business plan should be one of the top priorities.

Action List

At this stage, you need to paint an action plan. In particular, on which sites the advertisement will be placed. There are many options.

Print advertising: specialized catalogs and magazines.
Advertising on TV: commercials or banner ads.
Web sites.
contextual advertising.
Targeted advertising in social networks.
Holding exhibitions and celebrations.
Distribution by mail or phone.
PR materials and their distribution.

Not many companies can handle all channels at once. An example marketing plan should choose the most suitable options from this arsenal and proceed with the placement. On initial stage it is enough to define 3-5 channels and work with them.

The role of the work done in the development of the business can only be assessed through continuous analysis. If you do not analyze the results, then we can assume that the resources are thrown to the wind.

After each event held, the marketing department must compile statistics, which will reflect the basic information: the number of people involved, their opinion, the impact of the campaign on the level of sales and the company's image.

Not all campaigns will be equally effective: some will have to be discarded, others will have to be adjusted and included in the action plan for the next period. To assess the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, their specific tools are used, including research.

In any case, successful campaigns should be emphasized and their budget expanded, ineffective ones are postponed until better times or thrown out of the plan.

Conclusion

Business trends change frequently. Including in Russia. At the stage of the formation of the private manufacturing and trade sector, the presence of demand was previously relevant. But today, almost all industries are in a highly competitive environment. A new player will have to make his own way into the hearts and wallets of consumers in order to win his place.

Starting a business, every entrepreneur must clearly understand the conditions in which he will have to work and what paths can lead to the growth of the company. Objectively compiled business plan, which is carefully worked out marketing strategies, will give a clear idea of where to go and how to do it. And already at the planning stage, you can see the prospects: are there chances in a particular industry, or there is no point in wasting time and money.

Considering the fact that marketing is a separate industry economic sciences and requires special knowledge, it is recommended to involve in the process professional specialists... They will help you see your strengths and weaknesses. If mistakes are made, then alternative ways will be suggested.

A company's marketing plan is a plan that reflects its overall marketing strategy for the coming year. It must indicate for whom you are positioning your products, how you will sell it to the target category of buyers, what techniques you will use to attract new customers and increase sales. The purpose of a marketing plan is to detail how you can market your products and services to your target market.

Steps

Part 1

Situational analysis

Think over the goals of your company. The purpose of a situational analysis is to understand the current marketing situation in which your company finds itself. Based on this understanding, you can think over and implement the necessary changes in the business. Start by looking at the company's mission and goals (if your company does not already have them, then they need to be defined first) and check if your current marketing plan is helping you achieve those goals.

For example, your company performs snow removal and other related winter types of work. You have set a goal to increase your revenue by 10% through new contracts. Do you have a marketing plan that outlines how you can attract additional contracts? If a plan exists, is it effective?

Explore your current marketing strengths and weaknesses. How is your company currently attractive to customers? How are competing companies attractive to customers? It is very likely that your strengths are what attracts customers to you. Knowing your strengths gives you an important marketing advantage.

Gather information about external opportunities and threats for your company. They will be external characteristics of the company, depending on competition, fluctuations in market factors, as well as on customers and buyers. The goal is to identify the various factors that can affect the business. This will then allow you to adjust your marketing plan accordingly.

Designate responsible persons. When preparing your marketing plan, you will need to designate individuals responsible for specific aspects of promoting your company in the marketplace. Consider which employees will best be able to fulfill specific functions of the marketing policy and define their responsibilities. You will also need to think over a system for assessing the success of these job responsibilities.

Announce your marketing goals. What do you want to achieve with your marketing plan? Do you see the ultimate goal expanding your customer base, informing existing customers about new services and quality improvements, expanding into other regions or demographic groups, or something completely different? It is your goals that will form the basis for preparing the plan.

Develop marketing strategies to achieve your goals. Once you have clearly defined your marketing goals and prospects, you need to think about specific actions to achieve them. There are many different types of marketing strategies, but the most common ones are listed below.

Approve the budget. You may have great ideas for promoting your business and expanding your customer base, but with a tight budget, you may need to partially rethink your strategy. The budget should be realistic and reflect both the current state of the business and its potential future growth.

Part 4

Preparation of a marketing plan

Start with an explanatory note. This section of the marketing plan should include basic information about your product or service, and also briefly describe the overall content of the entire document in one or two paragraphs of text. The priority preparation of an explanatory note will allow you to subsequently expand and describe in more detail individual points in the main text of the document.

Be aware that the prepared marketing plan is extremely useful to give for review both to direct employees of your company and to its consultants.

Describe your target market. The second section of your marketing plan will refer to the results of your research and describe the company's target market. The text should not be written in a complex language, instructions are simple key provisions will be sufficient. You can start by describing the demographics of your market (including age, gender, location, and customer profile, if applicable), and then move on to identifying the main customer preferences for your products or services.
List the goals. This section should not span more than one page of text. It should indicate the company's marketing goals for the coming year. Remember that the goals you set must satisfy five qualities: be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.

