The Marketing Plan Assignment

1/31/2013

MBA “G” Section

ASSIGNMENT

THE MARKETING PLAN

Submitted To: | Mr. Abbas Ali

Group Members

Gohar Ejaz

11014220-027

M Waqas Afzal

11014220-019

Usman Nadeem

11014220-018

Bilal Ahmed

11014220-033

Shoaib Arshad Butt

11014220-126

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Dedicate To Our Parents 3

Table of Contents Details

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Industry Analysis …………………………………….………………………

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Competitor Analysis………………………………………………………….

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MARKETING RESEARCH FOR THE NEW VENTURE............................

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Step 1. Define the purpose and objectives……………………………………

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Step 2. Gathering Data from Secondary Sources…………………………….

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Step 3. Gathering Information from Primary Sources……………………….

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Step 4. Analyzing and Interpreting the Results...…………………………….

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Characteristics of a Marketing Plan……………………………………………

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The marketing Mix……………………………………………………………..

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STEPS IN PREPARING THE MARKETING PLAN………………………………….

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Define the Business Situation……………………………………………………………

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Defining Target Market/Opportunities and Threats………………………………

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Considering strengths and weaknesses:………………………………………….

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Establishing goals and objectives:………………………………………………..

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Defining Marketing strategy and Action Programs……………………………....

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Marketing Strategy…………………………………………………………….....

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Budgeting & marketing Strategy….……………………………………………...

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Implement a marketing plan:……………………………………………………...

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Monitoring Your Progress………………………………………………………...

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Industry Analysis: A market assessment tool designed to provide a business with an idea of the complexity of a particular industry. Industry analysis involves reviewing the economic, political and market factors that influence the way the industry develops. Major factors can include the power wielded by suppliers and buyers, the condition of competitors, and the likelihood of new market entrants. Why it’s important Industry Analyses help business owners understand the big picture of their industry and identify the various threats and opportunities facing their business, ultimately helping them identify ways to create competitive advantages. Knowing what political, economic, and market factors affect your industry will better prepare you for when you enter the market by understanding the major forces that effect how you do business.

Competitor Analysis: The competitive analysis section of your business plan is an objective overview and comparison between your company and your competitors. Begin by identifying your direct and indirect competitors, what and how much they sell (in units and sales dollars), the number of years they have been in business, and their specific market niche. Outline the strengths and weaknesses of each of your competitors from an unbiased perspective. It is advisable to include a chart or piegraph showing what share of the market each of your competitor’s commands, the trends and changes over time. Explain the percentage of the market you intend to capture, and from whom or how you will achieve this market penetration. More than anything else, it is important to be straightforward and honest about your competitors and their strengths and weaknesses. If you fail to present your competitors, or claim you have no competition, why should investors assume that a market even exists from your product or service. Instead, present comprehensive information and point out how your unique strengths and tight market niche will result in your success.

MARKETING RESEARCH FOR THE NEW VENTURE: Marketing research can give a business a picture of what kinds of new products and services may bring a profit. For products and services already available, marketing research can tell companies whether they are meeting their customers' needs and expectations. By researching the answers to specific questions, small-business owners can learn whether they need to change their package design or tweak their delivery methods--and even whether they should consider offering additional services.

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"Failure to do market research before you begin a business venture or during its operation is like driving a car from Texas to New York without a map or street signs," says William Bill of Wealth Design Group LLC in Houston. "You have know which direction to travel and how fast to go. A good market research plan indicates where and who your customers are. It will also tell you when they are most likely and willing to purchase your goods or use your services." When you conduct marketing research, you can use the results either to create a business and marketing plan or to measure the success of your current plan. That's why it's important to ask the right questions, in the right way, of the right people. Research, done poorly, can steer a business in the wrong direction. Here are some market-research basics that can help get you started and some mistakes to avoid.

Steps of Marketing Research: 1. Define the purpose and objectives. One effective way to begin the marketing plan is to make a list of the information that will be needed to prepare the marketing plan. Possible objectives:  Determine what people think of the product or service and if they would buy it. 

Determine how much customers would be willing to pay for the product.

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Determine where the customer would prefer to purchase the product.

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Determine where the customer would expect to hear about such a product or service.

