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Digg it UP - Marketing Plan To Copy - A Marplan Is Like A Map To Your Profits
One of the primary reasons measurement programs fail is because measurement is often done for the sake of measurement itself, and not tied to critical business drivers. In order to successfully measure service efficiency and effectiveness, IT organizations must ensure measurement activities are value-based.Achieving value-based measurement and continuous improvement of technology services requires an IT organization to implement activities based on what they want to accomplish, not on what they want to measure. As understood and promoted by the ITIL framework and ITSM in general, the primary accomplishment of IT should be the effective alignment of services with the current and future needs of the business and its customers.Therefore, from the standpoint of value and accomplishment, following are some key attributes that should be considered during the plan-do-check-act lifecycle of IT metrics management:Vision: The future state of any measurement program should be clearly outlined, specifically identifying the people, processes and technologies that are required to support the future state vision.Assess: Evaluate the current state of any existing measurement system and understand how best-in-class organizations implement these systems. Activities that are not value-based should be stopped immediately.Staffing: IT measurement is primarily built around people with clear roles and responsibilities to ensure accountability and efficiency.
2.3 Target market
It goes without saying that you should be aiming all your marketing efforts precisely at a target market or you are heading for a disaster.
All good marketing planning should follow from a very detailed segmentation of the market. Size? Is it growing, staying the same, or shrinking? Customer characteristics e.g. age, sex, income level, location, marital status, number of children etc. Habits, patterns and values of target customer. What are their wants, needs and desires? What are their buying habits? - How do they spend their disposable income and when do they buy and how do they buy? How many times and when?
2.4 Competition analysis
In the micro environment analysis of a Marketing Audit you will hopefully have identified your present and potential competitors. What are their key products / services? How do they differentiate them selves? You should briefly explain the actions that you will take to oppose or overcome your competitor's offerings.
I highly recommend you use Professor Michael Porter's Five Forces Model for this and the four other threats he identifies. Space does not allow me to go into detail here although I have written a more comprehensive report in which I include a diagram o
When you are looking for a job, it is very important to be organized. You want to present a professional attitude, and be prepared and knowledgeable. Following these easy steps will make sure that you get you a job quickly and easily.Find openings in companies that interest you. Research the position available, as well as the company itself.Write your resume. Tailor your objective statement, summary, and experience points to meet the job that you need.Print off your resumes, being sure to have multiple copies. Try using sticky notes to keep track of what resume you want to go where.Write your cover letters. Use keywords from the job descriptions (just like in the resume). Demonstrate your familiarity with the companies.Attach the appropriate resume to the appropriate cover letters.Place your resumes and cover letters in a folder. You want them to be crisp and clean when you hand them out.Go to hand your resume in. Dress professionally. Plan to arrive at a convenient time for the company.Ask to speak to the manager, or human resources. Give them your resume and smile.Keep a list of all of the places that you handed your resume in. Make sure you know the dates that you handed your resume in.Two business days after you have handed your resume in, call the company back to stress how interested you are in the job.Other things you can do while you are looking for a job:You can post your resume to online
When you overdraft or financing facilities come up for renewal and your bank manager has to justify lending the bank's money to your business, think how much easier it would be to convince him to continue backing you with a plan laid out in neat systematic form.
It is probably the case that far too many small companies don't have a Marketing Plan, or the owner has it locked in his head. A place of storage that is really difficult to access when you need to show it to the potential investor or the bank manager. And inevitably this event usually occurs when you are really busy and committing your plan to paper, or computer file, is added pressure that you really could do with out. I run a small retail business - an independent bookshop and a Collectables gift business on the Internet.
Recently I studied for, and obtained, the UK's Chartered Institute of Marketing's "Professional Diploma in Marketing" by doing a convergent learning course on the net and in four intensive workshop days in my local town. It brought home to me that what we did in our own business was fine up to a point. As the course was very practical, with the chance to use any organisation of the student's choice in the assignments that we had to submit, I ended up formally setting down the Marketing Plan on paper, that had been up there in my head for no one to see!
So what is a Marketing Plan for?
