Marketing Plan for Emirates Airline

e- moderate Series Guide to musical com lay step up a slayer merchandising devise Written by St compensate Fisher Confidential 2009 interlocking Solutions, LLC Purpose of this in narrateigence You argon all(prenominal) some whizz that has been doing merchandising as a use of goods and operate of your professional c atomic tot up 18er or you suppose at as that affair you do to evoke your line of harvest-times and attract customers to cloud. Regard little of w present(predicate) you atomic number 18 along that spectrum, you subscribe arrived here because you m otherwise been charged by the chief executive officer of the startup you give out for to lay aside a tradeing contrive for your blood line organization or you train to bring into being unrivaled for your own telephone line. You ask to non undecomposed import just any commercialize posterioring device.You ingest to drop a line a sea wolf trade programme. One that your boss leave behi nd give voice awesome, allows engender started and which leave split all those wad who flutter been smell for a ingathering or service wish yours for a long time. This book is written for you. commercialiseplaceing plans ar randy mistresses that tempt you to allow all of the coolest of carry likings with fall give away the sanity of bud guideary constraints. temporary hookup selling is one of the to a greater extent than than all- authorized(a) functions of a flyspeck byplay, it is one that is limited by the bud forms of that employment and campaigns mustiness examine a rejoin in order to justify their existence.Since I shake off written more market placeing plans than I c atomic number 18 to tell you, I burn down touch with you my knowledge and experience of what has worked almost all the time, some of the time and none of the time. While this is non the single tome on trade plans, I promise that this helps you balance the unlimited creative i deas with the budget you fuddle to work with and expose a mix that is both innovative and results in gross sales. I postulate you to explore as numerous resources out on that point, some of which be mentioned at the end of this book. I dont study to wish you luck.Just get started, get out at that place and crush it. Confidential 2009 network Solutions, LLC Overview instalment 1 result and Purpose divorce 1 5 function 2 summary and Competition trigger 6 10 plane variance 3 scheme and bodily function Part 11 12 incision 4 monetarys in Plain English Part 13 15 Confidential 2009 network Solutions, LLC surgical incision 1 ware and Purpose Part 1 The Art of commercializeing Doing market provision, which is captured in the market plan, is an substantial organizational activity, considering the hostile and complex free-enterprise(a) transaction environment.Our ability and skills to run clams fitted sales argon affected by hundreds of indwelling and away occurrenceors that interact in a difficult way to evaluate. A merchandising sufficer must under endorse and build an image upon these changeables and their interactions, and must befool rational decisions. Here is a gravid description of market from HowStuffWorks correspond to the Dictionary of tradeing Terms, marketing is the process of prep atomic number 18dness and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and dispersal of ideas, goods, and service to draw exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals. What does that mean to you?It centre marketing encompasses e very(prenominal)thing you impart to do in coming up with a studyed harvesting or service, fashioning voltage customers awargon of it, fashioning them lack it, and consequently selling it to them. So hence, is sales considered marketing? Is advert marketing? Often, youll hear sales functions referred to as marketing, alone really sales is just a subroutine of the larger market ing process, as is advertise. In the olden days ( backrest 30 or 40 years), marketing did cite up primarily of sales. Rather than having marketing de come outments, companies had sales departments with an advertising manager and someone who did market re bet.Sometimes they added a promotions manager or hired an agency to apportion advertising and promotions. Things began changing as some companies grew larger and larger and began crack some(prenominal) all overlap lines that warranted having their own brand managers, market segment managers and many more specialized positions that ad trim downed and mulled over the conveys of their particular markets. The need for a marketing department began to be seen as a full of life part of furrow. The marketing department overly takes most of the blame if a product (or order) isnt successful, regardless of whether or non the fault rattling lies there. Logically, your CMO or VP of marketing would be in charge of this effort pr ecisely in many startups you dont have someone in that position so it is probably you with the ultimate responsibility. So my dear reader, I am here to the rescue to guide you through with(predicate) with(predicate) very key part of executing your overall business plan. visualisening your familys marketing program is a process more than resembling the one you go through in typography the business plan. You go through phases of What be you going to do with the plan? What argon the lodges skills, strengths and weaknesses? Goal setting found on those strengths and weaknesses Setting strategies for achieving your goals Executing the plan Putting the number in design to back up your words solely in advance you engulf into the plan, you should know what type of plan you ar anticipate to write. Confidential 2009 meshwork Solutions, LLC Part 2 The Three eccentrics of Marketing Plans approximately of the time when you be writing the marketing plan, it is usually som ething that needs to stand on its own and in different cases it readiness need to be incorporated into another(prenominal) document like a business plan.So before we descend into the executive summary, it is important to empathise that there argon lead marketing plan types with various heart and soul and coats. Marketing Plan Type 1 The Marketing Plan for the backing Plan In a business plan, the sales and marketing class as part and contrisolelyion to the business plan, which is true, hardly it is not the constitutional picture. The business plan essentially holds the executive summary and key components, graphics and fiscals that uphold the greater business plan. This means that the data came from somewhere page drop Usually 3-6 Pages Marketing Plan Type 2 The Strategic Marketing PlanHere is a great description of the Strategic fluctuation of the Marketing Plan from Sheridan College Institute of applied science and Advanced Learning in Oakville, Canada At the st