eMarketing Blog

The market plan is described as a ‘map to help you develop your business’ in ‘the marketer’ (March 2007, p38). It is used as a dynamic tool to help identify business opportunities to penetrate, capture and maintain market position ‘not a weighty document’. The parts of a marketing plan can be summarised by:

step 1: set organisation’s mission & company objectives
*What are the company Objectives?

step 2: the marketing audit
*Where are we now?

step 3: Set draft marketing objectives
*How do we get there?

step 4: plans and set marketing budgets
*What are the details?

step 5: monitor and controls the plan
Are we on the right track?

The plan is implemented at the beginning of the fiscal year and monitored; it is subject to change based on a continuous cycle of development, with planning running one way and feedback the other.

So what are the main benefits?

• it clarifies direction
• motivates people
• improves resource efficiency
• provides metrics and controls for examining progress

Planning is defined as ‘the task of setting objectives, specifying how to achieve them, implementing the plan and evaluating the results.’ Boddy (2005, p169). To meet these goals or objectives requires allocating financial and people management resources and evaluating the costs.

By HML for business. Useful links:
http://www.hmlbusiness.com
http://www.hmlmarketing.co.uk/site/marketing-consultancy.htm

Knowing the difference and doing your market research can put your company on the path to substantial growth.

Let’s start off by reviewing the formal definitions of each and then I’ll go into the explanation of how marketing and advertising differ from one another:

Advertising: The paid, public, non-personal announcement of a persuasive message by an identified sponsor; the non-personal presentation or promotion by a company of its products to its existing and potential customers.

Marketing: The systematic planning, implementation and control of a mix of business activities intended to bring together buyers and sellers for the mutually advantageous exchange or transfer of products.

The best way to distinguish between advertising and marketing is to think of marketing as a pie, inside that pie you have slices of advertising, market research, media planning, public relations, product pricing, distribution, customer support, sales strategy, and community involvement. Advertising only equals one piece of the pie in the strategy. All of these elements must not only work independently but they also must work together towards the bigger goal. Marketing is a process that takes time and can involve hours of research for a marketing plan to be effective. Think of marketing as everything that an organisation does to facilitate an exchange between company and consumer.

Courtesy of

•  DTI Marketing Guides find out more..
      

•  HML Marketing Tips
   

•  Chartered Institute of Marketing
    

• Your Guide to Marketing