by Paul Lines

Created on: August 26, 2008

In the past many corporations spent money on marketing their product or service with little regard to planning. It was only because of the high levels of financial waste and low returns from this process that the development of a written professional marketing plan became an integral part of corporate strategy. Like any other strategic operation in business, the purpose of a professional marketing plan is to provide a clear definition of business sales objectives, which includes knowing who is going to be the product and what obstacles need to be addressed to ensure that the proposed promotion produces the desired result.

In essence, there are five major steps to creating a professional marketing plan. To illustrate these in a practical scenario it is the author's intention to prove a hypothetical example, using "new nicotine replacement toothpaste."

Step 1 - Product and Market overview

The first step in the marketing plan is to provide a brief overview of the main benefits of the product and the environment in which the business operates. This must include the purpose of the product, who it is likely to appeal to most and how it exceeds the performance of other similar or substitute products.

Step 2 - SWOT analysis

Step two is best performed using the benefit of a SWOT analysis. This is where the marketing plan should analyse the competition. The reason for the SWOT analysis is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the competitors and therefore shows what the business needs to achieve to gain a competitive advantage over these organisations.

In terms of the opportunities and threats these apply to the market environment as well as the competitors. For example, are there any regulations and legislation either in existence or likely to occur in the future that is likely to affect your business or product? Similarly, is consumer likely to change, for example in preference for a new type of product that will make yours obsolete?

All of this SWOT analysis has to be included within the marketing plan to show that you have a detailed knowledge about the market place that the product or service is being launched in.

Step 4 - Action plan

Finally, there is a need to provide a detailed action plan of the promotional plan that is intended to be put in place for the product. This plan must include the target areas for the campaign, when it is going to happen and the timescale indicating the duration of the campaign and, in conclusion, how you are going to monitor the success of the campaign.

In addition, the full costing of the promotional campaign must be included together with suggested returns expected.

A marketing plan using the format described will provide a reasonable guide for any promotion being undertaken for the business. Furthermore, it should be undertaken for every new campaign as elements of the research, for example the size of competitors may have changed significantly since the last campaign and therefore these need to be updated.

Once the above elements of the marketing plan have been completed, an executive summary of the plan should be produced. This will summaries the main points of the plan and is included at the front of the main body of the plan as a brief introduction.

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