Be sure to include in your marketing plan the needs and ideas for each department in your company (and even the employee, if applicable). It is also very important that the marketing plan is linked and well integrated with the business plan and mission of the company, its public image and core values.
Include in your marketing plan any tables, graphs, and the like that you need to draw up in the process of gathering important information. In addition, it will be helpful to include tables in the plan that explain the key points of the plan.

Warnings

It is necessary to revise the marketing plan at least once a year to check the success of the strategies used and to redo those parts of the plan that were unsuccessful.
Many of the critical factors in a marketing plan are dynamic. If they change over time, the marketing plan needs to be revised.

Marketing plan- document, the fundamental part strategic development plan of the company, in which market goals are set and methods of achieving them are indicated.

Strategic Marketing Plan, developed for 3 to 5 years, contains long-term goals and defining marketing strategies with an indication of the resources required to implement them. The strategic marketing plan is updated and revised annually, based on which annual marketing plan.

Operational marketing plan (annual marketing plan) describes the current marketing situation, goals of the market, marketing strategies for the current year. It includes a program of events, resources, including financial support.

Marketing plan the company is key in planning activities, along with the budget, production plan, sales plan. The company's annual plan accordingly sets out common goals enterprises, however, to work in competitive environment marketing - efforts in the marketplace - is the main function of an enterprise. In this regard, the marketing plan dominates in value over other sections of the overall annual plan, because:

the target indicators of the marketing plan have a direct impact on the indicators of other sections of the annual plan;
decisions recorded in the marketing plan determine what exactly the company will produce, at what price and where to sell, how to advertise;

The marketing plan serves as a key guide to the performance of personnel involved in the firm's marketing activities.

Marketing Necessity... A marketing plan is like a traveller's itinerary; it is both a map and a compass. The marketing plan fixes the current position (location) of the enterprise, vectors moves, target points, and, most importantly, records the actions that the company must take to get to the target points. To find out why you need a marketing plan, consider the problems that arise in the enterprise in the absence of a marketing plan, as well as the results that the company gets after developing it.

Problems of not having a marketing plan.

The company develops spontaneously, from luck to failure;
Possible schemes, existing development options are constantly in conflict. As a reason - the dissipation of efforts, funds, waste of time;
Target audience is not defined, discrepancies in its assessments from time to time lead to the problems described in the paragraph above;
The enterprise buys products chaotically, tries to diversify the product offer at the moment when it requires concentration on the main product offer;

Marketing plan objectives.

systematization, formal description of the ideas of company leaders, communicating them to employees;
setting marketing goals, ensuring control over their achievement;
concentration and reasonable allocation of the firm's resources.

The process of developing a marketing plan. It is reasonable to propose the following sequential process, as a result of the implementation of the points of which are formulated marketing plan firms. The process consists of six mandatory steps:

Determination of the mission of the enterprise;
SWOT analysis;
Determination of the goals and strategy of the organization as a whole;
Determination of tasks and a program of actions for their implementation;
Drawing up a marketing plan and monitoring its implementation;
Marketing budgeting.

More in detail the points:

At the stage of describing the mission, the purpose of all subsequent efforts of the company is determined;
SWOT analysis gives a clear idea of where the company is located (marketing audit or marketing audit) and what it is: an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses enterprise, as well as opportunities and threats emanating from the immediate environment of the enterprise (external environment);
The third section provides a framework for developing a specific marketing action program. This stage of the marketing plan includes forecasting the development of target markets (segments), the dynamics of macro- and microeconomic processes, as well as the resource capabilities of the enterprise. On the basis of all of the above, the main goals of the activity are formulated, structured in the form of a goal tree, at the top of which is the global corporate goal.
At the fourth stage, the tasks of the marketing department are determined within general plan enterprises, and a program of action is being developed to address these challenges. At this stage, the strategic directions of the firm's actions are concretized by planning tactical measures. For each target market segment, appropriate goods (services) of the required quality and quantity, their prices, places of sale and tactics of their promotion to the consumer should be planned.
The fifth stage allows us to get the document itself, with the determination of the values of the parameters by which the implementation of the marketing plan will subsequently be monitored, registration is carried out marketing program(marketing plan), namely: layout, coordination with all stakeholders and approval of the document.
Marketing budget- a section of the marketing plan, reflecting the planned amounts of income, costs and profits. The amount of income is justified by the projected volume of sales in value terms. Costs are defined as the sum of all types of costs. The approved budget is the basis for ensuring the production of goods and marketing activities.

In the marketing literature, there is a description of the process of developing a marketing plan consisting of more points. Understand that the number of points is not important, it is important to understand that having the described set of sequential works allows you to get a document called a "marketing plan". The detailing of this set of works can indeed be written down with a large number of points that can be phrased in other words.

