Part 1 – Executive summary and mission statement

1.2 Executive summary – what your business is aiming to achieve

An executive summary is an overview of your marketing plan and needs to be at the front of your marketing plan.

Make sure it:

·         covers the highlights from your marketing plan

·         is clear, concise and to the point – use limited jargon or acronyms

·         is well written and stimulates the readers attention – be sure that you include your passion and vision

Remember the summary needs to give the reader enough information to understand the purpose of your marketing plan.

1.3 Mission statement – your business’ values and beliefs:

Your mission statement is a clear and engaging statement of what your business aims to achieve by being in business and your vision for the future.

You should make that sure you:

• cover the core values goals of your business
• align your values with the target market

Part 2 – The current situation analysis – the internal landscape

To move your business forward, you need to have an understanding of the current landscape at the time of writing your marketing plan. When considering the present marketing situation, you need to take into account the following areas:

2.1 Product or Service

What need does your product or service meet? Do you have a unique selling point? Provide the facts, figures and research to illustrate these points.

Our customers

Our business will be selling to

Number of customers we expect to win in each group and what they will spend

Trends in our chosen market

How we know this

2.2 Pricing

What’s your current pricing strategy? Do you allow for discounts to regular customers? What are the discounts based on?

2.3 Place

Where and how do you sell your product or service? Are you an online shop or do you have a shop front? Consider your distribution and delivery channels.

2.4 Promotion

What are your current marketing activities? What media options do you use to reach your customers? Consider providing an estimate of how much you spend on these media outlets and the return on investment you receive from these methods.

2.5 People

Are your staff knowledgeable about your product or service? Do you have enough staff to handle your orders? Do they provide quality of service?

2.6 Processes

Are your processes written down and organic? Do they ensure consistency of service? Are they up-to-date with your current systems or goals?

2.7 Physical evidence

Does your website or premise(s) convey the right message about your business?

Now that you have considered the internal factors of your business, you need to take into account the factors beyond your control – the external landscape. Aim to present an overview of the key markets and challenges your business is currently facing.

3.1 Market overview

Consider the current developments in product development and service offerings. Are there any opportunities in the upcoming changes? Also note your demographics, customers and target markets. Are they going through changes in the near future?

3.2 Competitor analysis

Most businesses compete with other businesses. Even if you are in a niche market, competition will almost certainly come along. Knowing your competitor gives you insight into how to approach your marketing plans. Understanding their competencies and what you do best provides a valuable opportunity to get the most out of your marketing budget. Consider running a SWOT analysis on your competitors.

Part 4 – SWOT analysis

After exploring the current internal and external landscape, now is a good time to do a SWOT analysis on your business. List your business’ main strengths and weaknesses. You will discover valuable information in previous sections of the marketing plan that you can use and further expand on in this section. Focus on what you can develop for your business going forward.

4.1 Strengths

4.2 Weaknesses

4.3 Opportunities

Consider new marketing opportunities, development of new products or services, gaps in the market and new or changing demographics.

4.4 Threats

Consider unexpected situations – such as environment issues, negative business images or perceptions, new competition, changes to the economy or the law and trend shifts.

4.5 Summary

Part 5 – Objectives – the internal landscape

Your strategy statement is an overview of how your marketing objectives are going to be achieved. It needs to provide a summary to the reader of how detailed strategies will be outlined below. Look over the SWOT analysis, key opportunities and threats and business plan to help you choose the areas you want to work on. Remember to include a description of what success will look like, and add some of your enthusiasm and passion here too.

5.1 Overall strategy

Tactics

5.2 Product or service

Aim to cover your long-term product strategy in this section. If you are providing a service, take into account additional features such as people, process and the physical appearance of your business premises.

MARKETING OBJECTIVES – sales by value (£s)

5.3 Pricing

All pricing needs to take into account the cost of producing or delivering the product or service, marketing and contributing to a profit. There are four keys points to consider:

·         Cost – does the price cover the cost of producing or delivering the product or service?

·         Demand – is there a large demand?

·         Competition – what are your competitors charging?

·         What is the image or perception of your product/service?

5.4 Place

Take into account your distributors, using specialists’ intermediaries and where you sell your product.

5.5 Promotion

What promotional activity is best suited to your marketing strategy? Consider all forms of promotion including social media, public relations, advertising and packaging.

5.6 People

Do your staff need further training on customer service or on your product or service?

5.7 Processes

Encouraging staff to follow regular routines and make use of quiet periods will help ensure processes meet a high standard.

5.8 Physical evidence

Your staff and premises are marketing your business every day, as they are who the customer will first see and then experience. You might consider membership cards and loyalty programs as part of your strategy.

Part 6 – Resources and evaluation

6.1 Resources

6.2 Evaluation

Your marketing plan needs to be an organic document, which may change or grow according to circumstances. It’s a good idea to review your marketing plan along with your marketing strategy once a year.