This revision presentation provides an overview of the marketing planning process including a brief description of each stage in marketing planning together with discussion of the role of the marketing budget.

1. Developing &
Implementing
Marketing Plans

2. What is a marketing plan?
A detailed description
of the activities that are
required to achieve the
marketing objectives

3. Marketing planning process

4. Main planning stages
Component Description
Mission statement A meaningful statement of the purpose and direction of the business
Corporate objectives The overall business objectives that shape the marketing plan
Marketing audit Assesses the situation of marketing in the business – the products,
resources, distribution methods, market shares, competitors etc
Market analysis The markets the business is in (and targeting) – size , structure, growth
SWOT analysis An assessment of the firm’s current position, showing the strengths &
weaknesses (internal factors) and opportunities and threats (external
factors)
Marketing objectives What the marketing function wants to achieve (consistent with
and strategies corporate objectives) and how it intends to do it (e.g. Ansoff, Porter)
Marketing budget Usually a detailed budget for the next year and an outline budget for
the next 2-3 years
Action plan The detailed implementation plan

5. Marketing budget
The marketing budget sets
The marketing budget sets
out how much money is
out how much money is
allocated to the marketing
allocated to the marketing
function and how it intends
function and how it intends
to spend it
to spend it

6. How to determine the marketing budget?
• According to the marketing objectives (e.g.
what management expect they need to
spend to achieve the objectives)
• In line with market and competitor averages
(e.g. some as a proportion of revenues)
• Based on the previous year, adjusted for
known changes in the marketing programme
• Whether to include a “buffer” to cover
potential marketing contingencies

7. Factors influencing size of marketing budget
The financial position This is a fundamental issue. A business suffering from cash flow
of the business problems or low profitability will normally have to restrict its
marketing budget along with cost reductions in other functional areas
Competitor actions A business whose competitors are significantly increasing their
marketing spending may need to respond to maintain market share
The demand for, and The budget needs to take account of the cost of marketing activities.
price of marketing For example, the economic slowdown in the UK significantly reduced
services the cost of advertising on traditional media like television and
newspapers because there was a reduction in demand (advertisers
also started switching budgets to online campaigns too).
The responsiveness This is often hard to measure – but important if it can be. Each
and returns from element of marketing spending needs to generate an acceptable
marketing spending return. In many traditional forms of advertising this has proved
difficult. However, online marketing and direct marketing are now
much more sophisticated and it is possible to track and measure the
financial returns.

8. Benefits and drawbacks of marketing planning
Benefits Potential Drawbacks
Provides clear sense of direction for Can be time-consuming
marketing management
Marketing options are evaluated and Constant change in the market makes
prioritised assumptions difficult
Allocates scarce resources more Danger of either being too simplistic
effectively or too complicated
Encourages coordination with other The plan can be ignored as
functional areas (finance, ops & HR) circumstances take over
Provides a basis for assessing actual
results
Makes marketing dept responsible

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