Structurally, the marketing plan consists of from the following sections of the document:

main results of activities for the previous period;
analysis and forecast of the development of the economy and the target market;
the goals put forward mainly in quantitative terms with the highlighting of the main goal;
strategies of the company's behavior in market segments;
measures of commodity, price, sales and communication policies, indicating the responsible executors and deadlines;
marketing budget plan (marketing budget).

Number of impressions: 151,701

The management of a firm is called upon to perform a set of essential functions: setting goals, developing plans, policies, methods, strategies and tactics. Managers organize and coordinate, direct and control, serve as a driving force and a link. Planning is only one of these functions, but one of the most important: the plan of activities, or business plan, company directs the activities of the company as a whole.

The marketing plan is an essential part of the company's plan, and the marketing planning process should be carried out as part of the firm's overall planning and budgeting process.

There are a number of different planning approaches. In traditional planning, plans are usually subdivided according to the time frame for which they are calculated, for example:

long-term plans;
medium-term plans;
short-term plans. There is no universal definition of planning periods. Long- and medium-term plans are often called “strategic” because they deal with long-term business strategies; short-term plans are often called “corporate” or “business plans” because they provide guidance for day-to-day operations. Which plan is used depends on what the company does, what markets it serves, and how much it needs to plan for future production.
Long-term planning is aimed at assessing general economic and business trends for many years to come. It defines the strategies of the company aimed at ensuring growth in accordance with its long-term objectives, which is of particular importance for enterprises in such industries as the defense industry, astronautics and pharmaceuticals (in which the development time new products reach 5-10 years). In these industries, long-term planning covers a period of 10-20 years. However, the majority of companies do not have such a long time to master their products, and long-term planning does not look ahead further than 5-7 years.
Medium-term planning is more practical and takes no more than 2-5 years (usually 3 years). Medium-term planning is more tied to life, as it concerns the near future; the plan is more likely to reflect reality. The medium-term "strategic" plan is based on the same strategies as the long-term, but the main decisions must be implemented in more short time... These types of solutions include: the introduction of new products, the need for capital investment, the availability and use of personnel and resources.
Short-term planning (and budgeting) usually covers a period of up to one year and involves the development of "corporate" or "business" plans for the company and associated budgets. Such plans consider the immediate future and details of what the company intends to undertake over a twelve month period (tied to the company's fiscal year). Of all the plans, the short-term plans are the most detailed. If necessary, adjustments are made to them throughout the year.
Traditional planning and strategic planning
Until the 1970s. the traditional strategic planning of the company has worked quite well. Cycles business activity were highly predictable, the environment was stable, competitors were well known, exchange rates were fixed, pricing was stable and consumer behavior was predictable.
After the oil "shock" of the early 1970s. and the transition to "floating" exchange rates, enterprises are faced with a radically different, rapidly changing environment. New technologies, new competition, significant changes in prices, and other irreversible changes required a different type of strategic planning. The focus of company management has shifted from long-term planning to the implementation of corporate plans, when within a limited time the company receives real results, on the basis of which the necessary adjustments are made to the long-term strategic plan. The planning horizons have narrowed to a few years.
The main difference between the two approaches is that traditional planning assumes that all relevant information is available from the beginning of the process, while new "strategic" planning uses new data as it becomes available. At the moment, experts in the field of marketing planning have adopted the method of "strategic" planning.
What's the difference between marketing and corporate plans?
The directors and senior managers of the company set the goals of its activities. Goals are usually expressed in financial terms and define what the company will look like over time, say three years from now. The goals of the firm's activities usually include such indicators as sales volume, profit before taxes, return on equity, etc. economic activity(audit). Each functional area of the company has its own audit. During the audit, specific goals and strategies from which a plan will be developed for each function of the company to achieve a separate set of goals and implement specific strategies. Individual plans are developed in detail for the first year of the plan and include quantitative data on approximate costs and income.
The marketing plan sets the market goals of the company and proposes how to achieve them. It does not include all the goals and methods of the firm. In addition to marketing, production, financial and "personnel" goals are distinguished. None of them can be viewed in isolation.
A complete corporate or business plan includes a number of supporting plans, including a company marketing master plan. All individual plans must be agreed upon and coordinated into a single corporate plan.
The subject of our analysis is the marketing plan, but we need to consider the complexities of setting goals and developing strategies within the system as a whole.
The corporate plan is based on the ordering process and the sales budget (part of the marketing plan). None of the plans can be carried out without analyzing and taking into account this information. On its basis, the sales volume for the production plan is determined, on the basis of which the plan is developed. procurement activities, the level of stocks and indicators of their turnover are determined, which in turn affects the procedures for issuing invoices, cash flow and financial consolidation of commercial loans.
