Marketing Plan Worksheets
Marketing Plan Worksheets
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Marketing Plan Worksheets
These worksheets will assist you in writing a formal marketing plan. Worksheets are a useful planning tool because they help to ensure that important information is not omitted from the marketing plan. Answering the questions on these worksheets will enable you to:
Organize and structure the data and information you collect during the situation analysis.
Use this information to better understand a firms strengths and weaknesses, and to recognize the opportunities and threats that exist in the marketing environment.
Develop goals and objectives that capitalize on strengths.
Develop a marketing strategy that creates competitive advantages.
Outline a plan for implementing the marketing strategy.
As you complete the worksheets, it might be useful to refer back to the text of the chapters. In completing the situation analysis section, be sure to be as comprehensive as possible. The viability of your SWOT analysis depends on how well you have identified all of the relevant environmental issues. Likewise, as you complete the SWOT analysis, you should be honest about the firms characteristics. Do not depend on strengths that the firm really does not possess. Honesty is also important for your listing of weaknesses.
Executive Summary
The executive summary is a synopsis of the overall marketing plan. It should give an overview of the entire plan and include the key elements of the marketing strategy and its implementation. The executive summary is easier to write if you do it last, after you have written the entire marketing plan.
Situation Analysis
The Internal Environment (refer to Exhibit 3-3)
Review of marketing goals and objectives
Identify the firms current marketing goals and objectives.
State whether these goals and objectives are:
Consistent with the firms mission
Consistent with recent changes in the external environment
Consistent with current customer needs, wants, and preferences
Review of current marketing strategy and performance
Describe the firms current marketing strategy with respect to products, pricing, distribution, and promotion. Which elements of the strategy are working well? Which elements are not?
Describe the firms current performance (sales volume, market share, profitability, awareness, brand preference) compared to other firms in the industry. Is the performance of the industry as a whole improving or declining? Why?
If the firms performance is in decline, what is the most likely cause (e.g., environmental changes, flawed strategy, poor implementation)?
Review of current and anticipated organizational resources
Describe the current state of the firms organizational resources (e.g., financial, capital, human, experience, relationships with key suppliers or customers). How are the levels of these resources likely to change in the future?
If resource levels are expected to change, how can the firm leverage additional resources to meet customer needs better than competitors?
If additional resources are not available, how can the firm compensate for future resource constraints (lack of resources)?
Review of current and anticipated cultural and structural issues
In terms of marketing strategy development and implementation, describe the positive and negative aspects of the current and anticipated culture