Strategic Marketing: Planning and Control, Third Edition

and presentation), marketing plans perform a common function and have

common components. Indeed, McDonald (1999) views marketing plan-

ning as a systematic way of identifying, selecting, scheduling and costing

activities in order to achieve objectives. Such definitions focus on the pur-

pose, as opposed to the structure, of planning.

250 Strategic Marketing: Planning and Control

1 Executive summary

1.1 Current position

1.2 Key issues

2 Corporate strategy

1.1 Corporate mission/objectives

1.2 Summary of overall position

and corporate strategy

3 External and internal analysis

3.1 Overview of market

3.2 Competitor analysis

3.3 Future trends

3.4 SWOT

4 Marketing objectives

4.1 Financial objectives

4.2 Marketing objectives

5 Marketing strategy

5.1 Market segmentation

5.2 Competitive advantage

5.3 Marketing strategy

5.4 Specific marketing programmes

• product


• place


• promotion


• price
  6 Implementation
  6.1 Schedule of key tasks
  6.2 Resource allocation
  6.3 Budgets
  6.4 Contingency
  7 Control and forecasting
  7.1 Assumptions made
  7.2 Critical success factors


• Benchmarks established


• How measured
  7.3 Financial forecasts


• Costs


• Revenue

Improves communication and staff

involvement by summarising key aspects

of the plan.

Provides a link to overall strategy

and illustrates marketing’s

contribution to achieving corporate

goals.

A picture of the competitive environment

is developed. Internal factors (strengths

and weakness) need to address external

factors (opportunities and threats).

There is a need to define financial

targets and translate these into

specific measurable marketing

objectives (e.g. market share, sales

volume, customer retention)

The overall strategic direction of

marketing policy is defined. The strategy

may vary according to market segment

Decisions are made relating to specific

aspects of the mix. These may generate

additional plans for each element of

the mix.

Specific programmes are broken

down into lists of activities. These

are scheduled and given a time

scale. Responsibility is assigned

for each activity. A contingency

(e.g. funds or time) may be set to

cover any unforeseen problems. A clear understanding of the

assumptions underpinning the control

process is required (e.g. projected market

growth). The benchmarks measuring

success must be assigned to critical

activities. Profit and loss accounts may

be forecast for the planning period.

Figure 12.4
Illustrative example of a strategic marketing plan