Well, its purpose is to lay down, direct and co-ordinate all your marketing activities and events. Think of it as a map. With a map it is easier to get some place. With a marketing plan it is easier to get the business to where you want it to head. This is, hopefully, to huge profits!
Perhaps you are the owner or director of a company seeking backing or further investment? Well a good marketing plan can be really important in attracting new investment or better bank facilities.
Perhaps you need help in making choices regarding which parts of the market to focus on and how to compete in that target market (Marketing Strategy)?
Often the mere process of preparing a marketing plan will help you to develop a successful marketing strategy through the discipline and process that you go through.
A good marketing plan will describe all the marketing actions to be carried out within a specific time period. It will contain details of your company, its products or services, its marketing objectives and strategies and information on how to measure the results of the marketing activities.
It might help if I give you a framework of basic elements that a Marketing Plan should include.
Basic Elements of a Marketing Plan
So what do you need?
1.Executive Summary - introduces and explains the major features and recommendations to executives (or your bank manager).
1.1 Introduction - a brief description of your organisation, its products and or services.
The context and objectives of the plan should be described and a description of what your business activities are. You should include current revenues, customers and your market position. You can also blow your own trumpet here! Note your accomplishments and successes to date. If it is a new market entry or entirely new markets you are going for, then here is the place to describe any experience, training or competencies that your company has.
1.2 Vision, Mission Statement and Objectives
Mission statements focus on the long-range purpose of your marketing plan. "To educate entertain and enlighten our clients so that they become more successful Marketers." Company objectives should be more specific and oriented towards action. "We will deliver a balanced range of Marketing Solution Publications to the U.K. and Europe through mail order and Internet."
1.3 Team description
Who will deliver the plan? What are the resources and structure of the team who will do so? Management skills and capabilities. List any Marketing knowledge, sales skills, copy-writing ability, etc. Agencies - Include any Marketing consultants, PR agencies you are using.
If there are any gaps honestly point them out and do a Training Needs Analysis.
1.4 Main marketing objectives
You need only give a brief statement of these here to close the Executive summary.
2.1 Current market conditions
What are the trends in your market? What are the dynamics facing businesses such as yours? Who are your target customers? What competition do you face?
2.2 Market trends:
You should describe the macroeconomic trends that directly affect the target market that your marketing plan is aimed at. This is where the PEST Framework is useful to include. (Sometimes referred to as PESTEL, SLEPT or PESTE) the components are: Political Economic Social Technological Environment Legal
2.3 Target market
It goes without saying that you should be aiming all your marketing efforts precisely at a target market or you are heading for a disaster.
All good marketing planning should follow from a very detailed segmentation of the market. Size? Is it growing, staying the same, or shrinking? Customer characteristics e.g. age, sex, income level, location, marital status, number of children etc. Habits, patterns and values of target customer. What are their wants, needs and desires? What are their buying habits? - How do they spend their disposable income and when do they buy and how do they buy? How many times and when?
2.4 Competition analysis
In the micro environment analysis of a Marketing Audit you will hopefully have identified your present and potential competitors. What are their key products / services? How do they differentiate them selves? You should briefly explain the actions that you will take to oppose or overcome your competitor's offerings.
I highly recommend you use Professor Michael Porter's Five Forces Model for this and the four other threats he identifies. Space does not allow me to go into detail here although I have written a more comprehensive report in which I include a diagram of
10 Things you want to know on How to become a millionaire online.1. All the money in your life comes from you.We always think that everything that happens in our lives, comes from outside our selves, and many people blame everything else but them selves for their life, it is the governments fault, or it is my wife or husbands fault, and so on. Your reality stems from you, you are the creator of your life, and if you think back I am sure you will find a situation where there was something you really wanted and not long after you had it. Everything comes from you of what you call good and bad, you are the creator, and the sooner you realize that, the sooner you can take the power back to your self instead of giving it away all the time.2 .It is all in the mind.Everything we create starts in the mind, just look around you, all the things you use everyday started as a thought in somebody’s mind. Many people all over the world get the same idea at the same time, but only a few do something about it, and again only a few follows through, and make the idea a reality and make money on it. So the first thing you need to do is open your mind, and realize that maybe all you have to do is to think outside the box, everything is possible, but first you have to create it in your mind.3.It is all in the feelings.Through out the day you have many random thoughts, and some become your reality, but most does not, the reason for this is that the thoughts that you put
Recently I studied for, and obtained, the UK's Chartered Institute of Marketing's "Professional Diploma in Marketing" by doing a convergent learning course on the net and in four intensive workshop days in my local town. It brought home to me that what we did in our own business was fine up to a point. As the course was very practical, with the chance to use any organisation of the student's choice in the assignments that we had to submit, I ended up formally setting down the Marketing Plan on paper, that had been up there in my head for no one to see!