The company's plans are influenced by other issues, which are primarily considered in the marketing plan. Pricing issues affect the financial plan, and the marketing plan can suggest a pricing policy and strategy. The introduction of new products is largely determined by production plan and financing of strategic reserves. In order for the reserves to facilitate entry into new strategic markets, they must also be secured on a consignment basis. The production and procurement plans determine the decision to manufacture some of the components of the final product by the company itself or to turn to external sources. If the marketing plan is to replace or increase production, and price is the key to success, then it probably makes sense to purchase some of the product parts from other manufacturers. What will be the opportunity costs of production (and the plan) in the case of the introduction of additional production capacity and what consequences will it have on financial plan the need to find additional funds for the purchase of components on the side? All of these (and many more) issues need to be discussed and agreed with functional managers and senior management of the company at the beginning of the marketing planning process.
A marketing plan is like a map: it shows where the company is going and how it is going to get there. It is both an action plan and a written document. The marketing plan identifies promising business opportunities for the company and outlines ways to penetrate, capture and hold positions in specific markets. It connects all the elements of marketing into a coherent action plan detailing who, what, when, where, and how to achieve goals.
The attention of the authors of many works on marketing planning is focused on theoretical problems. Perhaps this approach is interesting for scientists and managers who manage the process of the company's activities as a whole, but it is too complicated for ordinary commercial directors... Our approach is practical and involves theory only to the extent necessary to understand the planning process. The author hopes that by accepting and sharing the formal outline of the plan outlined in this book, it will be easier for you to organize your thoughts and facts in a logical order. And then:
employees who will need to familiarize themselves with the plan will understand your arguments and the logic of your conclusions without any problems;
You will present a complete professional document to management (even if the information you have limited).
What is marketing and how is it different from sales?
Successful Marketing Ensures Availability the desired product in the right place at the right time and customer awareness.
The purpose of sales, sales is to convince the buyer to purchase the offered product. But this is only one aspect of marketing.
Even now, in large companies, marketing and sales are often completely separate, sometimes run by different directors. In some organizations, sales are viewed as a local functional area, and marketing is separately handled by the head office or "marketing specialists". It should not be. Sales and marketing must be combined or at least have the same goals. There must be a constant exchange of information between these two areas, otherwise it will adversely affect marketing planning.
The separation of sales and marketing functions makes it difficult to get involved in marketing activities or planning the marketing of salespeople. Today, especially in smaller companies, it is not uncommon for sales leaders to have formal marketing training. The situation with commercial directors is even worse, and salespeople, even in large companies, apparently do not receive any marketing training at all. How will today's salespeople manage their respective departments tomorrow and serve as commercial directors? Only by mastering all the secrets of trading on your own. They can learn from those who already have experience, but training is still needed.
It is taken for granted that large companies, especially international ones, can afford to train employees in marketing or to entice specialists from other firms. A decade ago, it was difficult to get training in marketing, but now it is not. Organizations that offer sales-oriented training also offer courses in marketing at a variety of levels.
In accordance with the generally accepted definition, marketing is "the provision of goods and services in accordance with the needs of the consumer." In other words, marketing is about ensuring that the company matches its products and makes a profit by focusing on the needs of its customers. Long gone are the days when companies first produced a product and then looked for buyers for it.
Customers purchase only those products that they need. Often the public criticizes intense advertising campaigns for allegedly “forcing” consumers to purchase the firm's products. This is not entirely true - consider, for example, the failed attempts of the Coca-Cola Company to introduce new soft drinks to the market or the initially negative reaction of consumers to the Ford Sierra car model.
Two-thirds of new products fail at the very first steps in the market. Firms must take into account the requirements of consumers and the market and adapt their products to them (i.e., be market-oriented). The company that produced in the 1950s. tube radios, 1960-1970s was forced to reorient to transistor, and in the 1980s. - for the production of stereo recorders. Black and white TV manufacturers (1950s-1960s) 1970s began production of colored, in the 1980s. - televisions with teletext, and in the 1990s. - high definition TVs. Each of these products meets the same basically the same needs of customers, only at different points in time. If these enterprises continued to produce the same goods that satisfied the consumer in the 1960s, then in the 1970s and 1980s. they would go bankrupt. These are the basic principles of marketing - "in the end, the consumer always gets what he wants," and an entrepreneur who ignores the demands of the market is doomed to fiasco.
Marketing is a process that combines the capabilities of the enterprise and the needs of the consumer:
the buyer meets his needs;
the company receives income from the sale of goods.
