Constructing a Marketing Plan

Course Overview

We estimate that almost half of businesses do not have a formal marketing plan that relates to the organisation's business objectives. Considering how important it is to know where you are going and how you will get there, the marketing plan plays an important role of road map and compass when planning and allocating valuable resources.

Audience

The course is designed for perople currently working in a marketing role within a business-to-business or consumer organisation.

Skills Gained

This one day course provides a formalised approach to preparing and writing a marketing plan. By the end of the day you will be able to define:

• your audience
• the purpose of the plan
• the preparation required to produce a meaningful plan
• the final plan structure
• its implementation

Course Outline

Your audience - finding the right emphasis

• who are your customers? what are they expecting?
• how will they accept and assess your plan?
• driving change with a marketing plan
• persuading and influencing to ensure retainment of key messages

What the finished marketing plan should include and how to produce it?

• expressing a clear marketing vision
• assumptions, approach to objective building
• financial and marketing targets
• marketing strategy and related tactics
• planning and support mechanism
• review process

The stages of marketing plan preparation

• the 5 key audits
• sources of information: internal and external help
• analysis: making sense of data
• structuring a plan, setting key milestones and expected results
• formulating and stress testing
• encapsulating Business Units marketing plan into group strategic plans
• budgeting for activities

Best practices