The strategic marketing plan 251Regardless of precedent and planning formats, strategic plans tend to
have common elements. Marketing managers would expect a strategic
plan to cover: (i) industry analysis, (ii) internal analysis, (iii) opportunity
identification, (iv) objective setting, (v) formulation of strategy, (vi) pro-
posed marketing programmes and actions and (vii) implementation and
control – including financial forecasts.
Figure 12.4 presents an annotated example of a strategic marketing
plan. Note: Figure 12.4 does not attempt to portray the definitive market-
ing plan. It merely illustrates the component parts common to such plans.
Strategic marketing plans take on many different guises. The content,
structure and complexity of a plan will vary. While planning formats and
conventions are largely a matter of historic precedent within the organisa-
tion, the key imperative is to generate action. Plans should address critical
issues in a way that is relevant to the organisation. For example, promot-
ing decisive marketing initiatives within a limited time scale.
■ Approaches to marketing planning
The development of a marketing plan is a significant and time consuming
activity. All planning is essentially objective driven – objectives are trans-
lated into actions. A number of ‘schools of thought’ exist as to how the
task is best approached. The standard approaches to planning are:
● Top-down: Senior managers develop objectives and strategy. Managers
at an operational level are then required to implement these strategies.
This approach is said to encourage professionalism and promote a
corporate strategic view of marketing activity.
● Bottom-up: Here, authority and responsibility for formulation and
implementation of strategy is devolved. Senior marketing managers
approve, and then monitor, agreed objectives. It can be claimed that
this approach encourages ownership and commitment.
Hybrid systems are also common, where objectives are ‘top-down’ and
responsibility for the formulation/implementation of strategy is devolved.
■ Summary
Strategic planning offers a systematic and structured approach to choosing
and implementing certain courses of action. Corporate plans define over-
all business objectives, while providing focus and co-ordinating functional
activities. Such plans need to align the stakeholders’ vision to the object-
ives, strategy, resources and structure of the SBUs.
There is a need to differentiate between marketing strategy and market-
ing tactics. Essentially, strategic marketing focuses on defining segments,
establishing competitive positions and co-ordinating all the elements of
the mix. Tactics translate strategies into action and deal with day-to-day
marketing transactions.