Lesson Two: Marketing Concepts

Expected Learning Outcomes

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

 Describe the marketing concepts

 Discuss the scope of marketing

 Evaluate the types of marketing

 Assess the evolution of marketing concepts

 Differentiate between marketing and selling

 Discuss Marketing Research, Meaning and Importance

 Marketing Concepts
• Topics
 Marketing concepts
 Scope of marketing
 Types of marketing
 Evolution of marketing concepts
 Marketing and selling
 Marketing Research, Meaning and Importance
Recommended Readings: Students to refer to the course text and make notes on marketing
concepts
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_YNMsS6NLk
How to brand anything.
 Marketing Concepts
 There are various standard definitions of marketing. While the words used may be different, it is obvious that
all marketing activity is about the customer, focused at acquiring them and retaining them.

 Marketing is a business function and set of processes involved in creating, delivering and communicating
value to customers, followed by managing customer relationships, resulting in mutual benefit for the business
and its stakeholders.

 Marketing is a buyer-oriented process involving the creation, communication, and delivery of value even as
it strives to build and retain lifetime customer loyalty.

 Marketing is also the science of selecting target markets via market analysis and segmentation, with a
comprehensive knowledge of buying behaviour, aiming to provide the best customer value.

 Marketing involves a variety of activities aimed at determining and meeting needs. Key marketing activities
involve understanding what is valued (e.g., market research), creating value (e.g., product development,
marketing communications, and distribution) and capturing value (i.e., pricing).
 Marketing Concepts
 However, marketing is successful only when an organization’s mission, vision, tasks and ability to leverage
technology align with and complement each other, and the business as a whole.

 Although marketing viewed as an indicator of a firm’s success, it is a matter of perspective.

 For example, brands like Toyota, Nissan and Nestle must rely on marketing to grow and keep their customer
base.

 For regulated industries like utilities and medical care and small businesses with unique products, marketing
may be low key and confined to flyers.
 Getting the competitive Edge
 Marketing provides businesses with a competitive edge, since that is what they need to do, to gain loyal
customers.

 Businesses achieve this by convincing potential customers that their product is the nearest thing that satisfies
their needs and wants and do it consistently, with the result that the loyal customer starts buying from them
without looking at the competition.

 This is what all businesses dream of and achieving and is possible only with a solid marketing plan in place.

 With the advent of the internet, there are several marketing channels available to businesses, besides
traditional marketing.

 All of them focus on engaging the customer.

 Scope of Marketing
 Marketing has a very wide scope it covers all the activities from conception of ideas to realization of profits.

 Marketing is pervasive in scope; any type of entity which is of value to a market segment can be marketed.

 The scope of marketing is determined by the marketing offering of an organization. Market offering is a
combination of goods, services, ideas, persons, places, information, etc. offered to a market to satisfy specific
needs and wants of people.

 Market offerings are not limited to physical goods. They also include services like banking, air travel, hotel
stay, tourism, etc. which are not tangible in nature and can’t be owned by the buyers.

 Marketing being a part of social science is highly dynamic and complex in nature. The rapid changes in
various sectors have brought great changes in the concept of marketing. Traditionally, marketing was
concerned with buying and selling of goods and ser­vices only but now its scope has widened and it
encompasses a range of activities from consumer satisfaction to consumer delight and management of
customer relationship.
 Scope of Marketing
(1) Products and Services:

 Products and Service are the basic element of marketing. If there is no product there is no marketing.

 It is concerned with the nature and type of products, product quality and design, product planning and
development, product decisions relating to branding, labelling, packaging, trademarks etc.

(2) Marketing Research:

 Though products and services were the starting point under traditional marketing, modern marketing starts
with an analysis of the various aspects of market and related areas. It includes an analysis of nature and types
of customers, size of market, customer attitude, buyer behaviour etc.

 An in-depth analysis of customers and markets is a prerequisite for every marketer to have a successful
marketing.
 Scope of Marketing
(3) Channel of Distribution: The pathway through which the goods move from producer to consumer is the
channel of distribution. It includes a number of intermediaries like wholesaler, retailers, jobbers etc.

 Channels by moving the goods help in transferring the ownership of goods from seller to buyer.

