Marketing Plan: Components and its Importance (Essay Sample)

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Institution
Professor
Date
MARKETING
PART 1.
Introduction.
A marketing plan is a document outlining the marketing efforts and the advertising methods. It describes activities in a business which are used to accomplish specific marketing objectives over a set time. A market plan also comprises of a description of the marketing position of a business. The target market and proper explanation of the marketing mix a business is to use to achieve its set marketing goals. Marketing plan can either poses a formal or informal structure. The informal structure facilitates flexibility. A marketing plan contains some background data of the organization, what it is planning to do and the strategies laid to achieve its marketing objectives. A marketing plan starts by identifying customer needs in an acceptable way. A marketing plan can also contain the strengths and weaknesses of the business and coming up with the best ways to achieve its goals(Westwood John, 2002).
A marketing plan is comprised of several components. The first component is market research. This is very crucial in marketing plan. Market research involves the study of consumer habits in the industry, evaluating the size of the market, determining how the market is growing or declining and establishing the new trends in the market. Secondly, is the target market? This involves identifying the most likely buyers. It discusses the levels of segmentation. Positioning is the other component which tries to show the reason for the brand in the market. The fourth component is competitive analysis. It involves knowing the competitors in the market place and trying to make one’s products or services different. In analyzing competition one should evaluate the price at which competitors are selling their products and determine which market segment they intend to reach. This helps businesses to know the strategies put in place by competitors and understanding how to curb competition. Market strategy is the other component. It is the path aimed at reaching sales goals. This component answers the question how to find and attract prospective customers. Basically, that is what a strategy should explain. In this component, the whole market should be looked at then identify the tactics of how to become a market leader. Budget is the other component of a marketing plan. It is the amount spend on marketing. For each marketing activity planned, one should determine whether it is giving enough returns to the business. It is not advisable to adopt a marketing strategy which is not giving profits. The last component is metrics. This component involves looking at marketing success and assessing it using different factors in the market. It should basically involve tracking performance or production. Some of the performance indicator examples include; sales recap, gross margin, net profit margin, cost of consumer acquisition among others(Douglas Hubbard, 2007).
Marketing plan is helpful in an organization in many ways. It’s very key in an organization which is intending to be a market leader. First, it helps in strategizing. Marketing plans in nature are strategic. They encourage an entrepreneur to think ahead considering promotional activities in sales. Without a plan ideas generally fail. Marketing plan helps meet target sales and drives innovation. Secondly, it helps in formalizing ideas. Writing a marketing plan helps an organization to formalize an idea behind new development. Some ideas are just in the mind but its until they are included in the marketing plan when they are highly considered. A marketing plan also helps an organization get used to timescales. A marketing plan includes how a certain activity should be done in an organization and the time it should be done. When initiating a new development in an organization, everyone should know their role. This helps in getting things done on time. Another importance of a marketing plan is helping an organization get financing. Bank managers and investors need to know what an organization can do before offering their money. Proper marketing plan assists an organization to know what to do and what they need to achieve over a specific time. A marketing plan aligns marketing objectives with business strategy. With a marketing plan, an organization is in a position to align goals of the business with marketing output. Lack of a marketing plan may lead to unnecessary advertising and other forms of promotion which do not relate to the purpose of the business(Cohen & William. A, 2005).
PART 2.
The strategy is forming teams in the organization then training them on innovation and making sales. This is followed by awarding those who implement the aim of the training. This training basically targets the teams to be innovative in order to improve sales in the organization. The training also focuses on how to promote the products and services already offered by the organization. The strategy also focuses at introducing one of the new products which is going to be a substitute to washing soap in the market. This strategy has been a motivation to the employees and the teammates towards the betterment of the organization. In execution of this plan all the elements of a market plan are applied. Some of the elements of a marketing plan studied include; market research, target market, positioning, competitive analysis, market strategy, budget and metrics. This elements are very crucial in execution of a marketing strategy. When this elements are properly utilized, they become a strength to the organization.
Market research is the first element to look at. The teams are aware of the award from their team success. Therefore, they tend to do thorough research of the market in order to get the market gap where they can innovate new ideas. They end up even interviewing some individuals and small entrepreneurs to get more ideas about the market they are willing to venture. This teams work tirelessly to determine the new trends in the market where the organization can venture. At the end they have an idea of the market. They understand what is lacking. They also know who the market leaders are and the strategies they use. With all that knowledge the teams can come up with something new in the market. They also come up with the most effective way to venture the market. Once they are highly familiar with the market, they end up finding better ways to introduce their brand of soap which is easy because of the market knowledge at the moment. The organization benefits from this strategy because the market research is done on their behalf(Bechman.E. & G.Vazzana, 1996). Target market is the other element of a marketing plan. During the training, the teams are equipped with entrepreneurial skills. They can now think out of the box. They open up their mind as they venture their new product in the market trying to outdo the existing competitors. They don’t only target the normal market. They regard the extra effort as their source of success. Each team ends up finding new markets which possibly the other teams have not discovered. Through this, the organization’s brand gets more established in the market. This strategy helps the organization to have a broader market for its products. As the teams compete to have a large market, the final advantage goes to the organization. More sales start streaming in hence boosting the profits (J. Elfrink, 1996).
Positioning is the other element studied. The reason for the brand is shown to the market when these teams try to reach a large market. Positioning a product in the market is among the hardest elements in the market. There are markets where some organizations have dominated their products. In such markets, convincing customers about your products becomes a difficult task. Teams have to be creative. Members in each team have to explain to new customers about their brand. They even reach new customers who have never heard about the brand. Teams organize themselves in sub-teams with the aim of reaching a larger market faster. Positioning involves interacting with clients first where knowledge about the product you are trying to launch is derived. In executing this strategy, it becomes useful to the organization because its products are better positioned in the market than those of their rivals(Douglas Hubbard, 2007).
Competitive analysis is the other component. The teams are very keen on knowing their competitors. The reason for knowing their competitors is to understand the strategy to put in place. They can plan to use their competitor’s strategy to reach more market. The other reason they do competitive analysis is to find a way on how they can outdo their competitors in the market. Teams ...