The Art of Marketing – Part 1 of the 2009 Marketing Plan Series
March 9, 2009 :: Steve FisherSince the Business Plan series came to a close I thought of the next logical step in what you have to do in your business to support the business plan and its operations.
This next step is the marketing plan.
The Art of Marketing
Doing marketing planning which is captured in the marketing plan, is an essential organizational [...]
Three Marketing Plan Types – Part 2 of the 2009 Marketing Plan Series
March 9, 2009 :: Steve FisherMost of the time when you are writing the marketing plan, it is usually something that needs to stand on its own and in other cases it might need to be incorporated into another document like a business plan. So before we dive into the executive summary, it is important to understand that there are [...]
Framing a Successful Marketing Plan – Part 3 of the 2009 Marketing Plan Series
March 10, 2009 :: Steve FisherIn Part 2 we talked about selecting the right type of plan to fit your needs. Now that you have decided that, let’s get into the general structure of a marketing plan. Please note that this is a proposed outline and depending on your emphasis, this structure can and might change.
Marketing Plan Outline
Section I – [...]
Killer Marketing Plan Summaries – Part 4 of the 2009 Marketing Plan Series
March 10, 2009 :: Steve FisherEveryone who begins the journey of writing a marketing plan usually looks at the Executive Summary section early on in the process. A Marketing Plan Summary is usually 1-3 pages long and the goal is to summarize the entire marketing and possibly sales plan into something digestible by new readers and those in other departments [...]
Understanding Your Market – Part 5 of the 2009 Marketing Plan Series
March 24, 2009 :: Steve FisherThe Situational Analysis is designed to take a snapshot of where things stand at the time the plan is presented. The Situational Analysis 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 [...]
Understanding and Beating the Competition – Part 6 of the 2009 Marketing Plan Series
March 25, 2009 :: Steve FisherThis is the second part of the situational analysis which deals with the competition and appropriately called “Competitor 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 statement. You believe your product/service is the best on the market but [...]
The Impact of Technology, Economy and Socio-Politics – Part 7 of the 2009 Marketing Plan Series
March 26, 2009 :: Steve FisherAs we continue 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 impact 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 [...]
How Do You Make Financials Sing? – Part 8 of the 2009 Marketing Plan Series
March 27, 2009 :: Steve FisherYou can’t 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 high level leaving the detailed [...]
Doing the SWOT Analysis Dance – Part 9 of the 2009 Marketing Plan Series
March 27, 2009 :: Steve FisherConcluding 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 [...]
Mapping Out Your Marketing Objectives – Part 10 of the 2009 Marketing Plan Series
March 31, 2009 :: Steve FisherOK. 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 [...]
