What is a Marketing Plan?

It is a written plan that describes your product in detail and how it will be sold to the markets that will best use it and that you can best reach.

A marketing plan should be developed when a business first starts, as part of its business plan, and should be updated at least 2 times a year (preferably four times).

Most failures in marketing can be attributed to executive oversight, neglect, or lack of facts.

A marketing plan consists of a total volume goal broken down (at least) by products, customer types, areas, and time periods. That is, how much of each product is to be sold to each type of customer in each territory over each month or quarter? How much profit is each to produce?

Good business organization calls for management to:
 Establish the business goal
 Analyze the market potential
 Plan a marketing program to get the job done
 Organize manpower, equipment, capital
 Train people to execute assignments
 Execute-administrate the program
 Control it - goals, budgets, performance as planned

Factors that must be consider in writing a marketing plan:
 What products and services are you selling?
 Where will you be located and why?
 How will you get or produce these products or services?
 What is the industry?
 What is the past, present and future outlook for the industry?
 Who will buy what you are selling?
 How many buyers are there?
 Why will they buy from you?
 How will you sell them?
 How often will they buy from you?
 How much will they buy from you?
 How will they know about you?
 Where are your buyers located?
 Who are the competitors?
 What are they selling and how are they selling?
 What will make you better then the competitor?
 What suppliers or vendors will you need?