TOPICS: Strategic & Operational Marketing | Market Research | Decision Journey | Digital

Why do you need a marketing plan? The first question we help you to answer is the purpose of your marketing plan. In fact there are several reasons why you would like to draw marketing plan and it is important to determine upfront we will position the different section to meet your audience's requirements. We distinguish four key reasons why you need a marketing plan:

1. A plan to specifically determine the value of a potential market you want to penetrate
2. A particular marketing approach to a specific market segment
3. A focus on strategic marketing aspects such as segmentation and competitiveness
4. A financial plan to convince investors, bankers or to apply for a grant;

In the latter case we will refer to the document as a business plan rather than a marketing plan.

Here is the marketing plan structure we will use. It is made of eight high impact sections:

1. Executive Summary & Table of Content - What is the mission?
2. Current Marketing situation - How is the Business environment ?
3. Diagnostic, Opportunities, Challenges - How do we compete?
4. Objectives - Where and how much business do we aim at ?
5. Marketing Strategy - What are our strategic choices ?
6. Action Plan - Who is doing What, and by when?
7. Budget - What resources do we need at what cost ?
8. Monitoring - How do we evaluate the plan's correct execution ?

These eight sections directly address the most important questions that will be asked by your Executive and Senior Management, by your Investors or by your Banker. We are here to help you design and roll-out a complete marketing plan  -or business plan - depending on your needs, budget and sense of urgency. Our offer has both standard and bespoke packages, with either fixed price or billable hours, based on the size of your organisation, the number of products and business lines, geographies, etc.

A Marketing Plan is exclusively focusing on the marketability and commercialisation of a new branded product or service. It focuses on customers and the way customers will get into the customer decision journey at work in your company. Customer behaviour analysis is typically described here, as well as concepts such as Brand Identity and Brand Statement.Both aspects of off-line and online marketing / omnichannel marketing will be described in greater detail. We offer fixed price marketing plan packages.

A Business Plan is a more generic term referring to a plan demonstrating the financial profitability of a given strategic initiative through a detailed description of the the business planning: revenues, sales, cost, margins, cash-flow, working capital, etc. over time. It contains key elements of strategic marketing but is focused on financial results, providing more detailed assumption regarding the growth and sustainability of a company over time, rather than one or a set of products or services from a pure brand perspective. We offer fixed price business plan packages.

The Customer Value Proposition concept must be at the heart of your plan. For both Marketing and Business Plans, you must be explicit about the demand-side of your project or company and make both your customer assumptions and  the problem you’re solving for them clear.  Does the customer perceive the business problem today and if so, how would she articulate it? What benefits is she seeking that are not currently offered by competitors or other business lines in your organisation? Alternatively, are you addressing needs that are not relevant to your customers?  Why would your customer be compelled by your solution?

This is where the venture, company or project story begins and the opening chapter must be inspirational for the customer and inspirational for you. If you can build the business logic for the company on a unique proprietary view of the future, the value proposition story will be more compelling. The more compelling it is, the more attractive it will be and the higher the value for the customer. These are essential questions to ask yourself and to be ready to answer to assess the robustness of your value proposition:

•   Who are the customers?
•   What basic problem or unmet need does the customer have?
•   How would they describe the problem?
•   What benefits will your solution provide to the customer? 
•   Why and how will the customer use your solution? 
•   What markets might exist for your solution?
•   Why should the reader persist in reading on your value proposition, your business story

We offer dedicated workshops and specific consulting assignments to define and assess your value proposition.