Name and describe the 16 components of a strategic marketing plan?

Question

Name and describe the 16 components of a strategic marketing plan?

Answer 1

The content of the marketing plan can change depending upon the business, the author, and the intended target audience. There are lots of great resources, books, and informational sites available to help you with what should be contained in a Marketing Plan.

Mplans.com ( http://www.Mplans.com ) is an informational website maintained by Palo Alto Software that includes market planning advice, tips, as well as free sample plans.

We have many articles on what should be contained in a marketing plan at:

http://www.mplans.com/dpm/allarticles.cf...

Here's a basic outline of the main points in a typical marketing plan:

1.0 Executive Summary

This is a summary of the main highlights of your plan. The contents of the summary should address target markets, market needs, sales prospects, expenses, and strategy.

2.0 Situation Analysis

The Situation Analysis sets the scene as you develop your marketing plan. This is where you look at your company's situation and its market. Consider what your company offers and why, what you do well, and why, and introduce your marketing situation and the main components of the marketing plan.

3.0 Marketing Strategy

The strategy chapter normally includes objectives, target market strategies, value propositions, and strategy pyramids.

4.0 Marketing Mix

Marketing mix combines your marketing programs. It includes positioning, pricing, distribution channels, advertising and promotion, service, delivery, and other factors. The toll-free telephone number, the website, the sales literature, the advertising, and many other marketing programs are all part of the marketing mix.

5.0 Financials

This chapter contains your expense budgets, sales forecasts, and breakdowns by category. Normally it is mainly tables and charts, with texts to explain the numbers in them.

6.0 Controls

As your strategy is implemented, you will want to track your results and monitor new development in the internal and external environments. Is your plan on track with your revenue generation objectives? Are the programs accomplishing your goals? Programs that are not working need to be changed. Programs that meet or exceed expectations should be replicated. This is where the value of a dynamic marketing plan benefits you most.

There are also Market Planning products out there that can help you to create and maintain a marketing plan document. Our software, Marketing Plan Pro ( http://paloalto.com/ps/mp/index.cfm ) includes a wizard driven interface that will guide you through the entire process on a step by step basis.