(4) Physical Distribution: The physical movement of the goods from producer to consumer is physical
distribution. It includes transportation, warehousing, inventory control and management, order processing
etc.

(5) Promotional Decisions: Howsoever good a product is, it has no value if it is not properly promoted.

 Promotion has the basic objective of informing the market about product availability and creating a demand
for it. Different promotional tools are there like advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, publicity,
public relations etc.
 Scope of Marketing
(6) Pricing Decisions: This is the only element of marketing which generates revenue for the firm.

 Pricing is concerned with pricing policies and strategies, price determination, discounts, commissions etc.

(7) Environmental Analysis: An analysis of the environment in which the business is to be carried out is the
first step for any organisation.

 The various macro and micro factors should be studied beforehand only to develop an understanding of the
strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, for an organisation.

 This will help not only in the formulation of the corporate strategy but marketing strategy as well.

 It includes the study of economic environment, geographical environment, political and legal environment,
social and cultural environment, natural and technological environment etc. in the country and outside.
 Scope of Marketing
(8) Feedback from Customers: For successful marketing of goods it is essential that the marketer obtains the
required feedback from customers.

 A proper feedback mechanism should be developed so that reasons for failure or less satisfaction may be
identified and improvements in the products be made.

(9) Responsibility towards the Society: Business and society are interrelated and interdependent. A business
cannot exist in vacuum.

 It derives its much needed inputs from society and therefore owes a responsibility towards the society. These
social activities are a part of marketing as the units have to protect and promote the interest of the society.

 A marketer to be socially responsive owes responsibility towards employees, consumer, shareholder etc.
 Types of Marketing
 Traditional marketing involves offline channels such as face-to-face selling, print advertisements, direct
mails, billboards, television and radio to grab the target market’s attention.

 Digital marketing uses the internet to reach its markets via websites, social media, video sites, emails,
mobile phones and apps and forums.

 Social media marketing is a popular medium for businesses to connect with and engage their audiences and
is an effective brand builder and market research tool. This works best when used in conjunction with other
marketing strategies.

 Mobile marketing. Considered the third screen, mobile is one of the main marketing channels today, what
with consumers getting their information on the go.

 No matter what route the marketer decides to take, two or more of the above will inevitably overlap to offer
customers the best marketing experience since the goal is to reach customers where they are rather than wait
for them to approach the business.
 Evolution of Marketing Concepts
 The first step in this process is establishing a marketing philosophy in place, where the business must perform
a customer needs analysis to find ways to meet these needs.

 It is important to remember that markets are dynamic and keep changing.

 The concept of marketing has also evolved to keep pace with the needs of the market.

 Here is a brief overview of the evolution of marketing concepts.

Production concept – an operations-based concept where the consumer expects products that are easily
available and affordable.

 Here the business focuses on production efficiency, lowering costs and mass distribution.

 This concept works in developing economies where the need is more for the product than the features it
offers.
 Evolution of Marketing Concepts
 Product concept – a consumer oriented concept where consumers expect products that are superior, high-
performance and with unique features.

 This concept assumes that customers are likelier to be loyal when the product meets all their expectations and
so, the business strives to offer innovative products consistently.

 Selling concept– where the business believes that its products will sell only through active promotion and
selling and the customer will not respond until pushed.

 In short, it is a matter of the business trying to sell what it makes rather than make products to meet the
market’s needs.
 Evolution of Marketing Concepts

 Marketing concept – This concept is radical, compared to the above and focuses on the target market, its
needs and wants and a desire to be better than the competition while delivering value to its market.

 Unlike the earlier concepts that rely on push marketing, it believes in pull marketing by creating brand
loyalty.

 While the sales concept is seller-oriented, the marketing concept is buyer-oriented.

 A fifth concept has evolved today, the societal marketing concept – is the ideal situation where, along with
the focus on the target market’s wants and needs and delivering better value than its competition, the business
also strives to preserve the well-being of its target market and the society as a whole.

