Basic Marketing: A Global Managerial Approach

Perreault−McCarthy: Basic
Marketing: A
Global−Managerial
Approach, 14/e

21. Developing Innovative
    Marketing Plans

Text © The McGraw−Hill

Companies, 2002

Developing Innovative Marketing Plans 623

Exhibit 21-8 A Spreadsheet Analysis Showing How a Change in Price Affects Sales Revenue and Profit (based on

Marketing Mix C from Exhibit 21-7)

Exhibit 21-9 provides a summary outline of the different sections of a complete

marketing plan. You can see that this outline is basically an abridged overview of

the topics we’ve covered throughout the text and highlighted in this chapter. Thus,

you can flesh out your thinking for any portion of a marketing plan by reviewing

the section of the book where that topic is discussed in more detail. Further, the

Maytag case at the beginning of this chapter also gives you a real example of the

types of thinking and detail that are included.

Some time schedule is implicit in any strategy. A marketing plan simply spells

out this time period and the time-related details. Usually, we think in terms of some

reasonable length of time—such as six months, a year, or a few years. But it might

be only a month or two in some cases—especially when rapid changes in fashion

or technology are important. Or a strategy might be implemented over several

years—perhaps the length of a product life cycle or at least the early stages of the

product’s life.

Although the outline in Exhibit 21-9 does not explicitly show a place for the

time frame for the plan or the specific costs for each decision area, these should be

included in the plan—along with expected estimates of sales and profit—so that

the plan can be compared with actual performancein the future. In other words, the

plan not only makes it clear to everyone what is to be accomplished and how—

but it also provides a basis for the control process after the plan is implemented.

Figuring out and planning the time-related details and schedules for all of the

activities in the marketing plan can be a challenge—especially if the plan involves

a big start-from-scratch effort. To do a better job in this area, many managers have

turned to flowcharting techniques such as CPM (critical path method) or PERT

(program evaluation and review technique). These methods were originally devel-

oped as part of the U.S. space program (NASA) to ensure that the various

contractors and subcontractors stayed on schedule and reached their goals as

Marketing plan spells

out the timing of the

strategy

Tools help set time-

related details for

the plan