Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Statement of your current situation and scope of the plan Research into potential / current customers Examining the marketing environment Identifying opportunities for growth
The macro-environment
A commonly used method of quantifying the macro external environment is with a PEST analysis. PEST is an acronym which divides the macro-environment into four areas Political, Economic, Social, and Technological, examples of which are shown below. Political environmental factors
Recession Interest rates Exchange rates Rate of inflation Population wealth Growth of the housing market
'Green' behaviour Eating habits Shifts in attitude Population demographics Attitudes to career
Emergence of new communications channels Improved production processes Advances in computing and the internet New technologies such as electric vehicles Automation Reduced cost of materials
Micro-environment
The micro-environment includes factors which are still not directly under the control of the company, but more directly relevant to strategy such as consumer trends, stakeholders, suppliers and competitors. Some example items are listed below.
Summary of your market segment Market growth, trends and competition Potential new markets Direction from shareholders Supplier costs and service quality Changes is consumer behaviour
Understanding your customers and market Ensuring a thorough knowledge of the consumer is vital for successful marketing planning. Use the primary and secondary (first and second hand) market research information at your disposal
to describe your customer. The more accurate your picture of your consumer, the better you'll be able to design products which cater for their needs and the easier it will be to communicate with them. If you have a broad customer base, you might need to split your customers into groups (segmentation).
Typical customer demographics Customer profile Market size Market geography More information on segmentation, targeting & positioning
Who are your competitors? What are they likely to be doing? Strengths Weaknesses Reputation and brand equity How are they using the marketing mix? Infrastructure and supply chain
Internal environment
The internal marketing environment includes factors that the business can directly influence. This can include:
The organisational structure The strengths and weaknesses of a department Financial stability and resources Staff morale Spare production capacity Client base Pricing structure
SWOT analysis
A 'SWOT analysis' is a useful way of summarizing the results of the environmental audit and presenting the current status of a business. SWOT simply stands for the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats which have emerged from examining the macro, micro and internal marketing environments.
Marketing environment
For example, here is a SWOT analysis for a fictional electric car manufacturer Strengths
Weaknesses
Our electric motors are cheap to produce and maintenance free Charge time is class leading Production capacity can be increased R&D department is class leading
Batteries are heavy, slow to charge and provide limited mileage Dealer network is small Customer trust in the segment is low
Opportunities
Government grants are available Road tax breaks for electric cars Market is growing rapidly Battery technology is evolving
Tesla has secured a large government grant The big players are investing heavily Hybrid and diesel technology is evolving fast
Development of mission statement Statement of objectives Strategy and tactics to accomplish the objectives
Mission statement
Your mission statement is a formal commitment and focus for the business. It should explain to customers concisely what the nature of your business is and where you are going, and also provide a motivational tool for employees. It should be aspirational, something to strive for, yet obtainable and relevant. Once this has been defined it should form the focus for your business strategy.
Vision statement
A vision statement is a more long term, ideal-world statement which outlines where you would like to take the business in the long run.
Objectives
Combined with the mission statement, your objectives should be the key statements that drive your business. The most successful goals follow the SMART acronym. Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound.
What do you want to achieve by the end of this year? Where do you want to be in one, five, ten years?
Objectives must be quantitative in order to accurately measure success. For example, 'sell 600 units in the next year' or 'increase customer retention by 20%'.
Increasing market share in a current market with a current product. Example tactics:
Market development Taking existing products into new markets Example tactics:
Finding a new use for an existing product Expanding the distribution network Strategic partnerships in international markets
Product development Developing a new product for a market which you have already entered Example tactics:
Creating a range of similar products, for example shaving foam if you are already manufacturing razors
Diversification Developing a new product for a completely new market Example tactics:
Cost leadership: A good quality product at a lower price than the competitors Differential strategy: A product or service which is perceived as unique within a particular market
Focus strategy: Delivering focused attention to a particular segment to deliver service which competitors cannot compete
Stars High growth products with a strong market presence. Probably need high investment to maintain position. Cash cows Low growth products with a high market share. Probably don't need much investment, but require management to maintain profitability. Question marks Products which have potential, but may require investment to yield decent profits. Dogs Rarely worth investing in, dogs should at least break even to be retained.
Product
Product refers to the items you are selling or the service you are providing. Your product based tactics link back to your overall strategy - if your strategy is market penetration (see the Ansoff matrix), then there may be little need to do anything to the product. However if you have chosen product development or diversification, then a certain amount of research and development, and product design will be needed.
Ansoff matrix
Should the product be premium, or good value? Disposable or last a lifetime? Fast or slow? How will it be packaged? Where will it be made? Is it environmentally sound?
Price
Pricing is one of the most important factors when deciding your marketing tactics, which could involve the following: Skimming low market penetration, high pricing strategy for premium products Comparable pricing if you are not the market leader, competitors will have set a price expectation which can be followed
Market penetration strategy deliberately low pricing in order to enter or control a market quickly.
Place
Place refers to the method of getting your product to the consumer - this could be a dealership or an online shop. How will you attract more retailers to sell your product? How will you maintain a premium appearance? How will your distribution network function? How many countries should you operate in?
Promotion
Promotion is much more than just advertising - this is the discipline of marketing communications. What is your branding strategy? Which promotional channels will you use? How will you divide up the budget? Will billboards work better than TV ads? What should be the discount for special offers? How will you generate positive PR? Should you out-source the creative work?
People
People refers to all the customer facing staff in your organisation, not just the sales staff. What training do they require? Do they know the products well? How much commission should they get? Should you out-source? Do they need a uniform? What incentives can you give?
Process
Process refers to the procedures which are followed when delivering a service to a customer. For example, for a hotel - how are customers greeted? Who takes the baggage to the room? When are the rooms cleaned? What time is breakfast? This element of the marketing mix should also include your customer relationship management (CRM) process, or in other words, how you manage customers through the purchasing funnel.
Purchase funnel
Physical evidence
This element of the marketing mix is mostly used to promote services. If you're not selling anything tangible, how will people know what they're getting?
This is where physical evidence comes in. Examples of physical evidence include a brochure for a holiday tour, customer testimonials for a dentist, or a portfolio for a website design company.
Actions
Developing an action plan
An action plan is core to the marketing process a constantly evolving document which is cascaded to the relevant people and monitored regularly. Most action plans are relatively short term documents which focus on the coming year, but longer term implications should also be considered. Action planning is a stages approach:
Clarify goals, and ensure they are SMART Link back to your objectives and tactics Set criteria for success Prioritize Set timings Determine who will complete each action point Monitor the progress of the plan and review regularly
Learning & growth how you are innovating and improving to meet your goals Business process how critical processes are measuring up Customer perspective usually measured in terms of time, quality, performance and cost Financial perspective financial performance from the stakeholder point of view
Each element is tracked using four items which are listed individually:
Objectives - as identified in stage 2 of the marketing planning process Measures - how will success be measured? Targets - specific quantifiable targets Initiatives - how to make the targets more readily achievable
Market share analysis Sales analysis Quality control Financial results Market research Marketing information systems CRM - New customers acquired, retention Service levels Brand awareness Competitor performance Benchmarking Profitability
Gap analysis
Gap analysis is another useful tool which answers two questions: Where are you? Where do you want to be? It can be useful to identify where you are with the following facets of the business:
Organisation Business direction and marketing mix Business processes Information technology Requirements vs capability Market potential vs existing usage Your business vs competition
Feedback
Now that you have an accurate picture about the success of your plan it's important to feedback this information in order to fine tune the strategy and update the courses of action accordingly.