The Marketing Plan

Read this chapter, which discusses marketing planning roles, the parts and functions of the marketing plan, forecasting, and the structure of a marketing plan audit. It also discusses PEST Analysis and other external factors that affect marketing decisions. This chapter reviews other concepts we've discussed so far. Key takeaways include the steps in the forecasting process. You will be able to identify types of forecasting methods and their advantages and disadvantages and discuss the methods used to improve the accuracy of forecasts. Lastly, you will apply marketing planning processes to ongoing business settings and identify the role of the marketing audit. Answer the discussion questions at the end of the chapter.

Ongoing Marketing Planning and Evaluation

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

  1. Apply marketing planning processes to ongoing business settings.
  2. Identify the role of the marketing audit.


Our discussion so far might lead you to believe that a marketing plan is created only when a new offering is being launched. In reality, marketing plans are created frequently – sometimes on an annual basis, or when a new CMO is hired, when market dynamics change drastically and quickly, or just whenever a company's CEO wants one. Moreover, as we indicated, a marketing plan should be something of a "living" document; it should contain triggers that result in a company reevaluating its strategies should different scenarios occur.

Some of those scenarios can occur immediately. For example, when a product is launched, the market reacts. Journalists begin to cover the phenomenon, competitors respond, and regulators may take note. What then should happen if the sales goals for the product are substantially exceeded? Should its price be raised or lowered? Should follow-on offerings be launched sooner? What if a competitor launches a similar offering a week later? Or worse yet, what if the competition launches a much better offering? The key to a successful ongoing marketing strategy is twofold: understanding causality and good execution of the marketing plan. Next we discuss each of these aspects.

Katie Scallan-Sarantakes

http://app.wistia.com/embed/medias/b1db0efe17

Katie Scallan-Sarantakes knows firsthand the difficulty of tracking the success of marketing activity. She describes some of those challenges here.