Product Description

It's About the Plan

So you're looking to develop a marketing plan. You might be a business owner or business manager. You might be a marketing expert, beginner, or pragmatic do-it-yourself person. Either way, our goal is to help you get that plan built in a logical, orderly way and accomplish your goals.

If you're already a marketing expert, we think we can still help you develop a plan. You probably already know all we have to offer about marketing strategy and tactics, but we can help you through the planning process, give you the step-by-step guide, and suggest a methodology for channeling what you know into a logically sequenced, orderly plan that you'll be able to implement. You know as well as anybody that marketing plans are not as generally accepted and defined as business plans, so the framework itself can help you get the job done.

If you're not a marketing expert, then look at this book as a practical guide to the basics, and a part of the process of developing a plan. We've tried to give you all you really need to know, from a practical point of view, to develop a marketing plan. This book includes details on how to develop your strategy, how to focus on key elements, analyze and research your market, develop strategy and tactics, project your sales and build your budget, so you can create a plan that you can implement.

Regardless of your background or experience, you want your marketing plan to be a useful document that describes your current situation, states your strategy, and outlines a pragmatic approach to accomplish your desired results.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #875467 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 356 pages

From the Publisher
The Essential Contents of a Marketing Plan

The exact nature of your plan, and your marketing situation, dictates its contents. You add or subtract detail to suit your needs. However, there are some absolutely essential standards components that your plan ought to contain.

Every marketing plan has to fit the needs and situation. Even so, there are standard components you just can't do without. A marketing plan should always have a situation analysis, marketing strategy, sales forecast, and expense budget.

Situation Analysis: Normally this will include a market analysis, a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats), and a competitive analysis. The market analysis will include market forecast, segmentation, customer information, and market needs analysis.

Marketing Strategy: This should include at least a mission statement, objectives, and focused strategy including market segment focus and product positioning.

Sales Forecast: This would include enough detail to track sales month by month and follow up on plan-vs.-actual analysis. Normally a plan will also include specific sales by product, by region or market segment, by channels, by manager responsibilities, and other elements. The forecast alone is a bare minimum.

Expense Budget: This ought to include enough detail to track expenses month by month and follow up on plan-vs.-actual analysis. Normally a plan will also include specific sales tactics, programs, management responsibilities, promotion, and other elements. The expense budget is a bare minimum.

Are They Enough?

These minimum requirements above are not the ideal, just the minimum. In most cases you'll begin a marketing plan with an Executive Summary, and you'll also follow those essentials just described with a review of organizational impact, risks and contingencies, and pending issues.

Include a Specific Action Plan

You should also remember that planning is about the results, not the plan itself. A marketing plan must be measured by the results it produces. The implementation of your plan is much more important than its brilliant ideas or massive market research. You can influence implementation by building a plan full of specific measurable, and concrete plans that can be tracked and followed up. Plan-vs.-actual analysis is critical to the eventual results, and you should build it into your plan.

About the Author
This book is written by Tim Berry and Doug Wilson. Both have MBA degrees, both have run their own companies, and both teach entrepreneuring while running a business.

Tim Berry is president of Palo Alto Software, and the principal author of its software products Business Plan Pro™, Marketing Plan Pro™,Cash Plan Pro™ and Web Strategy Pro™. He is also the author of several other software products, six published books, and magazine articles. He has given seminars on business planning for large and small companies, in more than a dozen countries.

In 1983 he founded Infoplan, which later became Palo Alto Software. During the 1980s and early 1990s he consulted in business planning and marketing planning to companies including Apple Computer, Hewlett Packard, and IBM. Apple Latin America grew from $4 million annual sales to more than $30 million during the four years he did its business planning as a consultant, and Apple Japan grew from less than $200 million per year to $1.5 billion in sales during the four years he worked with that organization as a consultant. In 1983 he was a co-founder of Borland International, one of four members of the board of directors. He resigned that position in 1986 when Borland successfully launched an initial public offering (IPO).

