1. Company
How long have you been in business?
What business or industry are you in?
Where and to whom do you currently distribute
your product or provide your service?
What direction do you see your business going
in the next few years?
What specific goals do you have for your business?
What is the greatest profit centre of your business?
What segment of your company would you like
to grow?
Are you offering / planning to offer any new
products or services?
How do you plan on improving your return on
investment this year?
How does the economy impact your business?
Estimate the future sales, in units and dollars.
Explain these estimates - if the numbers are
hard to justify, create “worst case”
versions too.
What is the per-unit price of your product,
or the cost involved in your service?
What are your long and short-term distribution
goals?
2. Objective
Why does your company need a marketing plan?
What do you want your plan to accomplish?
(Select all that apply)
3. Situation Analysis
Currently, what consumer market is most important
to you?
How are you currently attracting clients?
What are some important market changes; are
these opportunities or threats?
Who uses a product or service like yours?
Who uses a product or service like yours the
most?
What type of similar product or service does
your market use the most?
4. Competition
Who do you consider to be your biggest or strongest
competition?
1.
2.
3.
Which competitor currently dominates the market?
What sets you apart from the competition? What
do you offer that your competitors do not?
How does your product / service compare to the
competition?
Do you offer any products or services that your
competitors do not?
How does your pricing compare to the competition?
How do your competitors advertise or promote
their business?
5. Controls
Identify some of the benchmarks and state them
clearly. The statements made in this section
will provide easy
ways to monitor performance as you implement
the marketing plan. Without controls, you cannot
measure or
easily identify unexpected results or delays.
You should put most of your thought into this
section, but complete
it after the Objections, and Situation Analysis.
Controls have very specific and measurable results.
Some examples:
• Revenue should grow by $XXX by the end
of the first quarter
if the promotional campaign works according
to plan.
• All sales prospecting should be completed
using a corporate media kit by (date:
).
• A corporate website should be created
by (date:
)
to allow prospects to both get information and
purchase on-line.
• A Corporate Identity will be design and
implemented in all
collateral support material printed by (date:
).
• We will have a listing in the following
publications
(on-line / guides) by (date:
) .
• We will have X amount of new companies
carrying
or distributing our product by (date:
).
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