So what is a Marketing Plan for?
Well, its purpose is to lay down, direct and co-ordinate all your marketing activities and events. Think of it as a map. With a map it is easier to get some place. With a marketing plan it is easier to get the business to where you want it to head. This is, hopefully, to huge profits!
Perhaps you are the owner or director of a company seeking backing or further investment? Well a good marketing plan can be really important in attracting new investment or better bank facilities.
Perhaps you need help in making choices regarding which parts of the market to focus on and how to compete in that target market (Marketing Strategy)?
Often the mere process of preparing a marketing plan will help you to develop a successful marketing strategy through the discipline and process that you go through.
A good marketing plan will describe all the marketing actions to be carried out within a specific time period. It will contain details of your company, its products or services, its marketing objectives and strategies and information on how to measure the results of the marketing activities.
It might help if I give you a framework of basic elements that a Marketing Plan should include.
Basic Elements of a Marketing Plan
So what do you need?
1.Executive Summary - introduces and explains the major features and recommendations to executives (or your bank manager).
1.1 Introduction - a brief description of your organisation, its products and or services.
The context and objectives of the plan should be described and a description of what your business activities are. You should include current revenues, customers and your market position. You can also blow your own trumpet here! Note your accomplishments and successes to date. If it is a new market entry or entirely new markets you are going for, then here is the place to describe any experience, training or competencies that your company has.
1.2 Vision, Mission Statement and Objectives
Mission statements focus on the long-range purpose of your marketing plan. "To educate entertain and enlighten our clients so that they become more successful Marketers." Company objectives should be more specific and oriented towards action. "We will deliver a balanced range of Marketing Solution Publications to the U.K. and Europe through mail order and Internet."
1.3 Team description
Who will deliver the plan? What are the resources and structure of the team who will do so? Management skills and capabilities. List any Marketing knowledge, sales skills, copy-writing ability, etc. Agencies - Include any Marketing consultants, PR agencies you are using.
If there are any gaps honestly point them out and do a Training Needs Analysis.
1.4 Main marketing objectives
You need only give a brief statement of these here to close the Executive summary.
2.1 Current market conditions
What are the trends in your market? What are the dynamics facing businesses such as yours? Who are your target customers? What competition do you face?
2.2 Market trends:
You should describe the macroeconomic trends that directly affect the target market that your marketing plan is aimed at. This is where the PEST Framework is useful to include. (Sometimes referred to as PESTEL, SLEPT or PESTE) the components are: Political Economic Social Technological Environment Legal
2.3 Target market
It goes without saying that you should be aiming all your marketing efforts precisely at a target market or you are heading for a disaster.
All good marketing planning should follow from a very detailed segmentation of the market. Size? Is it growing, staying the same, or shrinking? Customer characteristics e.g. age, sex, income level, location, marital status, number of children etc. Habits, patterns and values of target customer. What are their wants, needs and desires? What are their buying habits? - How do they spend their disposable income and when do they buy and how do they buy? How many times and when?
2.4 Competition analysis
In the micro environment analysis of a Marketing Audit you will hopefully have identified your present and potential competitors. What are their key products / services? How do they differentiate them selves? You should briefly explain the actions that you will take to oppose or overcome your competitor's offerings.