To achieve a balance between the needs and the supply of goods, enterprises must show agility. They must be prepared to change products, introduce new products, and enter new markets. It is vital for them to be able to understand the needs of customers and the situation in the market. Achieving equilibrium occurs in the "external environment", which is formed by a number of significant factors for the company.
Local and cultural preferences. The perception of certain goods by buyers is largely determined by local traditions and conditions, as well as national and cultural perceptions. British black pudding and shepherd's pie are unlikely to catch on with consumers in Italy or Spain, and sauerkraut is unlikely to sell well in Scotland. American refrigerators are too big for Japanese homes.
Government policy. Economic conditions, the policies, laws and environmental requirements of the countries in which you intend to sell your products will affect your business in one way or another. Changes in exchange rates affect the competitiveness of your product relative to local counterparts and determine the decision on the feasibility of organizing their production in the selected country. For car and detergent manufacturers, for example, the environmental policy of the state is of great importance. As a rule, national legislation strictly regulates the sale of drugs and pharmaceutical products; in some countries certain types of fertilizers and pesticides may be controlled or prohibited.
Competition. The activities of your firm affect your competitors, and the actions they take affect the production of your company. What your competitors do will affect products, pricing, and many other factors. Even a market leader has no right to ignore the activities of competitors.
New technologies. Modern technologies and with them the needs of consumers are changing extremely rapidly. The advent of electronic digital watches has had a dramatic impact on the market wrist watch... Power windows and sunroofs were once considered a costly overkill in the luxury car market; now they are the norm for most car manufacturers. The functions of VCRs are constantly changing. A firm cannot count on its current range of products to always be in demand. As technology advances, it is necessary to modify, improve or replace products.
Change in the distribution structure. The emergence in Europe of giant supermarkets and suburban shopping centers in the 1970s-1980s. changed the distribution structure of literally all goods - from food products to DIY stores (aided largely by the increase in car owners). Japan, which is in the early stages of this transformation, has significantly more stores per capita than the United States and Europe. Introducing containerization and increasing the use and availability of air freight transport also caused significant changes in the distribution structure.
It is obvious that the external marketing environment is outside the control of both individuals and companies. Its conditions are constantly changing and must be monitored continuously.
So marketing is defined:
the capabilities of the company;
the needs of the buyer;
marketing environment.
The marketing organization of a company involves control over four basic elements of the company's operations ("marketing mix"):
the goods being sold (Product - Product);
pricing policy (Price - Price);
product promotion (Promotion);
distribution methods (Place - Place).
"Promotion" and "Place" relate primarily to how the firm attracts potential buyers, and "Product" and "Price" to meet their needs. The marketing mix (also known as the four Ps of marketing) defines the company's profit-making and customer satisfaction policies.
A market usually consists of a number of submarkets with different sets of purchasing needs. The firm must create an appropriate marketing structure for each submarket. For example, the automotive market consists of a market passenger cars, the service car market and the private car market, which differ significantly in the set of consumer requirements.
Each element of the marketing mix represents a broad field of action for a marketing-oriented organization; they should be considered both separately and in conjunction with other elements. The structure of the marketing mix that is satisfactory at a certain point in time may require revision, because:
goods and services are becoming obsolete or improved;
new goods and services appear;
competition leads to a decrease in the price of a product (and, as a result, profit margins);
advertising activities may be less effective than competitors;
place of sale or method of distribution may not correspond to emerging alternatives or changes in business.
Marketing mix management is the key to a successful sales organization and the heart of marketing planning.
What is Marketing Planning?
Marketing planning is a term used to describe how marketing resources are used to achieve marketing goals. It sounds simple, but the real process is quite complicated. Each company has specific resources and pursues specific goals, which, moreover, change over time. Marketing planning is used to segment the market, determine its condition, predict its growth and plan a viable market share within each segment.
The process includes:
performance marketing research inside and outside the company;
analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the company;
assumptions;
forecasts;
setting marketing goals;
development of marketing strategies;
definition of programs;
budgeting;
revision of results and goals, strategies and programs.
The planning process is designed to:
improve the use of company resources to establish marketing opportunities;
to strengthen the team spirit and unity of the company;
assist in achieving corporate goals.
And, in addition, marketing research as part of the planning process allows you to form an information base for the implementation of current and future projects.
What is a Marketing Plan?
A marketing plan is a document that formulates the main goals of marketing the company's goods and services and how to achieve them. Although we are talking about products in this chapter, they almost always include some service component, such as after-sales service, the advice of trained salespeople, and (in the case of consumer products) the art of selling. The marketing plan has formal structure, but it can also be used as an informal, rather flexible tool:
to prepare arguments when introducing a new product;
when changing approaches to marketing the company's products;
when developing complete marketing plans for a department, division or firm for inclusion in a corporate or business plan.
