COURSE OVERVIEW:

Think of a marketing plan as a roadmap for introducing and delivering your product or service to potential customers. It does not need to be long, and it doesn't have to cost a lot of money to complete, but it will take some research and effort. Putting in the work to create this marketing plan can help ensure a company's success later down the line.

An effective marketing plan will help a company understand the market that it targets and the competition in that space, understand the impact and the results of marketing decisions and provide direction for future initiatives. Although marketing plans can vary depending on the industry, type of products or services, and the goals you want to achieve, there are certain essential elements that most plans include.

A company’s management has many important roles. It sets objectives, and develops plans, policies, procedures, strategies and tactics. It organises and co-ordinates, directs and controls, motivates and communicates. Planning is only one of its roles but a vital one: the company’s corporate or business plan guides it forward.

The marketing plan is an important part of this overall plan. The marketing planning process therefore needs to be carried out as part of the company planning and budgeting process.

The marketing plan sets out the marketing objectives of the company and suggests strategies for achieving them. It does not include all the company’s objectives and strategies. There will also be production, financial and personnel objectives, none of which can be set in isolation. The plan for the company comprises a number of sub-plans including the overall company marketing plan which need to be agreed and co-ordinated into one overall business plan.

With the best planning in the world, markets are still affected by forces outside your control: but with a proper marketing plan and an understanding of the marketing planning process, you can adapt to the changing conditions of the competitive world in which we live.

This course provides the necessary information to understand the planning process and the principles of marketing planning in a way that will make it easy for you to put together any type of marketing plan. If you follow the procedures shown, it will make your company’s marketing planning easier and more professional in the future.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

By the end of this course, you will be able to understand:

·       What is marketing planning?

·       What is selling?

·       What is marketing?

·       What does the marketing mix, or the four Ps relate to?

·       What does the marketing planning process involve?

·       The stages for preparing a marketing plan

·       What a situation analysis can help you do?

·       The marketing audit

·       The marketing environment

·       What are the uses for market research?

·       What does desk research involve?

·       What market information needs to cover?

·       What does product information relate to?

·       What is internal market research?

·       What is market segmentation?

·       The SWOT analysis

·       What is a marketing objective?

·       What does marketing objectives relate to?

·       The product portfolio

·       Relative market growth rate and share

·       The gap analysis?

·       What is a marketing strategy?

·       What does marketing strategies relate to?

·       The different types of marketing strategies

·       Action plans and what they should include?

·       The distribution plan

·       What distribution involves?

·       The marketing channels

·       The advantages of personal selling

·       The structure of a direct sales force

·       The main advantages of telemarketing

·       The advertising and promotions plan

·       The profit and loss account

·       Budgeting for the cost of a marketing plan

·       How to write the marketing plan?

·       The strategic markets

·       Key products and the key sales areas

·       The marketing objectives and marketing strategies

·       The schedule of what, where and how

·       Sales promotion

·       Controls and update procedures

·       How to present the plan?

·       Follow-up and revision

COURSE DURATION:

The typical duration of this course is approximately 2-3 hours to complete. Your enrolment is Valid for 12 Months. Start anytime and study at your own pace.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

You must have access to a computer or any mobile device with Adobe Acrobat Reader (free PDF Viewer) installed, to complete this course.

COURSE DELIVERY:

Purchase and download course content.

ASSESSMENT:

A simple 10-question true or false quiz with Unlimited Submission Attempts.

CERTIFICATION:

Upon course completion, you will receive a customised digital “Certificate of Completion”.