The 7 P's of marketing include product, price, promotion, location, people, process, and physical evidence. In addition, these seven elements make up the marketing mix. The key elements of any successful marketing plan include the concepts of product, price, location and promotion, also known as the four P's of marketing. The marketing combination of the four P's works as a guide to help the marketing manager successfully develop a strategy for promoting products and services to customers.
Marketing exists to help an organization achieve its strategic objectives: growth, profitability, revenue, influence, etc. As explained at the beginning of this course, the role of marketing is to identify, satisfy and retain customers. You've learned about a lot of different tools that marketers use to fill this role. The marketing plan is the guidance document used by managers and marketing teams to establish the objectives on which marketing efforts will focus and the actions they will take to achieve them.
A comprehensive marketing plan shows the big picture of what is happening with an organization internally and externally. After analyzing the marketing environment, the plan recommends strategies and tactics aimed at helping the organization make the most of the opportunities and resources available to achieve its objectives. When a marketing plan is completed with care and skill, it helps marketers not only present the arguments in favor of what they recommend doing, but it also creates a common vision within the organization about what is happening and how people and resources will come together to achieve that vision. The key elements of a marketing plan are described in the following table.
Please note that these marketing plan elements correspond to a model marketing plan template provided for use in this course. Since it's a template or a pattern, you can adapt it and use it again, perhaps in a future work. This particular marketing plan template was designed to align well with the structure and content of this course. The table also provides a reference to the course module, where each element of the marketing plan was introduced and explained in greater detail.
Summary of the key points of the marketing plan and what it will achieve. It's an at-a-glance overview for a manager who may not have time to go through everything. Description of the market for the product or service in question, the segments of this market and the segmentation strategy that the marketing plan will address. Profile of the top buyers targeted by the marketing plan and factors that influence their choices.
List of resources needed to execute the marketing plan, how much they will cost and how to stay within the allocated budget. On the other hand, Company B could develop and execute a single marketing plan that incorporates several different campaigns aimed at the market segments served by its portfolio of products and services. In this case, some sections of the plan are expanded to provide information, strategy and planning focused on each target segment. This includes customer profiles from specific segments, positioning, IMC campaigns, etc.
Any of these approaches could be exactly right for the organization, depending on its goals and objectives. The most important thing is that marketing plans do a good job, guiding marketing teams to formulate and execute marketing activities that are well aligned with what the organization is trying to achieve. If multiple marketing plans are being developed and used, it is essential for marketing managers to ensure that there is internal communication and exchange between the members of the marketing team who execute the plans. By sharing information about goals, messages, deadlines, audience touchpoints, and other elements, marketers can avoid standing up to each other or creating confusion in the marketplace.
Ideally, teams should learn from each other's successes and experiences so that the entire marketing effort is smarter and more efficient over time. Developing an effective marketing strategy is crucial for any company that wants to succeed. Every successful business owner has heard of these important elements of a marketing plan. Unfortunately, many small business owners don't take marketing seriously despite knowing how important it is to the growth of their business.
Knowing your target market is a crucial element for any type of marketing activity; otherwise, you could end up taking photos in the dark. A good way to identify your target market is to analyze the customer base you already have. After doing your market research, identifying your target audience, and establishing your marketing objectives, the next important element is developing a marketing strategy. Select the marketing or promotion strategies you want to work on.
One of the most important elements of your marketing plan is going to be your budget. The size of your marketing activities will be determined by the budget you can spend on different campaigns. When setting your budget, also think about what has worked for you in the past; if possible, expand it. Every company has a limited budget for marketing and advertising.
Marketing experts will often tell you to focus your efforts on acquiring new customers. Find a niche or target market for your product and describe them. How does your product relate to the market? What does your market need, what do you currently use, what do you need beyond current use? Describe your competition. Develop your “unique selling proposition”.
What sets you apart from the competition? What is your competition doing with respect to the brand? Based on the information you've collected, establish strategies to determine the price of your product, where your product will be positioned in the market, and how you'll achieve brand recognition. This means goals that you can turn into numbers. For example, your goals could be to get at least 30 new customers or sell 10 products a week, or increase your revenue by 30% this year. Your goals may include sales, profits, or customer satisfaction.
By researching your markets, your competition, and determining your unique positioning, you're in a much better position to promote and sell your product or service. By setting goals for your marketing campaign, you can better understand if your efforts are generating results or not by continuously reviewing and evaluating the results. The product is a description of your product or service and who your customers are. The price includes how much you charge for the product or service and why.
The promotion includes all the strategies and techniques you plan to use to reach your target audience. And the location includes where and how the customer can buy your product or service. You created a company and now you are thinking about developing a marketing program, you need to start with a marketing plan. Company A could develop and execute three different marketing plans that share some common elements, such as the company's situation and analysis and market segmentation.
Identify consumers' buying habits in the industry, market size, market growth or decline, and any current trends. As marketers know, all markets are segmented and different products have different attractions for different segments. Some companies with high shipping costs, such as steel and flour, and those where material or production costs are high compared to marketing costs, such as oil and cars, have considered it prudent to place inventory and distribution control over inventory and distribution by an executive who is Responsible for neither the marketing director nor the production director. A marketing budget is the estimate of the total cost that will be incurred in the overall marketing process.
The main difference between war and marketing is that in marketing there are no gunshots and there are usually several opposing forces, rather than two, competing for a prize: the customer's order. Concentrating marketing funds on strong areas or building weaker areas is always a difficult and intriguing question for the marketing manager. It's quite common for an e-commerce marketing team to rely on Facebook ads to generate traffic that translates into product sales on their online store. The marketing director who only cares about meeting competitors' prices or increasing market share or obtaining a fixed margin on cost will not be able to maximize revenues.
Marketing procedures provide guidance for implementing appropriate marketing practices in an orderly manner. Once you've established your marketing goals, describe how you plan to achieve them through your marketing and promotion activities. SWOT analysis of the external marketing environment and the company's internal environment, and marketing objectives aligned with the company's mission and objectives. .
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