rategical marketing plan aim, marketers are s so-and-soning the environment, pondering what is happening and visualiseing for emerging or robust market segments which they could consider as object markets. The outcomes of such(prenominal) plans are clearly identify post markets and the strategies which pass on sustain their needs, as identified in our analytic appreciateing. Marketing plan objectives are typically on the level of sales, profit, re forge on investment or, for the larger firm, market share. Page Range Usually 3-6 Pages Marketing Plan Type 3 The Tactical Marketing Plan Here is another great description of the Strategic version of the Marketing Plan from Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning in Oakville, Canada Tactical plans, in contrast, presume the target market and marketing dodge as a given and dont font oftentimes at the foreign environment. They deal with issues such as raising sensation or getting more returning customers. Th e main way to tell at which level you are work is whether your target market is a given or not.If you are s arseholening the environment, you are seeking forward-looking target markets or looking for subtle changes in your existing target markets you are preparing a Marketing Plan. If however, you start from the premise that you know just now who your target Confidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC market is, you would then develop a range of tactics to have-to doe with them this is a Tactical Plan. Many plenty mistakenly operate at the tactical level when they should be at the strategic level. For instance, suppose your product sales were poor, so you came up with a plan to advertise more. The result was an until now faster decline in sales.Why? People found even faster that your product was terrible. Had a strategic marketing plan been developed, we would have determined what consumers indispensability, compared those desires to our product and made the appropriate modific ations. Page Range Usually 10 As many as comm unity want to read Pages Sometimes it is better to start bragging(a) and widdle your way down on that point are different schools of thought on this one. The initiative being to write the tactical version with everything and then extinguish information to create the strategic and narrow further for inclusion in a business plan.The guerrilla is to write the strategic one campaign to focus your thoughts and have one person tighten it up for the business plan and a team expand on it so the tactical issues are worked out. This can be a business because your financial projections business leader not be essentially accurate and your plan will fail. I would offer taking the tactical plan and mapping out the divides with the abstracts so that all the issues are addressed, then write the strategic so there is a plan that others outside of marketing can digest and totally when it is approved should it be tuned up and accommodated i n a business plan. at one time you know so lets get started Now that you understand what a marketing plan is, its purpose and the type you should write, lets get to the heart of the matter. In Part 3 we will address the Killer administrator outline. Part 3 Framing a self-made Marketing Plan In Part 2 we talked virtually selecting the even off type of plan to fit your needs. Now that you have decided that, lets get into the general structure of a marketing plan. occupy mark that this is a proposed outline and depending on your emphasis, this structure can and power change. Marketing Plan Outline Section I Cover Page Section II Table of ContentSection III Situational outline (Market, Competitive purlieu, expert Environment, Socio-Political) Section IV Problems and Opportunities Section V Objectives Section VI Action Plan Section IX Financial Data Confidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC So there you go, a basic outline. I know that lay all this together mightiness seem daunting, particularly if you are not a marketing and sales person. Fear not, that is what we are here for and from here on out we will turn over down for each one section and subsection in degree so you understand what information is needful and how to get it.Part 4 Killer Marketing Plan Summary Everyone who begins the excursion of writing a marketing plan usually looks at the executive runor Summary section early on in the process. A Marketing Plan Summary is usually 1-3 pages long and the goal is to summarize the full marketing and possibly sales plan into something digestible by tender readers and those in other departments who want to get to the bottom line. Dont despair, the hard work you roam into the marketing plan will be useful to some throng, not all of them.Each reader is trying to get something different and the executive summary is the outflank way to give them the extended picture so they understand their part in this area of the operation. When is the best time to write the Marketing Plan Summary? There are many schools of thought on when to write the Marketing Plan Summary, either write it scratch line, write it along the way or write it at the end. I take a microscopical different of an onslaught in that you should try and write it at the beginning and then re write it again at the end.There are two reasons for this savvy 1 Writing it at the beginning can focus you and vehemence you to resolution questions in the shortest way possible. This is an interesting and valuable exercise for many because they work to answer many of the hard questions and because it forces you to get in the habit of getting to the point. Reason 2 Writing it at the end is great because you will return what you wrote and either be on remains with alone a little tuning required or most likely will cheat your eyes and see how far off you were and really have a over much(prenominal) easier time tuning the summary up to see it sincerely a killer decision maker Summary.What are the overall components of the Marketing Plan Summary? Generally, you need to write 2-3 sentences MAX on each of the pursuance sections Company description of what you are doing Confidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC Problem and fortune Your products and/or services that address the problem and take advantage of the hazard Money You Need and What it will be use for (this is if the summary is targeted at investors) The market and your customer The Competition and Your Differentiators (how you will kick the competitors yett) Your sure Marketing and gross revenue (if you have them)Your Management Team (If they are an A-Grade team this might be further up) Current Business operations (if you are an existing business)3-5 Year financial projections and plans (How much have you made, how much will you make and if you are looking for investment, how you will use it) This includes a small table of numbers in addition to the 2-3 sentences. What m akes a Killer Executive Summary that stands out from other businesses? There are many well written Executive Summaries out there that have neer been funded or missed the market or for whatever reason neer got off the ground.But what makes an Executive Summary Killer? Here are sise key things to make it killer 1. BE foc utilize and clearly show what you do -Too many businesses, especially startups try and boil the ocean making you look like you are all over the place and will not be able to execute successfully. 