Understanding Marketing Planning - Essay Example

This paper identifies today's marketing planning processes and describes the nature of the modern marketing plan. Consider, then, a business that creates children's toys which have suddenly experienced a staggering drop in sales, which is impacting the business' future longevity in job creation and profitability. In this situation, identifying potential opportunities to increase these lowered sales, while creating a more stable production environment, would be two sizeable goals for this marketing company. Thus, the first step in creating a competent marketing plan would involve identifying the mission and goals of the organization (Boone & Kurtz, 2007). For example, this hypothetical company might determine that its three-year goal is to boost sales by 25%, while also expanding globally. Once these options are identified, the marketing plan highlights the specific steps that will be taken to secure these goals, while also identifying various competitor-related risks to the plan of action.

A marketing plan does not only identify specific goals, it also performs a situational analysis, identifying various strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the business. For instance, this same hypothetical toymaker may realize that its strengths are in its supportive labor force and various legislation which provide tax-related breaks for businesses wishing to go global. At the same time, it may recognize that huge levels of competition exist in a particular market environment, thus the marketing plan creates a plan of action to combat competitor activities or enhance the labor pool.

The marketing plan becomes more complicated as it identifies the strategy of distribution, and the appropriate target market for its toy products, and further creates a pricing plan which will work for the business needs. For instance, the leadership team at the toymaker might realize that sales have dropped because consumer attitudes toward the current pricing policy are leading to less enthusiasm to buy. Using marketing planning techniques, the finished plan will identify a more beneficial price policy, perhaps by outlining various promotional strategies.

Conclusion
Though each marketing plan is widely different for each company and the goods or services being produced, the planning process identifies where the business currently stands regarding marketing and offers steps to enhance the company's position on the market (Boone & Kurtz, 2006). It outlines both short- and long-term strategies, while also providing a series of business-related actions to create either a competitive advantage or sales improvements. It is a vital tool for creating low-cost distribution, more effective advertising and building a stronger company through marketing.