Proper planning lays the foundations for a successful business. It is therefore important to adhere to a well thought out marketing plan to achieve a company’s desired goals and boost profits. The following notes shed light on the importance of a marketing plan, its elements and its contribution to the accomplishment of business objectives.
What is a marketing plan?
The marketing plan is at the core of marketing management, and the main pillar of the marketing process. The plan should be tailor-made to provide superior customer service and products, help the company retain existing customers and attract new potential clients. The marketing plan, like all other plans, must cover at least a period of 3 months up to a year and should outline the marketing strategy and target segments to ensure the success of marketing process.
The main objective of the plan is to boost the company’s revenues. Therefore, the marketing plan must answer a set of questions, including: What is the company’s current status? What are the goals that the company seeks to achieve? How to accomplish these goals?
Reasons for drafting a marketing plan:
It is essential that the marketing plan is comprehensive and falls in line with the company’s strategies. Every company needs a marketing plan for the following reasons:
- To identify whether the company is moving in the right direction and properly managing its resources in addition to developing sound distribution methods.
- To identify all tasks and set deadlines for their implementation.
- To encourage the company to adopt innovative strategies and to strive for leadership and excellence.
- To predict and avoid threats, as well as to solve problems and eliminate obstacles.
What is the role of the marketing plan?
The marketing plan plays an important role in the success of the marketing process.
- To provide advice and guidance to the management of the institution at all stages of marketing.
- To facilitate sound management decisions.
- To keep the company from making mistakes and to assist in addressing challenges.
- To provide comprehensive information to the marketing department and its staff on competitor products, the strength of the competition, market opportunities and threats and the lack of customer interaction with the company’s products or competing products.
- To put the company on track to gain an increasing market share by enhancing its competitive advantage