In principle, a marketing plan can be prepared for one product in a separate trading area, but large-scale plans have become more common.
In the future, we will consider examples from various industries (production of investment and consumer goods, services). Despite the significant differences between the products produced, the basic principles of marketing apply to each of them. Yes, the way they are used varies, but the fundamental approach to marketing plan is the same.
For a marketing plan, there are no issues that are too small or too big. You can write marketing plans for dairy equipment in any region of the country, diaphragm valves in one of the European countries, and bathroom kits in hotels in the Middle East. You might as well develop a marketing plan for a wide variety of goods and services (from products chemical industry to restaurant services fast service) at the district, country or world level.
When it comes to companies with subsidiaries, marketing plans for each of them are developed either by their employees or by employees of the head office. Each subsidiary marketing plan is developed on the basis of separate, smaller-scale individual plans.
The main condition for the development of plans for departments and subsidiaries is that they should be linked to the general plan of the company. This does not mean that you have to prepare a plan for every product or trade area. But if they are developed, then they must be aligned with the general marketing plan.
A marketing plan cannot be considered complete if it does not include historical data, forecasts for the future, goals and methods or strategies for achieving these goals. If the plan is for a new product for which historical data are not available, it is possible to use information about the product it replaces, or estimates for a similar product from a competing firm.
In its simplest form the marketing plan begins with collecting and evaluating historical data. Usually it contains detailed information about competitors, their strengths and weaknesses, strengths and weaknesses. Naturally, it should consider the strengths and weaknesses of your company, your successes and failures. But this is not a plan yet, but only the first step in its development. It is then supplemented with forecasts for the future, which suggests a detailed description of the strategies that will be used to achieve the set goals.
In the full form of the plan, an assessment of the resources required for its implementation is given, its impact on the profit and loss indicators is examined in detail, or the forecast of the company's financial statement is included in the plan.
Why do you and your company need a marketing plan?
Managers of some companies believe that the efforts directed to marketing planning do not pay off with the results of execution of plans. The manager's time is supposedly too valuable, and it is inappropriate to spend it on anything other than solving urgent operational tasks. You may think that you don't need a formal marketing plan. Many of the specialists in their entire working life in the trade or sales service of the organization have never participated in the development of a marketing plan, have they?
Impossible to manage trade organization, albeit even of a very small size, or prepare at least a sales forecast without drawing up some elementary form of a marketing plan. Often times, however, managers simply take some quantitative metrics to fit the factual statement. This kind of action does not require special efforts but demonstrate a clear lack of understanding of the marketing planning process.
In a highly competitive environment, it is necessary to be able to use "marketing" in order to direct "sales" to the right company direction. The marketing plan is one of the tools to accomplish the task. As a document with a formal structure, it obliges the person who writes it to express their thoughts, facts and conclusions consistently and logically so that others can understand them.
A properly prepared marketing plan should describe the company's policies and strategies that guide managers in their day-to-day activities. Consequently, the intervention of the leaders of the organization in operational management is required only in difficult or unusual situations.
Summary
Planning is one of the main functions of management. A company's corporate or business plan guides its activities. The marketing plan is only one part of the corporate plan, so the planning process should be carried out as part of the company's master plan and budgeting process.
As a result of significant changes in the economic environment in the 1970-1980s. the focus of company management has shifted from long-term planning to the implementation of action plans, the implementation of which allows you to get results in a short period of time and on the basis of which long-term strategic plans... New "strategic" planning assumes that management quickly reacts to incoming information and uses it. This approach is also adopted by marketing specialists.
To prepare a corporate plan, a company must set business objectives, conduct an audit and prepare separate plans for each functional area of the company. All of them (including the marketing plan) must be agreed upon and coordinated into a single corporate plan.
The goal of marketing is to convince the customer to purchase the company's product, but this is just one aspect of marketing. Marketing requires the firm to identify the needs of the customers and match the products and services to them, which allows the company to make a profit.
This requires understanding:
company capabilities;
customer needs;
the marketing environment in which the firm operates. A company's capabilities can be managed by controlling four main elements of the company's operations (or marketing mix):
sold goods (goods);
pricing policy (Price);
methods of product promotion (Promotion);
distribution methods (Place).
Marketing planning means analyzing the use of marketing resources to achieve its goals. It requires segmenting the market, determining the market position, forecasting the size of the market, and planning a viable market share within each market segment.
The basic principles of marketing apply equally across industries (consumer goods, capital goods and services).
A marketing plan is a document that formulates a plan for the marketing of goods and / or services. General plan marketing consists of marketing plans for individual products or trade areas. A company's marketing plan sets out marketing goals and suggests strategies for achieving them.