 This takes into consideration environmental and natural resource preservation and minimizing the carbon
footprint.
 Marketing vs Selling
 We often use the terms marketing and selling synonymously. However, it is important to understand the
differences between marketing and selling, for any marketing plan to be successful.
 Simply stated, selling is product/seller-oriented and aims at market share and profit maximization. The
business assumes that consumers are waiting for its products and once production is over, the sales force must
sell everything using aggressive sales methods.
 In contrast, the marketing approach is buyer-oriented. It encompasses a broader range of activities that
include the entire process of:
 Market research to uncover customer needs,

 Product planning and development –to make products that meet and satisfy customer needs.

 Packaging, advertising and promotion – to create awareness and for brand-building

 Pricing and distribution –for long term revenue generation

 In short, although the aim of marketing and sales is to increase revenue, marketing aims at creating value for
the customer and sees the customer as the reason for its existence.
 This calls for a marketing plan based on the specific needs of the business.
Difference between Marketing and Selling
Marketing Research
 Marketing Research
 Market research is the process of collecting vital information about a company’s target audience, market, and
competition.

 Through market research, companies can understand their target audience better. They can make better
products, improve user experience, and design a marketing strategy that attracts quality leads.

 Market research examines consumer behavior and trends in the economy to help a business develop and fine-
tune its business idea and strategy. It helps a business understand its target market by gathering and analyzing
data.

 Market research is the process of evaluating the viability of a new service or product through research
conducted directly with potential customers. It allows a company to define its target market and get opinions
and other feedback from consumers about their interest in a product or service.

 Research may be conducted in-house or by a third party that specializes in market research. It can be done
through surveys and focus groups, among other ways. Test subjects are usually compensated with product
samples or a small stipend for their time.
 Reasons for conducting Marketing Research
 Determine the feasibility of a new business or product

 Identify potential new markets

 Keep an eye on marketing trends

 Test the demand for new products

Assignment: Students to Research and make notes on How Marketing works

 Importance of Market Research
1. Provides a direction

 Data derived from market research helps brands understand what the consumers want, what will work in the
market, and how competitors reinvent themselves to stay relevant.

 This information helps companies to prioritise customers’ requirements. It (data collected from market
research) also directs businesses to focus on customers’ short-term and long-term needs, leading to improved
customer satisfaction.

2. Enhances brand image and position in the market

 Audiences tend to develop a special bond with companies that provide them with a positive buying
experience and consistent excitement by providing products or services that match their preferences.

 With market research, companies can determine the likes and dislikes of their target customers and provide a
product that matches their requirements.

 This can help in increasing customer loyalty and satisfaction, leading to a positive brand image and position
in the market.
 Importance of Market Research
3. Mitigates risk: Market research provides information about emerging market trends, competitors’ strategies,
and evolving customer requirements, preparing companies to adjust to market changes.

 Companies can make long-term market predictions based on the data collected, which helps them mitigate
operational risks.

4. Increases decision-making abilities: Data about customers, their requirements, and their expectations can be
identified through market research. This data drives leaders to make data-driven decisions.

 It helps in finding answers to questions like-

 What product will work?

 Which type of digital marketing strategy will suit the product?

 How to sell the product better?

 Which market will be suitable for the product?

 Who will be the target audience for the product?

 Importance of Market Research
5.Understand the market better

 While market research focuses on a target audience and tries to understand their characteristics, marketing
research considers the market as a single entity.

 It helps you understand a customer's response to products and determine if a product has been successful.
Instead of looking at individual products, it considers the perception of the customers towards the entire
business.

 Marketing research also includes studying the market conditions that may affect a business and other market
entities. Marketers also aim to understand the impact of their business model on the market.

6.Identify opportunities for introducing new products

 After studying the entire market, competitors and the target audience, marketing research can help identify
opportunities for new products and services. It can help them identify the demands or requirements that they
can address.

 By studying the competitors and their strategies, marketers can understand their competitors' approaches and
strategies and also improve their existing ones accordingly.
 Importance of Market Research
7. Improve advertising and promotional activities

 Along with studying the marketing processes and the business model, marketers also analyse their
promotional activities. This includes understanding the current market trend and general user behaviour. By
doing this, marketers can improve their advertising and promotional efforts to ensure that they can target their
audience effectively and also convey the key message of the brand.

 Marketing research also includes studying branding activities to ensure that their offerings match the key
message and objectives of the brand.

8.Provides data for effective decision making

 As marketing research involves the entire business model and the market, it helps marketers collect large
amounts of useful data. This can equip decision-makers with insightful information that they can use to make
strategic decisions.