I highly recommend you use Professor Michael Porter's Five Forces Model for this and the four other threats he identifies. Space does not allow me to go into detail here although I have written a more comprehensive report in which I include a diagram o
Finding a job has become much more of a challenge in recent years. Using the Internet as an additional resource will increase your options to find many great job opportunities, which are not always advertised in the newspaper. Many employers will place an online advertisement in conjunction with or in place of an ad in the local newspaper. Job boards, as they are called, allow you to search online among many jobs in your category of choice. They allow you to narrow down prospects, and many will even provide a direct link to a company's Web site, fax and e-mail address. Through job boards, the submission of resumes is almost exclusively done in the form of e-mail correspondence. This offers benefits to jobseekers as well as to the employers. Sending resumes by e-mail saves time and money. You don't need to buy envelopes and stamps and go to the post office, then wait for a few days until the company receives and reviews your resume. When employers receive the resum through an e-mail they will be able to respond much quicker to those whom they think might have potential.Use of a home computer is the easiest way to manage your job-seeking strategies. However, if you don't have a home PC, you have other options available to you. Many libraries, cafes (some are exclusively set up for the purpose of providing Internet connection), employment offices and copy centers have computers available either for free or a nominal charge. You can browse the Internet, print up resumes for interviews and
A good marketing plan will describe all the marketing actions to be carried out within a specific time period. It will contain details of your company, its products or services, its marketing objectives and strategies and information on how to measure the results of the marketing activities.
It might help if I give you a framework of basic elements that a Marketing Plan should include.
Basic Elements of a Marketing Plan
So what do you need?
1.Executive Summary - introduces and explains the major features and recommendations to executives (or your bank manager).
1.1 Introduction - a brief description of your organisation, its products and or services.
The context and objectives of the plan should be described and a description of what your business activities are. You should include current revenues, customers and your market position. You can also blow your own trumpet here! Note your accomplishments and successes to date. If it is a new market entry or entirely new markets you are going for, then here is the place to describe any experience, training or competencies that your company has.
1.2 Vision, Mission Statement and Objectives
Mission statements focus on the long-range purpose of your marketing plan. "To educate entertain and enlighten our clients so that they become more successful Marketers." Company objectives should be more specific and oriented towards action. "We will deliver a balanced range of Marketing Solution Publications to the U.K. and Europe through mail order and Internet."
1.3 Team description
Who will deliver the plan? What are the resources and structure of the team who will do so? Management skills and capabilities. List any Marketing knowledge, sales skills, copy-writing ability, etc. Agencies - Include any Marketing consultants, PR agencies you are using.
If there are any gaps honestly point them out and do a Training Needs Analysis.
1.4 Main marketing objectives
You need only give a brief statement of these here to close the Executive summary.
2.1 Current market conditions
What are the trends in your market? What are the dynamics facing businesses such as yours? Who are your target customers? What competition do you face?
2.2 Market trends:
You should describe the macroeconomic trends that directly affect the target market that your marketing plan is aimed at. This is where the PEST Framework is useful to include. (Sometimes referred to as PESTEL, SLEPT or PESTE) the components are: Political Economic Social Technological Environment Legal
2.3 Target market
It goes without saying that you should be aiming all your marketing efforts precisely at a target market or you are heading for a disaster.
All good marketing planning should follow from a very detailed segmentation of the market. Size? Is it growing, staying the same, or shrinking? Customer characteristics e.g. age, sex, income level, location, marital status, number of children etc. Habits, patterns and values of target customer. What are their wants, needs and desires? What are their buying habits? - How do they spend their disposable income and when do they buy and how do they buy? How many times and when?
2.4 Competition analysis
In the micro environment analysis of a Marketing Audit you will hopefully have identified your present and potential competitors. What are their key products / services? How do they differentiate them selves? You should briefly explain the actions that you will take to oppose or overcome your competitor's offerings.