The overwhelming majority of Russian marketers were brought up on Kotler's books. His contribution to popularizing marketing is of course invaluable. But, perhaps, it is in this role that he will remain in history.

American authors Hibing and Cooper, known worldwide for their books on marketing planning, focused much more on the practical side. Their main contribution was the phased marketing planning based on the establishment the quantitative relationship between sales volumes and marketing communications. It is no coincidence that thousands of students study in all US business schools using their books.

Another American author, Schultz, contributed greatly to the development of integrated marketing communications(IMC),- a system based on objectively proven scientific fact that the consumer integrates all information about the market for a particular product coming to him from various sources... Therefore, the presence of several communication channels multiplies the impact on the consumer. On the other hand, when information from one source is not supported by similar information from others, its effect is equally greatly reduced.

A combination of these two techniques, namely prudent transformation of IMC into real sales, is the key and most effective idea in modern marketing... Against the background of "emotional propaganda" books by foreign and domestic authors, this is by far the most rational and practically useful technique for businessmen and marketers.

There are practically no examples of how this works in the open press and the web? Mostly common words and academic plans are found. Therefore, it will be especially useful for you to familiarize yourself with our practice.

In the practice of Russian and many foreign companies marketing and sales plans are separate and have little to do with each other. You will find a lot of such plans on the Internet, which are more reminiscent of bureaucratic circulars, consisting of bulky paragraphs rewritten from textbooks and a lot of unnecessary terms and definitions. The most important thing is not there - any plan must yield results. Therefore, we are not talking about a plan "for the sake of a plan" and not about a study case. It's about a marketing plan that can actually increase sales.

It should also be remembered that the marketing plan is a key part of investment plan... Not production or financial, which many emphasize, but marketing! The marketing component is the weakest point of investment strategies and plans. A sales plan cannot be reliable without a compelling marketing rationale. This must always be remembered.

In practice, tying sales and marketing plans together is really very difficult. It is easier to make formal plans or "unsubscribes" that are suitable for the role of "whip" for managers and do not help them in their work at all.
In reality, this is a rather cumbersome and time-consuming structure, if presented in schematic or tabular form. In addition, it is very difficult to fit into a visual model of a marketing and sales plan the many preliminary and intermediate studies and chains of inference that affect content and metrics. But it is distinguished by one thing:

At any moment in time, you understand why sales are growing or falling and what and what intensity actions need to be taken to support, accelerate or slow down (if you want) these sales by the desired amount.

We took the least voluminous marketing and sales plan for the Moscow representative office of a small electric household appliances from the near abroad, recently released on Russian market... Based on the results of the analysis of the market and the product portfolio, it was planned to double the current sales volumes, excluding Internet sales, which at that time did not yet make a significant contribution and were not so actively practiced. Although the product belongs to a variety of goods, despite the influence of the Internet, they remain committed to traditional distribution channels. Therefore, the relevance of the project remains quite high.

By the time the project started, the customer had a small Moscow office of 5 people in Russia, sales of several hundred units of household appliances per month, and the only question for him was, in which publication to place an advertisement that would solve all sales problems?
We proposed a research stage, based on the results of which this marketing plan was drawn up and began to be implemented, which is presented in full schematic form below:

Complete marketing and sales plan diagram

It is important to clarify the following points:

1. Target Markets

At the start of the project, the target markets that the company worked with were limited to the orange-colored customer groups. After conducting market analysis and segmentation, other target customer groups were identified, which are highlighted in green. In the process of field research, their main characteristics were determined - price segments, decision-making system and decision-makers, basic needs and wishes, dynamics and trends in recent years.

Target Markets

Source: Analytical Marketing Agency

2. Positioning

This is the weakest point of the absolute majority Russian companies... Because they underestimate the simple but painstaking procedure for developing this position. In most cases, it is enough to be careful about this to get a quick and noticeable result. In this case, the product portfolio was analyzed and product positioning was developed, which, with minor variations, was then adapted to different target markets. This is an important point! Different target markets require specific positioning, even if at first glance it may not be fundamentally different.
In our case, a new positioning was tested in the form commercial proposal for small samples of clients. Its results were assessed according to the system of awareness - the share of a positive attitude - making a decision on procurement (conclusion of a contract).

3. Objectives of communication

The 4A model of consumer behavior known in the Western literature is deciphered as a sequence of communications with the consumer Awareness - Attitude - Action - Action Again. In the Russian-language literature you can find similar analogs of AIDA / AIDAS from the field of advertising, but we prefer to measure the specific "Attitude" of the consumer, and not the abstract "Interest". The main thing is that you must learn to give these qualitative characteristics a quantitative dimension in order to understand the most effective direction of your communications. If, for example, you reach 100% of the target group with communication, 25% have a positive attitude, 5% make a purchase, half of which make a repeat purchase, then by extending this data to a wider audience of consumers with similar characteristics, you can calculate the potential the effect of your communications. In order to get these numbers, you need local samples. And your permanent job as a marketer or business owner is to constantly try to narrow the ranges between those metrics. For example, instead of 100% - 25% - 5% - 2.5%, achieve 100% - 30% - 10% - 7% at the first stage. This is the meaning of the quantitative relationship between marketing communications and sales in general case... But this is just one of the rough (but clear!) Options for interpreting this relationship, and it has its drawbacks. More often than not, you have to select more subtle practical tools for each specific case.

Positioning is just one of these, albeit the most powerful tool for obtaining such results. We will cover this in detail in dedicated articles.