Tim is an Adjunct Professor at the Lundquist School of Business at the University of Oregon. He teaches a 400-level business course titled "Introduction to Entrepreneurship."

Co-author Doug Wilson is vice president of sales and marketing at Palo Alto Software, Inc. He has extensive marketing experience, including marketing management with AT&T and US West Communications as well as work with several high- tech entrepreneuring companies. He is the founder of the consulting firm Strategic Advantage, which worked with a range of large and small businesses. With Strategic Advantage he developed a focus on the business of professional services, including CPAs, attorneys, physicians, consultants, and professional sports organizations. The marketing challenges of selling "intangible products" require unique approaches to optimize client revenues. Doug developed a one-day seminar entitled "Client Development Strategies" that assisted hundreds of people in better understanding and developing customized programs to enhance their client revenues.

Doug has also created business plans and marketing plans for a variety of firms, including nonprofit organizations.

He has an MBA degree from the University of Oregon. Doug is also an Adjunct Professor at the Lundquist School of Business at the University of Oregon. He teaches a 400-level business course titled "Introduction to Entrepreneurship." He has also taught Entrepreneurship, Marketing Strategy, and Marketing Channels.

Customer Reviews

Practical and it worked!
This is a great way to get your arms around doing the some times challenging task of writing a marketing plan. It takes you through the process step-by-step and it is filled with great resources, especially the current web sites it suggests. A great way to get that plan accomplished with solid coaching throughout. These guys know what they are doing!

Sunday School Book
Have you ever heard of a SWOT analysis? If you have, then this book is not for you. This book is very good for an entry level book. The authors have very little successful experience in business plan writing and the tasks they include are elementary. You would be much better off reading and intro to marketing textbook instead. The textbook would cover fundamentals of marketing. I respect the authors background, but most people would be better off with a different book.

Return on Investment (ROI) demanded of Marketing VP's
YES, this excellent book is a basic primer for new students and non-savvy marketing VP's. And maybe that's where some folks should get back to? Back to the basics of reporting to their COO and CEO and CFO the ABC's of Marketing, Publicity and Advertising. WHAT'S THE ROI OF YOUR PLAN?

A= Is it Authorized?

B= Was it Budgeted?

C= Will it be Cost effective?

For too long, too many Marketing, Publicity and Advertising folks have gone to their bosses and submitted proposals as high as 50 million dollars and gotten it. Six months later, the product was pulled from the shelves and the funds had been wasted.

This book is a basic, hard school of knocks which helps a creative person establish and lay out what and how and who will be responsible for budgeting and producing results. There are no shortage of great ideas, great campaigns, great new jingles and slogans coming from top agencies, worldwide - for a hefty multi-million dollar cost.

Having worked for the largest ad and marketing company in the world (which owns almost 100 companies) there are at least a half dozen colleagues whom could care less if the CAMPAIGN produced any sales results. This book puts an end to irresponsible behavior.

You can't have your income of 400k per year anymore if you can't prove the ROI or prove sales were lifted or the P & L benefited! Just because you have a great marketing idea - doesn't mean you get your requested project budget!

YES, my own family's company that we have helped created enduring slogans that MADE MONEY FOR PEOPLE like, "When it rains it pours," for Morton Salt - "Reach out and touch someone," for Bell Telephone (my Uncle Tony Galli) and others like, "A diamond is forever." These ideas and jingles or slogans with campaigns made and make money still for clients - even after 100 years they are still being used today.

What I found in Tim Berry's and Doug Wilson's book and software program is that they are holding people accountable for their proposals. And that is a back to the basics, school desk approach that most CEO's, COO's and CFO's find refreshing. Forecasting is key but so is Actual Results for Sales.

To this day, I can't erase from my mind a senior VP at a major ad agency telling me, "the 20 million dollar campaign we handled was for delivery of an excellent campaign - we have no responsibility or interest in the financial results for the client."

In this case, the client was a Fortune 100 client...