Marketing plans need to be carried out in a cost effective manner. In many cases the marketing planning is based the overall business corporate strategy. However, even if the strategy is not clear, the marketer must ensure that the resources are directed into customer satisfaction and maximising the opportunities for an exchange.
Therefore the process of planning would start from the overall business strategy. Strategic decisions are tend to be difficult to reverse and they should involve a strong personal commitment not only from the business leaders but also the marketing teams.
Many strategic decisions will be involved into the marketing planning. However tactical decisions are also important. The strategic decisions generally involve overall direction and they often involve rejection of alternatives. While tactical decisions concern the methods of achievement and these are often easier to change and allow different alternatives to be taken into account.
Strategy is influenced by the business performance, competitor activities and resources available. Therefore a review of those must take place when preparing a marketing plan. Generally it would evaluate the business performance in the light of 7Ps - product, people, promotion, process, price, product and physical evidence. A snapshot of want is actually happening in the firms internal and external environment is necessary. Once this type of analysis is done the marketing managers will have a better understanding of the firms situation and target their plan into helping organisation to achieving its objectives.
Tactical planning
Marketers would generally look at ways for influence and support business growth, gain international markets if appropriate and gain the competitive edge. This is done by offering customers something that in unavailable everywhere else. It is very difficult to provide unique guidelines on tactical strategy because each market and company have different characteristics, but there are few tips I can share with you today:
* think of something that the competition have not yet discovered or thought about,
* always consult those who are directly involved in the design of the marketing plans
* monitor the results of everything what you do, even if there is not always a quick view of progress
* ensure consistent messages to all involved in your marketing efforts: customers, stakeholders, employees, managers and even competitors
* be prepared that the competitors will be responsive to your actions
* use technology and data to target the correct audience and segment as it will ensure cost-effective tactical planning
* keep in mind the marketing mix when making your planned decisions
Setting up a budget for marketing can be done in few different ways. Firstly, it would be connected with setting up the objectives and allocating a specific amount of money to achieve them. This approach can be hard to apply because it is difficult at this stage to assess how much money will be needed to achieve them. The percentage of sales approach is also an option. But this is generally based on a false idea that sales creates advertising. Thirdly, the competition matching approach can be taken which will mean that the company will spend as much as the competition on its marketing. And lastly, there will be an arbitrary approach where the business finance management will allow a certain amount of money to be available for marketing activities.
Once the budget is set, it will be an editable step to identify the target audience. It is better to choose a segment than try to target everybody. This will also allow with planning the media and deciding where ads are going to appear. Here, the number of potential consumers (the reach) and the frequency is important. Generally, the decision is made on a basis of cost per thousand viewers.
A decision on what the adds supposed to achieve is than essential here.
Monitoring
Once your plan has been developed and implemented we must ensure it actually works in practise. The feedback is essential when monitoring the plans. The evaluation system shall be set beforehand and generally takes the route of analysis of sales and marketing costs.
For the sales analysis the firms compares the actual sales achieved to what was forecasted for the period. Additionally, provided the information is available the firm can monitor the extend to which marketing efforts made an impact on the competitors sale. Examinations in terms of market share performance is also often monitored. This is commonly used in industries where a relatively small number of firms control the market. Comparison of sales in terms of cash generated is also an indicator. Number of units sold is often also evaluated or even number of sales transactions. This is a very useful source of the marketing activities. With the geographical targeting also often the local sales monitoring is done which helps firms to determine which regions are responsible for most of the sale. Sales by particular product or brand can also be considered. This is particularly important when judging the product portfolio. It also identify the products that should be dropped from the range or those moving into the decline phase. The top of customer and their sale is often the target and basis for evaluation the performance.
In regards to analysis of marketing costs can be divided into direct costs, treatable and non-treatable common costs. However the problem with marketing costs analysis is often that the business accounting system is not develop to allow for such monitoring.
Performance discrepancy
When there is a discrepancy between the planned performance and actual performance actions need to be taken. The first step would be to determine the reason for the discrepancy. Answering questions whether the original plan was effective enough, whether the competitors have initiated similar strategies, or has anything else changed which would influence the results? Discussion will need to be held with the staff concerned and planning for corrections should be developed.
This type of feedback should be frequent and concise.
In summary, the marketing planning is not necessarily a tidy process. It is difficult to foreseen the future and determine the competitors moves. However a good marketing plan and frequent monitoring of results is better than no strategy at all. When considering tactics, we need to be creative, because the success is in doing something the competitors are not doing. Flexible and feedback based plan can be a great success.
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