4.2 MARKETING PLANNING
Marketing planning is the process of formulating appropriate strategies and preparing marketing activities to meet marketing objectives
Elements of marketing plan
Marketing budget
Marketing strategies
Sales forecast
Detailed action plans
Details of marketing objectives
Role of marketing planning
Roles
Limitations
Collaborate with finance regarding the budget
Helps achieve integration of different business functions
Increase the likelihood of the marketing campaign's success
Ensure the marketing mix is appropriate and fully integrated
Provide focus to the work
Plans are insufficient
Need to be based on an up-to-date assessment
Plans that are not revised to meet changing internal or external
Marketing mix
Appropriate marketing mix
Marketing Mix is the key decisions that must be taken in the effective marketing of a product
Price
Promotion
Product
Place
Coordinated and consistent
Targeted at appropriate consumers
Based on marketing objectives
Difference between marketing segments and target markets
Market segment is a sub-group of a market made up of consumers with similar characteristics, tastes and preferences
Target market is the market segment that a particular product is aimed at.
i.e: In a clothing market, children would make a segment and specified to girl. And the target market would be girl children
Segmentation and consumer profile
Product positioning
Difference between niche market and mass market
Unique Selling Point
Form of differentiation between one organisation
Market segmentation is identifying different segments within a market and targeting different products or services to them
Consumer profile is a quantified picture of consumers of a firm's products showing proportions of groups
Income level
Location
Age
Gender
Social class
Demographic differences
Psychographic factors
Geographic differences
Niche market is a small and specific part of a larger market and business will develop products to suit it
Mass market is a market for products that are often standardized and sold in large quantitites
Product positioning is a graph that analyses consumer perceptions of each of a group of competing products in respect of two product characteristics
Second step: Position each competing product on graph based on consumers perceptions
Benefits; identify potential gaps in market, identify sector with greatest niche
First step: Identify the features of the products
USP is a factor that differentiate a product from its competitors
Highest quality
First-ever product
Lowest cost
Ethical stance
Convenience
Trust
Low price
Product features