Company Partners sees a lot of business plans, some are very good but many are poorly thought out, the most common problem is a lack of effort on the marketing or sales plan. This is an area that Investors and business partners pick up on straight away. It is often the difference between just a good idea and a real opportunity that will get to market and become a successful business.
Marketing plans can be stand-alone in the sense that although refering and being guided by an overall business plan, the marketing plan can be written as a separate document. Alternatively it can be constructed as a chapter within the business plan.
Whilst marketing plans of course have to fit the business's unique needs and situation, there are standard elements that you just can't do without: analysis of the situation, the marketing strategy, sales and marketing actions, sales forecast, and expense budget.
- Situation Analysis: Normally this will include a market analysis, a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats), and a competitive analysis. The market analysis will include market forecast, segmentation, customer information, and market needs analysis.
- Marketing Strategy: This should include at least a mission statement, objectives, and focused strategy including market segment focus and product positioning.
- Sales & Marketing Actions: Based on your marketing strategy you should spell out specific actions or programmes that you will be carrying out. The more specific you can be, the more likely-hood of it ending up a practical workable plan. Include dates and who is responsible for the action.
- Sales Forecast: This would include enough detail to track sales month by month and follow up on plan-vs.-actual analysis. Normally a plan will also include specific sales by product, by region or market segment, by channels, by manager responsibilities, and other elements.
- Expense Budget: This ought to include enough detail to track expenses month by month and follow up on plan-vs.-actual analysis.
Implementation
You should also remember that planning is about the results, not the plan itself. A marketing plan must be measured by the results it produces. The implementation of your plan is much more important than its brilliant ideas or massive market research. You can influence implementation by building a plan full of specific, measurable and concrete actions that can be tracked and followed up. Plan-vs.-actual analysis is critical to the eventual results, and you should build it into your plan