2. BE a business that solves a problem and not a solution in search of one You might have an awesome widget further if bulk dont need it or companies can live without it, wherefore are you starting a business? 3. BE strong and commanding with your language This is not a time to be passive.From say-so investors looking to give you coin to those people willing to join the team, people must know that you are going to execute, not whitethorn or might do something. 4. gullT cut and paste Read the sections and pull up the best and write a new concise section 5. DONT use Jargon Most industries have acronyms or buzz words that are neat and catchy. One or two that make a point are fine merely if your engineer is writing the business plan, dont get all geeky on the solution. Remember, the Executive Summary is around telling someone the time, not how the watch works.The business plan will have plenty of places for that type of content. 6. Write an Executive Summary of the Executive Summary Most people have very short attention spans and once you are do the Executive Summary you should try and compose a 2-3 sentence summary at the acquit that gets all the critical elements in so that people really want to read the rest and get excited about reading the entire business plan. Confidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC Part 5 Understanding Your Market The Situational abridgment is designed to take a snapshot of where things stand at the time the p lan is presented.The Situational summary is probably one of the hardest sections you will write because you are essentially laying out how the product will function in various environments and how it will be perceived in the marketplace. In many marketing plans, the first section could be the product summary. If you already have existing products/services you should start with this so that you provide a lay of the land for readers not familiar with where you are at with your up-to-the-minute product(s) and/or service(s).That section covers the product attri barelyes, underway pricing, certain diffusion and services offered. This should be about a page or two in aloofness. For the purposes of this Marketing Plan serial publication we will assume you are a new company and dive straight into defining the market. That is why the first part of the smudgeal analytic thinking is called the Market analytic thinking. This subsection of the situation analysis section should be about two to four pages in distance and provides actionable information on selling to target buyers and stimulating purchases or usage by the ultimate end users.Key questions answered in this subsection include description of target buyers or end users in demographic, psychographic, and lifestyle call target buyer/end user wants, needs, attitudes, and perceptions of socio-economic class products and services where target buyers/end users are located and how to reach them, which segments of the total market or category are growing or declining and why. You will need to tell the story in a way that makes sense to you and your readers so the followers outline should be arranged as you see fit bottom Market Approach Start with a description of your total potential market (your potential customers).Present a general scheme that is used to reach targeted customers that might include a mass market or section approach. Describe the needs/benefits sought by market, the product usage, the p ositioning and what peoples attitudes are regarding the product you are selling and the product category in general. rear Market Profile(s) Create and describe the demographic/psychographic profile(s) of the market including elements such as gender, income, age, occupation, education, family life cycle, geographic region, lifestyle, attitudes, purchasing characteristics, and so forthConfidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC Target Market Motivations Since you know the profile(s) within your target market you need to inform what motivates them to buy your products/services. Begin by describing how your product/service satisfies the needs of this market. quest after up with describing the particular customers that you will target. Expand into the size of your total potential market (number of potential customers), and then drill down into your target market so that you can make the motivational case you set out to in the first place.Target Market Purchasing Strategy Ok, great. You h ave the market ex sheer(a)ed, the target profiles done, the market motivations are worked out, now how are people gonna buy your amazingly cool new widget? Well, you need to detail that out in your purchasing dodge. First, you will need to explain how the target market makes their purchases. Then explain what is involved in the decision-making process and the timeline for the purchase (is it an zest buy or something that takes an extended layover of time).Finally you will cover who influences and then makes the purchase. Target Market Growth Strategy To wrap things up you will need to provide market size estimates moreover preclude in mind these are estimates for the market, not for a specific product. You will need to provide size estimates for the potential market that include the largest possible market that would buy. Then you need to narrow your focus and provide estimates of size for the current target market (how many actually purchased this kind of product) and provide e stimates for these emergence rates.Lastly, all of this needs to be projected out for at to the lowest degree through the timeframe for the plan (e. g. , 1 year) besides most likely drawn-out (e. g. , 3-5 year projections). A Final Thought on Numbers end-to-end all of these explanations it is critical that you need to support estimates with factual data. You can have the best laid plans with awesome projections but if you have nothing to back up your story and make your case you are just everyday yourself that your strategy is the right one. Confidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC Section 2 Analysis and CompetitionPart 6 Understanding and Beating the Competition This is the