I highly recommend you use Professor Michael Porter's Five Forces Model for this and the four other threats he identifies. Space does not allow me to go into detail here although I have written a more comprehensive report in which I include a diagram o
If you look around online or in the bookstore, or if you get into conversations with people at parties and other events, you get the idea that a “career” is where all the action is. Your career is almost like a life separate from your own. Your career can be on the fast track. It can be derailed. It can stagnate. Blossom. But the important thing, it would seem, would be that you at least have one at all. If you don’t, then reams of coaches, resume-writing specialists, articles, websites, magazines, books, and high school guidance counselors are there to nudge you to get yourself one!If you’re unhappy or unfulfilled, the gurus will assure you that it’s just that you’re in the wrong career. It most assuredly does not mean that you should bow out of having a career at all!We know of people we graduated from high school with, and that some of them seemed to “go somewhere,” and others did not. You might hear things like “Remember Mary? She has a wonderful career!” or perhaps “Too bad about Hank, just working away at that job at the auto body shop. You’d think he’d want to go back to school and get a career.”What’s the difference between a job and a career? Some people say that a job leads to nothing but more of the same, while a career leads to advancement, promotions, and more money. Other people say that within a career, you have jobs. In other words, the career is the journey, and the jobs are the stepping stones. Still others say that a career is intentio
1.3 Team description
Who will deliver the plan? What are the resources and structure of the team who will do so? Management skills and capabilities. List any Marketing knowledge, sales skills, copy-writing ability, etc. Agencies - Include any Marketing consultants, PR agencies you are using.
If there are any gaps honestly point them out and do a Training Needs Analysis.
1.4 Main marketing objectives
You need only give a brief statement of these here to close the Executive summary.
2.1 Current market conditions
What are the trends in your market? What are the dynamics facing businesses such as yours? Who are your target customers? What competition do you face?
2.2 Market trends:
You should describe the macroeconomic trends that directly affect the target market that your marketing plan is aimed at. This is where the PEST Framework is useful to include. (Sometimes referred to as PESTEL, SLEPT or PESTE) the components are: Political Economic Social Technological Environment Legal
2.3 Target market
It goes without saying that you should be aiming all your marketing efforts precisely at a target market or you are heading for a disaster.
All good marketing planning should follow from a very detailed segmentation of the market. Size? Is it growing, staying the same, or shrinking? Customer characteristics e.g. age, sex, income level, location, marital status, number of children etc. Habits, patterns and values of target customer. What are their wants, needs and desires? What are their buying habits? - How do they spend their disposable income and when do they buy and how do they buy? How many times and when?
2.4 Competition analysis
In the micro environment analysis of a Marketing Audit you will hopefully have identified your present and potential competitors. What are their key products / services? How do they differentiate them selves? You should briefly explain the actions that you will take to oppose or overcome your competitor's offerings.
I highly recommend you use Professor Michael Porter's Five Forces Model for this and the four other threats he identifies. Space does not allow me to go into detail here although I have written a more comprehensive report in which I include a diagram o
Here is my list on staying out of trouble on the cash flow front1. Don't spend money you don't have. Till a deal closes and the cheque clears in the bank - it is not money in the bank. So keep an eye out on that number and limit your spending urges to what you have, not what is in the pipeline.2. An uncollected invoice does not count as cash. Customer payments sometimes take 3 - 4 times the time you originally planned for collection. If a customer hasn't paid within the 7 - 10 days originally planned then there is no right estimate of when or if he will pay. In statistics we say that the distribution has no memory and the wait time has no correlation with the amount of time that has already elapsed. He may pay tomorrow or he may not pay at all.3. Stay away from credit cards. You can't build a company on credit card debt. Though its tempting and easy to believe that you can. Much more preferable are stable longer term arrangements like leases, over draft facilities, vendor and employee credit or short term loans (that you can and do pay back) from immediate family. Credit card debit grows on you, is difficult to get rid of, turns into a runaway wreck if you are not careful and for most of us is very expensive. Its like getting gas for you car at 9.00 dollars a gallon because it is right next doors and available versus the 3 or 4 it may cost further down the road if you look for it. Similar to gas it is not the one time pu
2.3 Target market
It goes without saying that you should be aiming all your marketing efforts precisely at a target market or you are heading for a disaster.
All good marketing planning should follow from a very detailed segmentation of the market. Size? Is it growing, staying the same, or shrinking? Customer characteristics e.g. age, sex, income level, location, marital status, number of children etc. Habits, patterns and values of target customer. What are their wants, needs and desires? What are their buying habits? - How do they spend their disposable income and when do they buy and how do they buy? How many times and when?
2.4 Competition analysis
In the micro environment analysis of a Marketing Audit you will hopefully have identified your present and potential competitors. What are their key products / services? How do they differentiate them selves? You should briefly explain the actions that you will take to oppose or overcome your competitor's offerings.