2. Gathering Data from Secondary Sources: The goal of secondary research is to analyze data that has already been published. With secondary data, you can identify competitors, establish benchmarks and identify target segments. Your segments are the people who fall into your targeted demographic--people who live a certain lifestyle, exhibit particular behavioral patterns or fall into a predetermined age group.

Collecting Data: No small business can succeed without understanding its customers, its products and services, and the market in general. Competition is often fierce, and operating without conducting research may give your competitors an advantage over you. There are two categories of data collection: quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative methods employ mathematical analysis and require a large sample size. The results of this data shed light on statistically significant differences. 6

Qualitative methods help you develop and fine-tune your quantitative research methods. They can help business owners define problems and often use interview methods to learn about customers' opinions, values and beliefs. With qualitative research, the sample size is usually small. 3. Gathering Information from Primary Sources. The goal of primary research is to gather data from analyzing current sales and the effectiveness of current practices. Primary research also takes competitors' plans into account, giving you information about your competition. Collecting primary research can include:    

Interviews (either by telephone or face-to-face) Surveys (online or by mail) Questionnaires (online or by mail) Focus groups gathering a sampling of potential clients or customers and getting their direct feedback

Some important questions might include:    

What factors do you consider when purchasing this product or service? What do you like or dislike about current products or services currently on the market? What areas would you suggest for improvement? What is the appropriate price for a product or service?

4. Analyzing and Interpreting the Results. You can hand tabulate results or enter on a spreadsheet. The evaluation should be based on the objectives of the venture. Can provide valuable insights regarding the segmentation of the market. Summarizing the answers to questions will give preliminary insights. Data can then be cross tabulated to provide more focused results.

Characteristics of a Marketing Plan: If you are going to sell products and/or services, you should have a marketing plan. You could just “wing it” like most people do, but you are likely to have better results if you do some planning up front. So, here’s an overview of the characteristics of a basic marketing plan.

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1-Brief Description Of Problem You’re Solving For Customers: I like to see marketing plans start with a “problem statement”. That immediately forces the entrepreneur to think about and articulate what they are selling in terms of the customers’ needs. As you know, customers buy benefits, not features, so it’s key to consider what problem your product and/or service is solving for your prospective customer.

2-Description of Your Products and Services: In this section, provide a description of the products and services you offer, or plan to offer. Nothing fancy here and you don’t have to go into scientific or technical detail regarding every aspect of your offerings. Rather, this is where you describe your offerings and how they solve the customer problems you identified.

3-Overview of the Market Opportunity: Here you cover the overall size of the market, in terms of units and dollar value. If you are coming out with a new, innovative product, there may not be sales of that specific product, as yet. Having an overall market size estimate is important, particularly in order to check your sales goals and projections.

4- Competitor and Substitute Analysis: This section will include a matrix of your competitors that sell the same product or services, and of substitutes, which may not be exactly the same, but may solve some, or all, of the problem that your prospective customers care about.

5-Discussion of The Segments You Will Target: Identify the relevant segments of the market. This is a place where big companies and other sophisticated marketers spend a lot of time and money on analysis. The better you identify and understand the needs of the various segments of the market, the better you are able to market and sell to them effectively. You must determine, based on a variety of factors, which segments are most attractive and focus on selling to those segments. Those factors include: the composition of the market in the geography you are targeting, the products/services you are capable of providing, your marketing budget, etc

6-Review and Analysis of Pricing: Pricing is one of the trickiest elements of marketing and probably the one you get the most questions on. At the end of the day, you want to set your price right at the point where you’ll maximize your profits. Particularly as a small business without a massive amount of historical price and demand data. As an entrepreneur, you need to look at price in terms of what the market (competitors) is charging and what it is

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costing you to provide your product or service. in order to find the optimal pricing for your products and services test, test and again test the market.

Marketing Mix: The marketing mix is one of the most famous marketing terms. The marketing mix is the tactical or operational part of a marketing plan. The marketing mix is also called the 4Ps and the 7Ps. The 4Ps are price, place, product and promotion. The services marketing mix is also called the 7Ps and includes the addition of process, people and physical evidence. The marketing mix is . . . The set of controllable tactical marketing tools – product, price, place, and promotion – that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market.