second part of the situational analysis which deals with the competition and appropriately called antagonist Analysis. I mentioned in Part 5 that the Situational Analysis is probably one of the hardest sections you will write and this section validates that narration. You believe your product/service is t he best on the market but not just to validate yourself but to validate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats along with trends of those competitors.Here is how the Competitor Analysis sub-sections break down Competitive Landscape First you need to identify major competitors name, location, and market share. The best thing to do is create a table that allows clear comparisons of your product/service with that of your major competitors (brand name, quality, image, expenditure, etc. ). Then you need to perform a prepare (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis (coming in a future post) and compare your firm with that of your major competitors.Include factors such as company reputation, size, distribution channels, location, financial standing, target market perception and if relevant, question and reading capabilities. After your swot analysis is complete, use that as sound board to honestly evaluate your chances as the new competition and how succ essfully you would be able to enter this market. Include your thoughts and observations on what you have knowledgeable from watching the competition and you can learn from the good and bad part of their business models to increase your chances of success. Competitive OpportunitiesWhile in the competitive landscape doing much of the SWOT analysis, you should include a section that really expands on the opportunities you unveil because those usually end up being the foundation for things like your marketing messaging and web site content. It is designed to really expose the differentiators that make you stand out in a competitive marketplace. Competitive Trends This section is where you should hold forth the trends of your competitors. This includes whether your competitors sales increasing, decreasing or steady. Answering those questions clue into the issue or decline of competitors from a fliping market shareConfidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC sight and in any case from a more macro market size perspective. This should in like manner help you identify any future competitive threats that your team should be made aware of but not focused on, besides. Describe direct competitors in terms of Target markets served Product attributes Pricing furtherance dispersion including the distributor network Services offered Discuss competitors strengths and weaknesses may need to consider much more than just marketing issues such as financial standing target market perception R &038 D capabilities Part 7 Technology, Economy and SociopoliticalAnalysis As we stretch out our Marketing Plan Series and keep working our way through the Situational Analysis we make a pit stop to talk about the macro-level environments that sham your marketing and your competition. This part of the Situational Analysis is usually called Environmental Problems and Opportunities and is about 1-2 pages in length. This could easily turn into a diatribe about politics and polit ical economy so what you need to focus on in this sub-section is how technology, the economy and the socio-political environment affect the marketing of your products/services. The Technological EnvironmentWhen you discuss the technological environment think about how you create/leverage/affect creating new ways of congenial needs (i. e. using technology to enhance the demand for existing products). institution can create or wipe out industries and businesses in less than a year. One example is the popularity and convenience of DVD players all but eliminated the sale of VCRs and seriously depressed the manufacture and sale of video tapes. This is especially important for you if your product is technology based. The Economic Environment Regardless of the current state of the economy, there will be good times and not so good times.You need to describe how your company will conk out and grow in this most challenging of economies. Look at the beadlike side, if you can find the oppor tunities and sell successfully in this market you could position yourself as almost recession-proof in the long run. Confidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC The Socio-Political Environment These are governmental policies and regulations that affect the market. It is also the economic environment around your company which is the business cycle, inflation rate, interest rates, and other macroeconomic issues.For example, here in America there is a sweeping trend to dress more casually, with function and comfort driving new clothing and slip trends. People are cooking less and are more touch about nutrition and fat in their diets. And today, American business people are less willing to sacrifice family life for business helpers. These types of factors can impact the marketability of your product or service. Part 8 Financial Summaries that let the cat out of the bag You cant have a product discussion and not include financial for the number geeks in all of us.We will dive into our Marketing Plan Financials in Plan English toward the end of the series but many will need to connect some financial dots in the situational analysis at a graduate(prenominal) level go away the critical stuff (budgeting, break even analysis and cash coalesce analysis) for the back of the book. This section should be about 2-4 pages in length and kids, keep it clean for the rest of us. Now while you will need to write some short paragraphs to explain your information, tables and graphs are your friend here. The Financial Analysis section is separated into two general areas sales and lucrativeness Part 1 gross revenue AnalysisIn this section you need to focus on the current sales that your industry and you business are doing across segments, product categories and various distribution channels. lets break it down like this Overall Industry and Market Share Sales for the Entire Market Sales for Your Company Sales for Your Competitors Sales By Segments and/or Product Categorie s Sales by segments and/or product categories Sales by company product(s) Sales at this level compared to competition Sales By dispersion Channel Sales for each channel Sales for company product(s) by channel Sales for Your Competitors by hannel Sales By Geography Sales for Each Region Sales for company product(s) by region Sales for Your Competitors by region Confidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC Part 2 lucrativeness Analysis Since we focused on sales which is really revenues, we need to get hitched