 Marketers and professionals from other departments within an organisation, like finance, sales or product
development, can use this information to create budgets, create new products and improve sales processes.
Marketers can also organise and document this data for future reference and refer to it as secondary research
when required.
 Lesson Three: The Marketing Plan
• Expected Learning Outcomes:
.By the end of the session, students should be able to:
 Describe marketing plan
 Outline the elements of a marketing plan
 Discuss the objectives of a marketing plan
 Explain how to measure progress of marketing plan
 Discuss the importance of a marketing plan
 Discuss the structure of a marketing plan
 Appraise the administration of a marketing plan

 Reading Assignment: Students to research and report on the effectiveness of a marketing plan
 Video to watch: There is No Luck, Only Good Marketing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN-41JjIPEg
 Lesson Three: The Marketing Plan
 A marketing plan is the advertising strategy that a business will implement to sell its product or service.

 The marketing plan will help determine who the target market is, how best to reach them, at what price point
the product or service should be sold, and how the company will measure its efforts.

 A marketing plan is a strategic roadmap that businesses use to organize, execute, and track their marketing
strategy over a given time period.

 A marketing plan is a document that lays out the marketing efforts of a business in an upcoming period,
which is usually a year.

 It outlines the marketing strategy, promotional, and advertising activities planned for the period.
 Elements of a Marketing Plan
 A marketing plan will typically include the following elements:

 Marketing objectives of the business: The objectives should be attainable and measurable – two
goals associated with SMART, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and
Time-bound.

 Current business marketing positioning: An analysis of the current state of the organization
concerning its marketing positioning.
 Market research: Detailed research about current market trends, customer needs, industry sales volumes,
and expected direction.

 Outline of the business target market: Business target market demographics.

 Marketing activities: A list of any actions concerning marketing goals that are scheduled for the period and
the indicated timelines.
 Elements of a Marketing Plan

 Key performance indicators (KPIs) to be tracked

 Marketing mix: A combination of factors that may influence customers to purchase products. It should be
appropriate for the organization and will largely be centered on the 4Ps of marketing – i.e., product, price,
promotion, and place.

 Competition: Identify the organization’s competitors and their strategies, along with ways to counter
competition and gain market share.

 Marketing strategies: The development of marketing strategies to be employed in the coming period. These
strategies will include promotional strategies, advertising, and other marketing tools at the disposal of the
organization.

 Marketing budget: A detailed outline of the organization’s allocation of financial resources to marketing
activities. The activities will need to be carried out within the marketing budget.
 Elements of a Marketing Plan
 Monitoring and performance mechanism: A plan should be in place to identify if the marketing tools in
place are bearing fruit or need to be revised based on the past, current, and expected future state of the
organization, industry, and the overall business environment.

 A marketing plan should observe the 80:20 rule – i.e., for maximum impact, it should focus on the 20% of
products and services that account for 80% of volumes and the 20% of customers that bring in 80% of
revenue.
 Objectives of a Marketing Plan
 Behind every successful business is usually a marketing plan with smaller objectives that support
it.
 It's important to have these objectives so that everyone in marketing or within the organization can
work together toward a common purpose.
 Objectives help you measure if your efforts are successful or not and what you have to reevaluate
when launching any new campaign.
 This discussion aims to explore what a marketing plan is, provide examples of marketing
objectives, explain how to select marketing objectives and share how to measure progress
 Marketing objectives are made up of smaller and shorter range steps a marketing representative or
department must take to reach the longer-term and overarching goals of marketing.
 You can form marketing objectives by using the SMART method of goal creation.
 This will ensure that the objectives set forth provide direction to anyone involved in marketing,
establish clear guidance when deciding on campaigns and how best to reach your target audience
and outline what exactly the marketing team's purpose is.
 Objectives of a Marketing Plan
• SMART goals are:

 Specific: Marketing goals that are specific allow for effective planning.

 Measurable: You should have a way to measure your progress toward your goal. If you are unable to
measure the effectiveness of your strategy on your goal, then you should probably reevaluate your goal or
establish one that's more specific.

 Achievable: Consider goals that you and your team will be able to actually achieve within a certain
timeframe. It should be very reasonable to see this goal come to fruition.

