Marketing Plan Outline:
An 8 Step Process

This 8-step marketing plan outline will help business owners put together a plan to launch a new product or service or will help those who are starting a small business or running their business.

Examples used in this marketing plan outline below are to illustrate the content only – for some industries the marketing plan example for an opportunity might be a threat; etc.

I’ve included examples just to show you what SOME of the subjects might be. Thoroughly understand your own environment before you start to write the marketing plan. A thorough business plan outline (which includes the marketing plan outline) is also necessary for the many other business
planning components.

1. Executive Summary:

The executive summary is really a highlight page (or two) of the contents of the marketing plan. Typically it needs to address the key points of your plan and answer the who, what, why, when, where, and how questions; and finishes with the 'next step'. This summary is always done last – after the other parts of the plan are completed. Follow this 8-step marketing plan outline to build a strong and measurable plan. Make sure that you clearly understand what you need to accomplish in your marketing plan.

2. Company Review:

• Introduce the management team: A Who’s Who

• Background information on the Company (date incorporated, business purpose, history, number of employees, primary product/service, etc.)

• Include the company's vision statement. (a view of the company's long-term and future direction) and the company's value statement. Both will keep your plan focused and aligned on your business.

3. Environmental Scan (also known as a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (or SWOT) analysis):

• SWOT Analysis: Company (internal) and Environment it operates in (external)
• Industry Analysis
• Competitive Analysis; including an analysis of competitive advantage (Michael Porter’s 5 Competitive Forces)
• Suppliers to industry
• Regulatory
• Customers
• Company’s position in the industry (or in the case of a new business startup, the desired position in the industry)

4. Market:

Generally, there are two types of markets: mass markets (you’re selling to the world – much like an online business) or target markets (you’re selling to a specific targeted segment of the market) - also referred to as target marketing or marketing segmentation.

As a small business owner, typically you will want to target your market and you will therefore need to do market segmentation.

• Market segmentation – which is about segmenting the target market (so that you can better target them with your offer – think about this as ‘niche-ing’ your customers).

  This could be done at a fairly high level or at a very detailed level.

• At the high level, if you are focused on business to business selling you might want to segment by size of the business or the location of the business.
• At the detailed level you might want to segment by psychographics (lifestyle, values, needs, wants) or by demographics (characteristics of age, gender, ethnicity, etc.) or both or more.

You are trying to determine and separate the characteristics of your market segments and find a viable market for your products or services.

5. Identify Your Target market:

• Select your primary, secondary, and perhaps even your tertiary markets based on your market segmentation.

6. Build Your Marketing Strategy:

Your marketing strategy needs to include an overarching goal or mission statement (that connects to the Company’s mission statement). It also needs to include your marketing objectives and how you plan to accomplish them (the action plan/next steps).

• Why does what you sell benefit your (potential) customer?
• Describe your market’s needs and wants.
• Describe how your business will meet them.
• Define your product’s position from the perspective of your target customer and relative to your competitors.
• Define the general strategies you will use (keeping in mind your target market’s need and wants and your business' product or service benefits.
• Define the marketing mix:
• Product or Service: Features, advantages, benefits, specifications, improvements, problems/challenges.
• Pricing for each product or service: make sure you define each product's competitive pricing strategies.
• How you will distribute or place the product or service? (For example: Is it a physical storefront, or an online storefront? Will you have multiple branches or one location?)

• Marketing Mix Promotion (also known as marketing communications): define how you plan to promote the product or service. This effort helps to build your brand or identity. Tactics can include internet marketing, postcard marketing, advertising, direct mail, print programs, public relations, and lots more.

7. Measure Your Results:

Your marketing plan must contain a plan to measure business performance and specific marketing results.

• How many sales did you get through your affiliate or referral programs?
• How many sales through the web; through walk-in?
• Did buyers flood your phone lines after they read about you in the local paper?

Keep track of your marketing strategies, programs and tactics and measure results against these activities. Focus on those activities that give you the best results and spend less time, energy and money on those activities that don’t increase sales.

8. Marketing Plan Outline - Additional Elements To Include:

Your marketing plan needs to also include the sales plan, the business operations plan and business financial plan.

• It is in your sales plan that you need to address the size of the market, your market share or your target market share, your growth plans (typically by dollars and by month/year).
• The operations plan needs to be linked to sales projections: can operations manufacture or inventory the products needed to fulfill the sales projections? Do you have enough staff to achieve your targets? Do you have enough supplies and materials to achieve your targets?
• The financial plans need to include pro-forma profit and loss statements – include marketing budget projections, cash flow projections, a break-even analysis, and a risk analysis (also known as what-if or sensitivity analysis) to assess risks and impacts on the company if sales, production and/or costs do not happen as per the plan.

This marketing plan outline is a framework for you. You can expand it and contract it (slightly) to meet your specific needs.

But make sure that you use the marketing plan outline!

Or Return From Marketing Plan Outline to More-For-Small Business.

Custom Search