4. Identification of leading and secondary target markets.

The most promising target markets were marked green color in the "Marketing Objectives" topic. "Specialized retail chains" were not previously considered by the customer due to the difficulty of getting there. This issue was resolved by the consultants during the testing process. We managed to come to an agreement with a large network of M-Video about placing products there in the ideal price segment, which turned out to be unfilled with competitive analogues, which was drawn to the attention of the decision-makers on purchases. Thanks to a reasoned proposal, they managed to get their consent almost immediately.

By the way, at the first telephone conversation the head of the procurement department was offered to get acquainted with the results of marketing research of the electric kettle market in Russia and Moscow free of charge, in particular, in which a gap in the price range of the retail network was shown. During the second phone call, the sales network manager immediately agreed to a meeting that lasted no more than 10 minutes with the above result. Model 4A in this case looked like 100% (awareness) - 15% (positive attitude) - 7.5% (trial purchase). A positive attitude was expressed in the fact that in addition to the main one, another small network of 13 covered, having familiarized itself with the offer and positioning of the products, was ready a little later to carry out a trial purchase.

Have wholesale companies, who had previously refused to work with the company's products, managed to evoke loyalty by the new positioning of products and to encourage some of them to test purchases. According to the 4A model, 100% - 29% -14%, this made it possible to double the base of wholesale buyers - from 7 to 15.
In fact, the consultants have acted as a sales department in these examples. Due to the small number of clients in the collected databases, instead of the limited samples, these target markets were fully worked out. A high degree of efficiency was achieved due to verified positioning, which was adjusted after each contact until the proportion of positive attitude increased. If at the beginning of the work it did not exceed 10%, then at the end it reached 29%.
All contacts were transferred to sales managers to work out details and conclude contracts. And this is the main feature in our work, in contrast to classic consultants. We do not offer solutions that have not been tested with real markets and customers.
Yellow target markets or customer groups that are considered secondary are highlighted in color in the Marketing Objectives section.

Marketing objectives

Source: Analytical Marketing Agency

5. Secondary target markets for that and secondary, in order to limit them in human and financial resources compared to priority ones.

You cannot embrace the immensity, or, as we prefer to express ourselves, you cannot do a little of everything! Unfortunately, the reality is that no manager or entrepreneur ever follows this principle. More often than not, they do exactly the opposite and consider it a blessing. Because of this, we have to constantly check the compliance of the client's solutions with this principle.

"Yellow“target customer groups were deemed to be of minor importance in the test. They had some difficulties, which were expressed in low proportions of positive attitudes and potential sales in relation to awareness. These were the problems associated with identifying and reaching out to decision-makers and communicating to them important information about the company and products, with forecasting the level of average purchases and sales in general, price pressure (market traders working with cheap Chinese products), with some seasonality in purchases, with the difficulty of ranking marketing and communication tools, etc.

All this in general increased the costs of promotion in these target markets. Therefore, in accordance with the "golden rule" of business - "don't do a little bit of everything"- it was decided to restrict their activity at this stage and the main task of communications was their primary awareness of the positioning of the company and products. The main means of communication was chosen mailing list specially designed informative booklet. Therefore, forecasts of concluded contracts or potential sales in this case were approximate and did not represent much interest, since they did not plan to make a significant contribution to sales.

While in relation to the main " green“The forecasts of the target markets turned out to be quite reliable, and due to them it was supposed to receive more than 80-90% of all planned sales. Contacts with their representatives were made in full and specific agreements on supplies were reached.

6. Ranking of means of communication according to the principle "Price - Effect"

Human psychology tends to trust and pay great attention to the most expensive things and means of achieving goals. Therefore, in our case, expensive and other paid types of advertising were deemed inappropriate until the available and free marketing tools were exhausted. The sales target was doubling current sales, and the marketing plan budget is estimated at 1010 USD at the prevailing rate at that time. Significantly, less than half of it actually achieved sales targets.

We specifically focus on the insignificant amount of the marketing budget to emphasize the fact that big money does not always solve the problem of achieving the sales goal. There is always the opportunity to achieve a lot using the simplest and most economical methods based on analytics and market research. In this case, the very fact of representation in large network redundant huge advertising costs on promotion and allows you to reach, among other things, numerous secondary groups of clients. Selling to large customers automatically attracts small customers. Another thing is that serving large clients is a special art and requires constant purposeful efforts. For example, this is manifested in work with, the standards of which, as our practice has shown, are not able to withstand a significant part of Russian manufacturers in the field of light industry or food production. And this is despite the fact that only German retail is able to surpass all Russian sales of an individual company, not to mention the incomparable profit margin compared to the domestic market.

From the point of view of demonstrating the BCI, this project turned out to be not very successful due to the described artificial limitations. But the goal of a marketing plan is not to master the budget, but to get a result that is qualitatively different from the current one. Therefore, the set of selected instruments for target markets can be expanded in the future with greater efficiency than at the moment. In general, it can be noted that in a country where one federal channel easily replaces all possible IMCs, it is not so easy to show such examples.

Marketing communication objectives, marketing media and budget

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