 Relevant: It's also important to make sure the marketing goals are relevant. They should incorporate existing
goals and values that are set forth and define what the company stands for as a whole.

• Time-based: A time-based goal should have an end date in place for when you want to achieve the goal.
Timeframes keep people motivated and, if you aren't able to meet your goals within the timeframe, you'll be
better able to understand why and pivot.
 Objectives of a Marketing Plan
• Marketing objectives differ from marketing goals, although you may see the two used interchangeably.
Marketing objectives are usually completed in the short term and they are specific, using timeframes,
measurement methods and more to define them. Marketing goals are more long term and are in line with a
company's overarching mission and purpose. You use your marketing objectives to reach your marketing
goals.

• Importance of marketing plan objectives

• Marketing plan objectives are important because they bring everyone in marketing together to create a
cohesive way of meeting goals. Having objectives in place helps each member of the marketing team
understand their role a little more and know what they need to do to help the team realize success. Objectives
also matter because, without them, a marketing department may not be able to (or have a very hard time)
assigning success based on its efforts. Objectives that are measurable and clear means that later on, anyone in
marketing can tell if their strategies had any impact, good or bad, on the outcome of a marketing campaign.
From there, a team can figure out what went right, what they can improve upon and how to take on similar
situations in the future.
 Objectives of a Marketing Plan
• Depending on several factors, marketing plan objectives can vary significantly. Here are some common ones
that marketing departments may select to reach their goals:

1.Increase brand awareness: Increasing brand awareness is a popular marketing objective because it doesn't
matter how large a company is or how much brand loyalty they may have, many still see the opportunity to
increase how many others know about the company and its offerings.

 More brand awareness usually equates to more customers, more sales and, ultimately, more money for the
business. You may want to increase brand awareness overall or focus on this objective when there is a new
product launch upcoming.

2.Generate leads: Lead generation is how many potential new customers you have coming in. You can measure
this by using the number of new leads or the percentage increase compared to previous campaigns. You may
also want to anticipate the cost per lead so you know how many new leads you need to generate a profit.
 Objectives of a Marketing Plan
4.Increase sales or revenue

 This objective would require the marketing team to focus mainly on selling the products and services that the
company currently offers.

 You may try to increase sales by cross-selling complementary products or providing something to customers
that will entice them to click the purchase button on your website.

5.Build authority in the industry

 Especially if you're offering a service, it becomes important to showcase how much of an expert you and your
company are in the industry.

 There is probably some competition that you're up against.

 Having systems in place that give your potential customer trust and confidence in what you're selling can
make the difference.
 Objectives of a Marketing Plan
6.Improve your return on investment (ROI)
 There is usually some amount of money being spent to acquire new customers or keep current
customers loyal to your brand. This money is the investment piece.
 When an investment is involved, then it becomes important to make sure you're getting an adequate
return on that investment.
 There are a lot of ways to measure ROI depending on the systems you have in place to conduct business
and interact with current and potential customers.

7. Successfully launch a new product or service

 There is a lot that goes into launching a new product or service, including a plan to get your target
customers excited about your new offerings, figuring out pricing and developing communications that
showcase what sets your offering apart from the competition.
 Objectives of a Marketing Plan
8.Realize a larger market share: Remember that objectives should be realistic and measurable. If you want to realize
a larger market share, you should be able to develop a way to measure your efforts to see how successful you've been.

 You can first see how saturated the market is by your competitors' products and services, then come up with a
proper goal for where your company can be in relation to theirs.

9.Increase customer loyalty: Your current customers have a lot of power. They can provide you with valuable word-
of-mouth marketing and help you increase your sales by buying more of what you're offering. It is probably important
that your company be able to retain current customers and increase their loyalty to your business. It usually costs less
to keep a current customer than gain a new one, so this objective can also help you accomplish any goal that is focused
on the budget.

 When working on increasing customer loyalty, you can identify any pain points current customers may have that
would cause them to abandon your business. You can also look into how you can improve their experience so they
feel more connected to your company and like a valuable part of your operations.
 Objectives of a Marketing Plan
10.Increase website traffic

 Your company's website is a great tool for many related marketing objectives, like when you're trying to
attract new customers, inform current customers, share specials and discounts, educate the public about your
mission and more.

