STRATEGIC MARKETING PLANNING

STRATEGIC MARKETING PLANNING

The Strategic Marketing Plan identifies the most promising business opportunities for your company.  It outlines how to successfully pursue and maintain desirable positions in your chosen markets.  Thus the Marketing Plan is the foundation on which your company’s other operating plans are built.  It defines the marketing goals, principles, and methods that will help determine your company’s future . Of course, it will be effective to the degree that it involves a commitment by everyone who must contribute to its success, and to the degree that it is updated and revised as needed, in the face of an ever-changing marketplace and environment.  Planning is a continuous process, not a onetime event.  Creating the Marketing Plan in and of itself is an extremely  valuable process, requiring resolution of differing viewpoints, articulation of important values and messages, and the selection of priorities and specific strategies.

The Strategic Marketing Plan is also a communication tool that integrates all the elements of the marketing mix into a comprehensive program for coordinated action at all levels.  The plan identifies who will do what, where, when and how to accomplish your company’s marketing goals efficiently and effectively.

The Benefits of having a Strategic Marketing Plan:

  • Stimulates strategic, critical, and creative thinking
  • Assigns responsibilities and schedules tasks/activities/campaigns
  • Coordinates and unifies efforts
  • Facilitates the management and evaluation of marketing activities
  • Creates awareness of obstacles and threats
  • Identifies marketing opportunities
  • Improves  decision-making re: marketing issues
  • Increases probability of achieving company goals
  • Improves sales, revenues, profitability and customer service/CRM

Characteristics of a good Strategic Marketing Plan:

Simple – easy to use and understand
Clear – precise and detailed to avoid confusion
Practical – realistic in application and goals
Flexible – adaptable to change
Complete – addresses all significant factors
Workable – identifies responsibilities