W. A. Fisher Marketing
Marketing Plans
Perhaps the most fundamental, but often overlooked, tool in marketing is the marketing plan. A well done marketing plan is a road map which your business can follow to achieve marketing success. The major components of most comprehensive plans include the following:
- Mission statement
- Corporate objectives - defining goals such as market share, sales and revenue
- Marketing audit - a thorough documention of current marketing processes within a firm or organization
- SWOT analysis - an accounting of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats presented
- Preliminary conclusions - a set of assumptions derived from the marketing audit and SWOT analysis
- Marketing objecitives - clear, and whenever possible, measurable goals established for the marketing process
- Tactics - identification of alternative means of accomplishing stated goals
- Budget - establishing a budget for all marketing related efforts
- Implementation - finally developing a plan for executing the desired tactics within the stated budget
Who needs a marketing plan? Any business or organization that is spending tens of thousands of dollars or more per year on marketing should have at least a basic marketing plan that is updated on a regular basis. Any start ups should also include a marketing plan as part of their overall business plan. If youre spending thousands on marketing and receiving unsatisfactory results, chances are its time to go back to the drawing board - starting a with a new marketing plan.
The cost of a marketing plan is generally driven by the overall marketing budget of any given firm or organization. At W.A. Fisher Marketing, we would generally recommend that the cost of a marketing plan should not exceed 5% of the overall budget.
Please contact us for more information regarding marketing plans.