 You can increase your website traffic by sharing the link on social media, forming advertisements that
encourage potential customers to visit your site and even writing guest posts on other websites that include a
link back to your own.

11. Enter a new market

 When your company is well known in your current market, you may want to think about expanding into
others or offering your product or service to international customers and clients.

 The steps to realizing this objective can be to conduct competitor analysis for the new market and
strengthening your sales points so that you're appealing to your new market and letting them know how your
product or service helps them accomplish their goals or improves their lives in some way.
 Objectives of a Marketing Plan
How to select marketing objectives

• Because every company's goals, values and mission differ from another, the marketing objectives you select
should really take your own company's marketing plan into account. Consider selecting objectives that fully
support the marketing plan and bigger goals of the organization. It may also be a good idea to select
marketing objectives based on priority. There are going to be some objectives that are more important to
establish and meet first because they directly impact other objectives. For example, you may want to choose
to increase your website traffic as an objective because being able to accomplish this can also help with sales,
customer conversions, building up your email list and increasing your social media presence.

How to measure progress on marketing plan objectives

• As you're working on your objectives, it's important to measure your progress and the end result once you
know if you've met your goal or fell short. When it comes time to measure how you're doing, you'll want to
make sure you already have key performance indicators (KPIs) in place. KPIs are units of measurement that
you'd use to measure the effectiveness of what you're doing. At any point during your campaign, you should
be able to use the KPIs you've developed to measure how successful you currently are in reaching your
objective.
 How to measure progress on marketing plan objectives
1.Conversion rates: Establish a goal conversion rate that you can check from time to time. A conversion rate is
the percentage of people who are performing a desired action. You can measure conversions for a
particular sales button on your website, for an email sign-up form or any other call to action you want
to use.

2.Cost per lead: A cost per lead is how much you are paying to acquire a new customer. It's an important KPI
because some part of your marketing campaign may not be effective if you are spending more money
to acquire the customer than the customer spends in purchasing your products or services.

3.Organic traffic: If you want potential customers to find you online when they search for a word or phrase,
you should develop your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. Then, you can measure how
many people are accessing your website based on how optimized your website is for the exact products or
services you offer.

4.Social media engagement: Social media can be harder to measure than other types of marketing efforts, but
you can still have KPIs in place to measure engagement. Social media marketing fits nicely with a
brand awareness or customer loyalty objective. You can measure how many likes, comments or shares your
posts receive.

5.Sales revenue: You can also measure how your efforts have contributed to your
company's sales and profit.
 Purpose of a Marketing Plan
• The purpose of a marketing plan includes the following:

 To clearly define the marketing objectives of the business that align with the corporate mission and vision of
the organization.

 The marketing objectives indicate where the organization wishes to be at any specific period in the future.

 The marketing plan usually assists in the growth of the business by stating appropriate marketing strategies,
such as plans for increasing the customer base.

 State and review the marketing mix in terms of the 8Ps of marketing – Product, Price, Place, Promotion,
People, Process, Physical Evidence, and Performance.
 Purpose of a Marketing Plan
 It encompasses the strategies to increase market share, enter new niche markets, and increase brand
awareness.

 The marketing plan will contain a detailed budget for the funds and resources required to carry out activities
indicated in the marketing plan.

 The assignment of tasks and responsibilities of marketing activities is well enunciated in the marketing plan.

 The identification of business opportunities and any strategies crafted to exploit them is important.

 A marketing plan fosters the review and analysis of the marketing environment, which entails market
research, customer needs assessment, competitor analysis, PEST analysis, studying new business trends, and
continuous environmental scanning.

 A marketing plan integrates business functions to operate with consistency – notably sales, production,
finance, human resources, and marketing.
 Structure of a Marketing plan
 The structure of a marketing plan can include the following sections:

Marketing Plan Objectives: This section outlines the expected outcome of the marketing plan with clear,
concise, realistic, and attainable objectives. It contains specific targets and time frames.

 Metrics, such as target market share, the target number of customers to be attained, penetration rate, usage
rate, sales volumes targeted, etc. should be used.

Market Research – Market Analysis/Consumer Analysis: Market analysis includes topics such as market
definition, market size, industry structure, market share and trends, and competitor analysis.