with this up and see what is actually profitable. Just because you can make money from it does not mean you make a profit. You will need to look across the revenues and include the marketing related set downs. Lets break it down like this Revenue Breakdown o Use the sales numbers from above but identify realized revenues not just projectionsMarketing write down Breakdown o Direct Marketing Expenses These are the expenses that are tied to the product(s) and must be i dentified in that way o Indirect or Proportional Marketing Expenses These are the general administrative and broad marketing expenses that may be assigned to a product based on some criteria like percentage of sales or a pre-determined distribution make sense. Lastly, remember that this is the 30,000 foot view Since this part of the situational analysis, you are using this sub-section to make your point and support your overall analysis. Stay high level More detailed financial stuff comes later and in the marketing plan and we will do explain it in plain English later in this book. Part 9 The SWOT Analysis Dance Concluding our dive into the sub-sections of the situational analysis, we wrap up with the all important SWOT analysis. It is a dance of sorts because you have to dance around the fact that in some ways your competitors might have over you but it is better that you learn this now and how to work around it or market against it that will help you in the long run. The term SWOT analysis stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.Start with posing these sessions to your brainstorming team are your competitors becoming stronger? are there emerging trends that amplify one of your weaknesses? Do you see other outdoor(a) threats to your companys success? Internally, do you have financial, development, or other problems? Confidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC Lets break each part down and then wrap up with some the advantages this section can offer you and your team Strengths Here is where you must capture the positive aspects inside to your business that add value or offer you a competitive advantage.This is an opportunity to remind yourself of the value existing within your business. Think about what your company does well. You should address the strengths within your business that add value to your product or your marketing efforts. You should also describe your positive tangible and intangible asset attributes. Weaknesses Thes e are factors that detract from your ability to have a competitive edge. It includes the prohibit aspects internal to your business that distracting customers from seeing the value you offer or place you at a competitive disadvantage. These are areas you need to enhance in order to compete with your best competitor.The more accurately you identify your weaknesses, the more valuable the SWOT Analysis is to your readers. Some questions to help you get started are What do your customers complain about? What are the unmet needs of your sales force? We continue breaking each part down. Opportunities Traditionally, a SWOT looks only if at the external environment for opportunities. I suggest you look externally for areas your competitors are not fully covering, then go a step further and think how to match these to your internal strengths. Remember, these are opportunities external to your business.If you have identified opportunities that are internal to the organization and within you r control, you will want to classify them as strengths. Try to uncover areas where your strengths are not being fully utilized. Are there emerging trends that fit with your companys strengths? Is there a product/service area that others have not yet cover? Threats What situations might threaten your marketing efforts? You have to ask this hard question. Get your worst fears on the table. A threat is a challenge created by an unfavorable trend or development that may lead to deteriorating revenues or profits.As with opportunities, threats in a traditional SWOT analysis are considered an external force. By looking both intimate and outside of your company for things that could damage your business, however, you may be better able to see the big picture. Competition existing or potential is continuously a threat. Other threats may include intolerable expenditure increases by suppliers, government regulation, economic downturns, devastating media or press coverage, a shift in consu mer behavior that reduces your sales, or the introduction of a leap-frog technology that may make your products, equipment, or services obsolete.Confidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC Advantages of a SWOT Analysis Uncovering Opportunities This is where you look externally for areas your competitors are not fully covering, then go a step further and think how to match these to your internal strengths. Try to uncover areas where your strengths are not being fully utilized. Are there emerging trends that fit with your companys strengths? Is there a product/service area that others have not yet covered? at one time you have uncovered these opportunities take each one and discuss how you will market them.Will it be a mixed marketing campaign? A targeted sales effort? What resources will you need (e. g. new collateral, selling guides, web site content, e-mail marketing)? Advantages of a SWOT Analysis verbalise and Overcome Problems Problems are not necessarily a bad thing. They are just issues that need to be overcome. It is better to get out front of problems that may exist than have them rear their ugly head when you are selling or raising money. Problems could be strong competitors, your product scatty critical features that you are not able to roll out yet or a long sales cycle.You should list each problem and discuss an approach to overcome them in a sales situation and with specific marketing messages that counter what a customer might be thinking. Part 10 Mapping Out Your Marketing Objectives OK. You are half done the marketing plan and while you might scream only half at the top of your lungs, you have suffered through the tough part the analysis. You have spent time building the case that your products/services are competitive, viable and profitable. Now that you have proved that point you have to demonstrate how you are gonna actually do it.The first part of telling this second half is setting out the overall objectives in the marketing plan. Now lets breakdown the Marketing Objectives section. We have put together this great breakdown and outline of how you might want to structure the objectives section. disport note, some of this outline may or may not support to your business so use this as a innuendo and not a list of requirements. Target market objectives Market Share total, by segments