Marketing Plan Basics
Marketing plans can be written in any format that is acceptable to the guidelines of the strategic planning process of the organization. A multinational company must assess its marketing strategy among several countries and regional markets. Small and medium-sized businesses will write their marketing plans according to their intended target markets and respective environments. This text provides guidance on how to format a marketing plan.
Conclusion
In the conclusion, repeat the highlights. Summarize the target market, the offer, and the communication plan. Your conclusion should remind the reader of all the reasons why your plan is the best choice.
Of course, the written plan is itself a marketing tool. You want it to convince someone to invest in your ideas, so you want to write it down on paper in a compelling way. Figure 13.8 "Tips for Writing an Effective Marketing Plan" offers some tips for effectively doing so. Also, keep in mind that a marketing plan is created at a single point in time. The market, though, is dynamic. A good marketing plan includes how the organization should respond to various scenarios if the market changes. In addition, the plan should include "triggers" detailing what should happen under the scenarios. For example, it might specify that when a certain percentage of market share is reached, then the price of the product will be reduced (or increased). Or the plan might specify the minimum amount of the product that must be sold by a certain point in time - say, six months after the product is launched - and what should happen if the mark isn't reached. Also, it should once again be noted that the marketing plan is a communication device. For that reason, the outline of a marketing plan may look somewhat different from the order in which the tasks in the outline are actually completed.
Figure 13.8: Tips for Writing an Effective Marketing Plan