 Consumer analysis includes the target market demographics and what influences their buying decisions – e.g.,
loyalty, motivation, and expectations.

 Target Market: This defines the target customers by their demographic profile, such as gender, race, age,
and psychographic profile, such as their interests. This will assist in the correct marketing mix for the target
market segments.
 Structure of a Marketing plan
SWOT Analysis
 A SWOT analysis will look at the organization’s internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities
and threats. SWOT analysis includes the following:
 Strengths are the organization’s competitive advantages that are not easily duplicated.

 They represent the skills, expertise, and efficiencies that an organization possesses over its competitors.

 Weaknesses are impediments found in the operations of an organization, and they stifle growth.

 These can include outdated machinery, inadequate working capital, and inefficient production methods.

 Opportunities are prospects for growth in the business through the adoption of ways to take advantage of the
chances. They could include entry into new markets, adopting digital marketing strategies, or following new
trends.

 Threats are external factors that can affect the business negatively, such as a new powerful competitor,
legislative changes, natural disasters, or political situations.
 Structure of a Marketing plan
Marketing Strategy: The marketing strategy section covers actual strategies to be included according to the marketing
mix. The strategy centers on the 8Ps of marketing.

 However, firms are also at liberty to use the traditional 4 P’s of marketing – product, price, place, and promotion. The 8 P’s
are illustrated below.

 The correct marketing mix is determined by the target market. The most expensive options are advertising, sales
promotions, and PR campaigns. Networking and referrals are less costly.

 Marketers also need to pay attention to digital marketing strategies that make use of technology to reach a wider market and
have also proven to be cost-effective.

 Digital marketing channels, which became popular in the early 21 st century, may eventually overtake traditional marketing
methods. Digital marketing encompasses trending methods, such as the use of social media for business.

 Other strategies within the marketing strategy include pricing and positioning strategy, distribution strategy, conversion
strategy, and retention strategy.
 Structure of a Marketing plan
Marketing Budget

 The marketing budget or projection outlines the budgeted expenditure for the marketing activities
documented in the marketing plan.

 The marketing budget consists of revenues and costs stated in the marketing plan in one document.

 It balances expenditures on marketing activities and what the organization can afford. It’s a financial plan of
marketing activities to be carried out – e.g., promotional activities, cost of marketing materials and
advertising, and so on.

 Other considerations include expected product volume and price, production and delivery costs, and
operating and financing costs.

 The effectiveness of the marketing plan depends on the budget allocated for marketing expenditure.

 The cost of marketing should be able to make the company break even and make profits.
 Structure of a Marketing plan
Performance Analysis: Performance analysis aims to look at the variances of metrics or components
documented in the marketing plan. These include:

Revenue variance analysis: An analysis of positive or negative variance of revenue. A negative variance is
worrisome, and reasons should be available to explain the cause of deviations.

Market share analysis: An analysis of whether the organization attained its target market share. Sales may be
increasing whilst the organization’s share of the market is decreasing; hence, it is paramount to track
this metric.

Expense analysis: An analysis of marketing expense to sales ratio. This ratio needs to be compared to industry
standards to make informed comparisons. The ratio enables the organization to track actual
expenditures versus the budget. It is also compared to other metrics, such as revenue analysis and market share
analysis. It can be dissected into individual expenditures to sales to get a clearer picture.
 Administration of a Marketing Plan
 The marketing plan should be revised and adapted to changes in the environment periodically. The use of metrics,
budgets, and schedules to measure progress towards the goals set in the marketing plan is a continuous process by
marketing personnel.

 There should be a continuous assessment to verify that the goals of the marketing plan are being achieved. The
marketing manager should be able to review if the strategies documented are being effective, given the operating
environment.

 It is irrational for the marketing manager to notice anomalies and wait to review at year-end when the situation
might have already deteriorated.

 Changes in the environment may necessitate a review of plans, projections, strategies, and targets. Therefore, a
formal periodical review – such as monthly or quarterly – may need to be in place. This may mean preparing an
annual marketing plan but reviewing the plan quarterly to keep targets and plans aligned closely to environmental
changes. It goes without saying that plans are as good as their feasibility to succeed in the given environment