A marketing plan is a must for any business. It will provide the map that guides the business through such things as advertising, sales analysis, competition analysis, targeting specific markets, etc. The key elements of any successful marketing plan will include knowing your customers and your competitors. The actual outline can include variety of different business specific steps, but below are a few of the basic steps that should always be included.

 
• Summary

This section should be short and to the point. It should summarize the rest of the plan and state the overall purpose. A good way to do this is to form a mission statement.

• Objectives

There are three objectives that should always be included in this section. One is volume (unit and dollar), profit contribution, and market share.

• Situation Analysis

This section is where basic market and product (if applicable) information is found. It also includes such subsections as a market analysis, competitive situation, and consumer profile.

• Strategy

The main goal of this section is to answer three questions. Why should the product/service be bought in general, why the purchased product/service should be your product/service, and why you will meet your volume and profit goals set in the objectives section. After these three questions are answered, you need to decide on specific strtegies telling what will be done, how it will be done, and when it will be done.

• Financial Projections

This section will give an overview of the required investment and projected return. The specific projections that should definitely be included are 1)profit and loss statements, 2)balance sheet, 3)cash flows, and 4)financial exposure analysis.

• Risk Analysis

This section talks about key risks to the business such as competition, operational problems, failure of proposed advertising/marketing schemes, etc. Appropriate actions that should be taken as a result of these risks should also be discussed.
 

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Best Marketing Plan Websites

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The following four websites give good descriptions of marketing plans. They give different ideas for the layout, what should be included, and how to best formulate the content.
 http://www.smartbiz.com/sbs/artz/mbc4.htm

This is a great site. It helps you actually write the plan out by getting you to answer questions that lead to the final marketing plan.
http://www.uwa.com/marketing/consultants/mrktplan.htm

This site gives a good overall description of the different sections.
http://www.maui.com/~sbdc/marketing.html

This site shows the marketing pln as it relates to the five P's of marketing.
http://www.pasware.com/mplans2.htm

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By Jennifer Boydstun