and by channel Customers total, by number/percentage new, by number/percentage retainedConfidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC Channel Objectives Dealers total, by number/percentage new, by number/percentage retained Order Processing and Delivery on-time rate, shoplifting rate, correct order rate Promotional Objectives Level of brand/company awareness Traffic building (e. g. store traffic, web site traffic) Product Trials (e. g. sales promotions, product demonstrations) Sales Force (e. g. cycle time, cost per call, shutdown rate, customer visits, etc. Continuing our breakdown and outline of how you might want to structur e the objectives section.Please note, some of this outline may or may not apply to your business so use this as a suggestion and not a list of requirements. Market Research Objectives Studies Initiated Studies Completed R&038D Objectives Product Development Other Objectives Partnerships Developed Rate of Purchases, size/volume of purchases Purchases Advice on Setting Your Objectives Remember these are objectives that you expect to meet so keep in mind that these should be achievable. I have used the SMART approach to setting objectives and that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based.Section 3 Strategy and Action Part 11 Setting Your Marketing Strategy Once you have completed writing your Marketing Objectives, as discussed previously in Mapping Out Your Objectives, you need to write your marketing strategy. The marketing strategy section of your plan outlines your game plan to achieve your marketing objectives. There is no other way to say it but this section which is in the center, is essentially the heart of the marketing plan. Confidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC The marketing strategy section should then include information that revolves around the 4Ps of Marketing.Dont know what they are? Lets do a loyal refresher The 4Ps of Marketing are a few decades old but are the most basic and classic way of slicing up your marketing strategy. They are broken down as follows Product your product(s) and services Price what you will charge customers for products and services Promotion how you will promote or create awareness of your product in the marketplace speckle (distribution) how you will bring your product(s) together with your customers. Product Describe in detail your products or services in terms of the features and benefits they offer customers.Describe what you need to have or do to provide your product or service (how its produced). Pricing List the price of your products and describe your pricing strategy . List price ranges for product lines. For example, if your product is a line of cosmetics, include information in this strategy section about your lipsticks ranging in price from $5. 00 to $15. 00 per item quite an than a detailed product price list. (You should, however, consider including a detailed price list in the Supporting Documents section. ) Describe any price flexibility or negotiating room, as is common with large purchases such as houses or cars.Outline any discounts you offer for long-term customers, bulk purchases or stir up payment. Also, include the terms of sale, such as net due in 30 days, extended payment plans, and whether you accept credit cards Promotion Plan A promotion plan describes the tools or tactics used to accomplish your marketing objectives. In your Action Programs section, you will describe the travel that need to be taken in detail, when they should be done, who will do them, and so on. If your marketing objective is to Create awareness of baby care products among mothers of newborns.Increase sales of potato chips to teens. Then tools or tactics might be Advertise in baby care or motherhood magazines. circularise product samples to obstetricians. Offer free baby care seminars to expectant mothers. dish free samples or discount coupons at high school football games. Sponsor an showcase attended by teens. Confidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC berth (Sales and Distribution) In this section, describe how your products and customers meet or come together through sales and distribution. Describe your sales philosophies and manners.Do you employ an aggressive sales manner for a large number of quick sales, or a relaxed method where the emphasis is on having customers feel comfortable to come back another time even if they dont buy now? Do you use contract sales people or employees? Explain your approach to sales issues. Describe your distribution system. (Where will your product be laid so customers have access to it? ) A few points about distribution to address in your marketing plan are Is the exchange of the product made in a store? through with(predicate) the mail? Through a direct sales representative?What are your production and fund capacities? (How quickly can you make products and how many can you store? ) Are there cyclical fluctuations or seasonal demands for your products? For example, if you produce Christmas decorations, how will you manage peak production and sales periods as well as dumb periods? Do you sell to individuals or to re-sellers? Your company may use more than one method. For example, you may sell directly to customers who place large orders but also sell to customers who buy small quantities of your product through sell outlets. Part 12 Action PlansThe Action Plan covers the Who, Where and How Much of your plan. You should look at this section as the to do list with budget numbers and separate it into sub-sections or miniplans that are involved in your marketin g efforts. They can include but are not limited to the succeeding(a) promotional material Marketing Plan How do you pitch? I am not talking fastballs, but rather using the media to spread the word about your business. You could also call this mini-plan your media plan and it includes the cost and tasks involved in pitch stories to the press and writing press releases on a consistent basis.Customer Marketing Plan No small business can survive without customers and talented business know that it is FAR cheaper to keep the customers you have than always working to replace them with new ones. This mini-plan talks about what activities you will undertake with your current customers and the types of targeted offers you will be making to retain them. Confidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC advertise Plan Now we all know that most traditional advertising is hit or miss and it is hard to track results.However, there are more and more promotional programs that provide you with a way t o touchstone results that you can create a mini-plan of where you are going to advertise and how much of it you will be doing. Internet Marketing Plan Every one these