In this course delegates will understand the structured process of how to build a marketing plan customised for their situation. They will find out how marketing planning works and how they should document their ideas in a marketing plan.

They will become competent in developing a marketing plan by going through a number of stages of the marketing planning process. They will work with practical checklists at each stage that enable them to formulate the right questions.

They will master the key elements of a complete marketing plan.

This course will feature:

• How to analyse the external and internal environment;

• What segments of the market to target and how to choose a proper positioning

• How to set marketing and financial objectives

• How to decide on strategies for products, pricing, channels and communication

• What sales forecasting technique to use

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

• Construct a marketing plan in general and specifically for their company

• Develop a plan for a new product

• Understand what analyses need to be carried out at the outset

• Define the market, customer segments and buying behaviour

• Apply control procedures necessary to monitor successful implementation of the marketing plan

Participants are, or will be, involved in strategy development, in the development of  marketing plans, in new product planning or work in product development teams

This course is suitable for a wide range of professionals but will greatly benefit:

• Professionals of different functional backgrounds, middle managers, marketing professionals without a formal marketing education, sales professionals

• People who plan to start up a new company or a launch of a new product or service within a company

The training process is a blend of presentation, small group work on real company cases and practical exercises to apply knowledge. Participants are encouraged to bring their own company specific issues to work with.

Day One

Introduction to Marketing Planning

• Course objectives

• Three levels of planning

• Marketing and the mission statement

• Analysing the current situation: internal audit, external audit

• SWOT analysis

• PESTEL factors

Day Two

Analysing customers and markets; segmentation, targeting, positioning

• Market definition (potential-,target market)

• Consumer markets

• Business markets

• Market segmentation process

• 4 different targeting strategies

• The positioning process

Day Three

Planning direction, objectives and strategy

• Growth strategies, non growth strategies

• Financial objectives, marketing objectives, societal objectives

• Planning for products

• Product Life Cycle

• Planning for brands

Day Four

Planning the marketing mix strategy

• Planning for pricing

• Pricing elasticity and break- even analysis

• Planning for communication, advertising and promotion

• Push and pull strategies

• Planning for channels

• Channel length and channel member decisions

Day Five

Planning metrics and performance measurement; planning implementation and control

• Tools for evaluating marketing progress

• Measuring progress with metrics

• Forecasting approaches

• Preparing budgets and schedules

• The marketing control process

• Sample Marketing Plan

• Summary