I highly recommend you use Professor Michael Porter's Five Forces Model for this and the four other threats he identifies. Space does not allow me to go into detail here although I have written a more comprehensive report in which I include a diagram of the Five Forces Model available from my own website.
2.5 Issues analysis
You should briefly list such key external issues as government legislation affecting your business, or new technological development that impinges on your product.
3.1 SWOT analysis
Strengths Weakness Opportunities Threats
A major component of any marketing plan is the SWOT analysis. Strengths and weaknesses are born of internal elements while opportunities and threats come from outside. When opportunities and threats are recognised they can then be examined from the point of view of your product strengths and weaknesses.
What could we change or improve about our product to make it easier for the customer? What are our customers' wants and desires? - We may possibly find new opportunities by thinking about such questions.
It is worth remembering that a threat can also be an opportunity to you, while a strength may also be a weakness depending on your point of view!
A business offering a vast selection of products may see this as one of their strengths. But for the customer, confused by the bewildering array of options as they try to find what they need, sees it as a weakness.
4. Positioning Strategy
Decide how you want your clients to perceive you in your marketplace. Lowest price? Best service? Highest quality? This is all part of the differentiation process.
5. Differentiation
You want to 'stand out from the crowd' so you need to make some decisions on segmentation and the positioning of your business. Combine this with your competitive analysis and you should be able to differentiate yourself from the competition.
6. Key messages
Thinking about differentiation should also help you to decide on your 'Key messages'. Be warned that it usually takes time for these to make an impact, to 'sink in', as it were. This means it is important to keep repeating your consistent messages throughout any marketing campaigns.
7. The Marketing Mix
The 4 P's.P is for:
Product - List your companies products and services. Include their key features. Is there something unique about them? If you are launching a new product or service include it here.
Price - There are many ways to set a price, some more scientific than others are! Remember that pricing is an integral part of the marketing strategy. Ask yourself is the customer willing to pay the price proposed and will it give you any profit? Some prices may be set on a cost-plus basis - adding a profit on to the costs of producing the goods or services. A better way is the 'market-based' price because it takes into account what your competitors are charging.
Place - where do you sell? Direct, through an intermediary? Bricks and mortar or virtual outlet?
Promotion - what activities are you going to use to create awareness of your product or service to generate sales? This is also referred to as Marketing Communications and includes direct selling, corporate events, brochures, web-sites, advertising. You should be warned that many inexperienced marketers think that the promotional plan is the entire marketing plan. It is, as you can see, but one component of the marketing plan.
7a. Integration of Promotional activity
Have you got a consistent look and feel to all your marketing mix? It is wise to make sure all your communications, brand positioning, propositions, messages, etc are derived from a single brand position so it is not confusing to the consumer by being fragmented. Also are there cross selling opportunities for you to exploit?
Only 4 Ps? - Funny, I thought I heard there were 7!
Before leaving the marketing mix I need to tell you about the Extended mix, which adds People, Process and Physical evidence to Product, Price, Place and Promotion.
If you are a service, or a not-for-profit organisation, then the extra three Ps are most important for you. But don't just assume that because you are not, that they don't apply!
People oriented organisations have to consider how their personnel make the marketing activities more, or less, effective when dealing face to face (or on the phone) with their public.
Process makes it easy for you to deal with the organisation. If it is a charity, for example, today people expect to be able to go on-line, set up direct-debits, pay by card and not just put money in the street collectors tin.
Physical evidence is expected to result from paying for a service or donating to a charity. You expect to see some physical evidence of the use your money has been put to.
8. Marketing Budget
You need a detailed budget for the next year showing the budgeted costs for each of your promotional items.
9. Measurement
Results and feed back must be gathered each month and compared with the marketing plan. When they are going astray you need to take corrective action. Another tip is to ask your customers how they found you so that you can monitor what parts of your communications plan are working. Note this and include this in your measurements.
10. Milestones
It is a good idea to announce in the plan some marketing milestones you will strive to achieve. When you pass them celebrate!
So there it is a step by step process to create you
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