days has a web site. If you dont and you are small business, then that is another matter. If you are a small business that is actively engaged on the web to promote your products or services then you need to include a separate mini-plan on Internet marketing that could include search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising and any other online campaigns.Promotional topic Plan Related to advertising and Internet marketing the promotional event plan includes different promotional activities such as, having sales, sponsoring contests, awards, or events. Referral Marketing Plan All small businesses need referral business. In fact, it is how many survive and even thrive. Here is where you need to identify specific programs that will add fillip for those that value your work enough to tell others about you. Budg eting AKA The Bottom painsWe all wish we could do awesome and cool marketing campaigns but we are quickly brought back to reality when the limitations of our budgets are staring us in the face. Small Business Notes provides some great advice on putting together your budget. Estimate the cost of the marketing activities youve described in the marketing plan so you will have a budget to keep everyone on track over the course of the year. Typical marketing expense categories are marketing communications, market research, promotions, advertising, events and public relations.Because marketing needs and cost vary widely, there are no simple rules for determining what your marketing budget should be. A popular method with small business owners is to apportion a small percentage of gross sales for the most new-fangled year. This usually amounts to about two percent for an existing business. However, if you are planning on launching a new product or business, you may want to increase your marketing budget figure, to as much as 10 percent of your expected gross sales. Another method used by small business owners is to analyze and estimate the competitions budget and either match or exceed it.Confidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC Section 3 Strategy and Action Part 13 Sales Projections in Plain English What Are Components of Sales Projections? Projection of sales is an important part of the marketing plan. Part of the sales projection work is planning for a better public presentation in the future and correcting past performance with which you are not satisfied. You do this by finding out what profit contribution each sales representative makes. One goal of standard a sales representatives performance is improvement assistance. This is done in the marketing personnel section of the marketing plan.Cost of Goods per Unit Worksheet This is the first prelim worksheet you must complete. The reason you have to start here is because these are the basic cost of raw mater ials, production labor and other cost that, once added up, give you the cost of goods per unit number you will need to get the Estimated Sales Table completed. Estimated Sales Table Worksheet This is a preliminary worksheet that helps you figure out what the total sales and cost of goods sold are for each product year by year. You need to include the units, or number of things, sold by each product line. Take each number times the elling price of each product and you will get the actual sales for each product. Tally that number up and create a column called % of sales and divide each number by the total and you can see how much each product brings in as a share of the entire sales projection. You should already have the Cost of Goods Sold per unit from the previous section. Put that number in after the % of sales and then multiply that number times the units and put the result into a new column called Cost of Goods sold total. Once that is done, do the same thing we did with % of sa les and create a % of Cost of Goods Sold.Confidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC Sales Projections Worksheet This is where all the hard work comes into focus and you break things down by months that give you the total amount you put together in the estimated sales table. You will use a concept called weighing which is basically splitting 100% across 12 months as to when you think that total amount will be met each month. Think of busy periods where sales are way up and backward periods where it is way down. A good example is retail with busy pass periods and late winters and then busy back to school sales. You will also include he cost of goods sold numbers and percentages that breakdown concord to the weighing you set up for each month overall. These projections are also used on the business plan financials as revenue projections in the way they organize the business. You should also be aware how important this is not only from running your marketing division but when investor s want to dive a layer deeper in the business plan and your numbers are what will back things up. It will also be used in other business plan financials but we will get into that in the next two sections. Part 14 The Break Even Analysis in Plain EnglishWe continue talking plain English with you in this fun and crazy world of marketing plan financials and move on to the all important Breakeven Analysis. The Breakeven Analysis is especially useful when youre development a pricing strategy, either as part of a marketing plan or a business plan. The Breakeven Analysis is actually pretty straightforward and asks one question when do you break even and turn a profit? Simple. Not quite but I will explain in plain English. You mean there is a formula for this thing? Yes, you knew I would eventually get to a formula, but fear not math haters, it is straightforward. obstinate Costs divided by (Revenue per unit Variable costs per unit) Confidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC Fixed Costs F ixed costs are costs that must be paid whether or not any units are produced. Things like rent and equipment fall into this category. These costs are frozen only over a specified period of time or range of production. Variable Costs Variable costs are the things that make it fun and go up and down based on your production levels. Things like materials, labor, overhead are in this category. Lets give you a real exampleIf your total stiff costs were $500,000, the price tag of your product (unit) was $25, and your variable Costs were $15, the equivalence would look like this 500,000/25-15 = 500,000/10 = 50,000 You would need to sell 50,000 units to break even. Everything over that is profit and you dancing to the bank. Still, this not a perfect equating Bplans. com points out that this equation, while important, can be misread or misinterpreted. Here are some key things they point out It is frequently mistaken for the vengeance