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