period, the time it takes to recover an investment. T here are variations on break even that make some people think we have it wrong.The one we do use is the most common, the most universally accepted, but not the only one possible. It depends on the concept of fixed costs, a hard idea to swallow. Technically, a break-even analysis defines fixed costs as those costs that would continue even if you went broke. Instead, you may want to use your regular running fixed costs, including payroll and normal expenses. This will give you a better perceptiveness on financial realities. We call that burn rate these post-Internet days. It depends on averaging your per-unit variable cost and per-unit revenue over the whole business.However, whether we like it or not, this equation is a cornerstone of financial analysis. You may choose to leave it out, but really, a business or marketing plan would not be complete without it. Part 15 Sales silver prevail Statements in Plain English As important as when you will break even, you must be able to sho w how, on a monthly basis, you will manage the cash flow to support the business and not sink it from an overly ambitious strategy and action plan. Confidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC Similar to the Cash Flow Statement in a Business PlanThe cash flow statement reports the cash generated and used during the time separation specified in its heading. The period of time that the statement covers is chosen by the company. For example, the heading may state For the Three Months Ended December 31, 2007? or The Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2008?. For many, looking at a cash flow statement it looks a bit weird but it provides a different, yet critically important view of the business. For the marketing plan, you need to create a subset of this that eventually rolls up into the business plan to support it and give detailed projections.Three Sections of a Marketing Plan Case Flow Statement For the purpose of the marketing plan cash flow statement that flows up and reports to the maste r cash flow statement, there are threesome sections that must be created Operating Activities, Investing Activities, Financing Activities. We explain these on the next few pages. SECTION 1 Operating Activities This section converts the items inform on the income statement from the accrual (you book the sale but you might not have the money yet) basis of news reporting and includes the following Cash receipts from sales or for the performance of servicesPayroll and other payments to employees Payments to suppliers and contractors Rent payments Payments for utilities tax payments SECTION 2 Investing Activities Investing activities include capital expenditures disbursements that are not charged to expense but rather are capitalized as assets on the balance sheet. Investing activities also include investments (other than cash equivalents as indicated below) that are not part of your normal line of business. These cash flows could include Purchases of property, plant and equipment Proceeds from the sale of property, plant and equipmentPurchases of stock or other securities (other than cash equivalents) Proceeds from the sale or redemption of investments Confidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC SECTION 3 Financing Activities Financing activities include cash flows relating to the businesss debt or equity financing Proceeds from loans, notes, and other debt instruments installment payments on loans or other repayment of debts Cash received from the military issue of stock or equity in the business Dividend payments, purchases of treasury stock, or returns of capital IMPORTANT Dont Forget to Include an Expense BudgetBecause you will be estimating cash inflows for various product lines you must account for the expenses that are incurred related to them. This must include enough detail to track expenses month by month and follow up on plan-vs. -actual analysis. Thats a Wrap Well, this concludes our 15-part series on writing a marketing plan. We hop e you have learned new things and relearned things forgotten long ago. The following pages include extra resource for this Guide to Writing a Killer Marketing. We hope you have enjoyed this series and visit GrowSmartBusiness. com for more great content to help you grow your business.Additional Resources Small Business Administration http//www. sba. gov SCORE http//score. org American Marketing Association http//www. marketingpower. com/ Microsoft Small Business internality http//www. microsoft. com/smallbu siness/hub. mspx Microsoft Startup Center http//www. microsoft. com/smallbusiness/startu p-toolkit/default. aspx How to do a Competitive Analysis http//www. ehow. com/how_5220467_writecompetitive-analysis. html Writing a Marketing Plan http//www. knowthis. com/principles-ofmarketing-tutorials/how-to-write-a-marketingplan/ http//www. entrepreneur. com/marketing/marke ingbasics/marketingplan/article43018. html http//www. marketingforsuccess. com/MFSmarketingplan. html Confidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC About the Author Steve Fisher Blogs http//stevefisher. me http//rulesforbusiness. com http//shootyourshow. com Connect with him on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo or Flickr. Steve has been actively writing about small business and innovation since the late 90s on how small business could leverage the Web and stellar customer experiences to stick in their business and compete with the largest of competitors. He was among the arly thought leaders on the intersection of user experience, customer service and innovation. Steve currently is Managing Principal of AppSolve. In its tenth year, Appsolve specializes in user experience design, enterprise web development and online confederacy management. Through AppSolve, he works with Network Solutions to manage its online small business community. Prior to that he was founder and CEO of Slipstream Air, a parcel provider to the private air travel industry. It was sold in 2008 to JIT airline business Resources , which rebranded as Slipstream Aviation Software. Steve has also held key leadership ositions at Global Network Solutions, OnSite Technologies, IKON, USConnect, Ryland and Wells Fargo. He has published several e-books on Small Business Management, User Experience, Online Marketing and Innovation. Currently, he is working on his first book, 101 Rules for Entrepreneurs slated for a Spring 2010 release. He holds a bachelor-at-arms of Science in Business from University of Baltimore and on a personal note he is a great airplane pilot, a horribly slow 5K runner, a fairly talented musician and a budding concert photographer. He currently resides in Columbia, MD, USA. Confidential 2009 Network Solutions, LLC