Price: Price is the amount the consumer must exchange to receive the offering. The company’s goal in terms of price is really to reduce costs through improving manufacturing and efficiency, and most importantly the marketer needs to increase the perceived value of the benefits of its products and services to the buyer or consumer

Place: Place includes company activities that make the product available to target consumers. Place is also known as channel, distribution, or intermediary. It is the mechanism through which goods and/or services are moved from the manufacturer/ service provider to the user or consumer.

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Product: Product means the goods-and-services combination the company offers to the target market. For many a product is simply the tangible, physical item that we buy or sell. You can also think of the product as intangible i.e. a service The Product Life Cycle (PLC) is based upon the biological life cycle. For example, a seed is planted (introduction); it begins to sprout (growth); it shoots out leaves and puts down roots as it becomes an adult (maturity); after a long period as an adult the plant begins to shrink and die out (decline).

Promotion: Includes all of the activities marketers undertake to inform consumers about their products and to encourage potential customers to buy these products. Promotion includes all of the tools available to the marketer for marketing communication. As with Neil H. Borden's marketing mix, marketing communications has its own promotions mix. There are many promotions elements that are often included such as sales, advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, online communications and personal selling.

STEPS IN PREPARING THE MARKETING PLAN: Define The Business Situation: Situation analysis describes past and present achievements of new venture. In Situation following define the following steps mention below :

Business

1. The situation analysis is a review of where the company has been and considers many of the above environmental factors 2. The entrepreneur should provide a review of past performance of the product and the company 3. This section simply reviews key elements of the Industry and Competitive Environment section of the plan.

Defining Target Market/Opportunities and Threats: The process of segmentation and targeting customers by the entrepreneur should proceed as fellow : 1. The entrepreneur should have a good idea of who the customer or target market will be. 2. The defined target market will usually represent one or more segments of the entire market. 3. Market segmentation is the process of dividing the market into smaller homogeneous groups. 4. The process of segmenting and targeting customers is: a. Decide what general market or industry you wish to pursue. 10

b. Divide the market into smaller groups based on characteristics of the customer or buying situation. c. Select segment or segments to target. d. Develop marketing plan integrating the parts of the marketing mix.

5. Divide the market into smaller groups based on characteristics of the customer or buying situation.

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Considering strengths and weaknesses: Entrepreneur to consider also strength and weaknesses in a target market. For Example refer back to student shuttle service venture. Its primary strength is in the market are: 1. There is no exiting competition. 2. The company has support the local schools. 3. Its usage base its selected community is an excellent match from the project target market. Weakness could be related to the venture liability to gain complete creditability in the town. Credibility could be easily and negatively affected by any bad publicity. Also the success of venture will heavily depend on the reliability of its drivers. Who may not be sensitive to consumer needs?

Establishing goals and objectives: . Statements of level of performance desire by new venture. Before the marketing strategy decisions can be outlined, the entrepreneur must Establishing goals and objectives. These market goals respond on a question: Where do we want to go? And should specify things such as market share, profit, sales, market penetration no. of distributors, awareness level, new product launching pricing policy sale promotion and advertising support.

Defining Marketing strategy and Action Programs: Specific activates outlined to meet the venture’s business plan goals and objectives. 1. Product or Service: This includes a description of the product and may include more than the physical characteristics. It involves packaging, brand name, price, warranty, image, service, features, and style. 2. Pricing. One of the difficult decisions is determining the appropriate price for the product. Factors such as costs, discounts, freight, and markups must be considered. Marketing research can help determine a reasonable price that consumers are willing to pay. 3. Distribution. This factor provides utility or makes the product convenient to purchase when it is needed. This variable must be consistent with other marketing mix variables. Type of channel, number of intermediaries and location of members should be described. Regardless of the type of business, it is usually necessary for the new venture to have a website. The Internet will become an increasingly important medium for information and distribution. Direct mail or telemarketing 12

may be considered. Direct mail marketing is one of the simplest and lowest in entry costs. But the direct-marketing or Internet strategies are not a guarantee for success. The entrepreneur should evaluate all possible options for distribution. 4. Promotion. The entrepreneur needs to inform customers as to the product's availability using advertising media such as print, radio, or television. Usually television is too expensive unless cable television is a viable option. Larger markets can be reached using direct mail, trade magazines, or newspapers. A website may also create awareness and promote the product and services of the venture. It is possible to make use of publicity as a means of introduction. It is important that the marketing strategy and action programs be specific and detailed enough to guide the entrepreneur through the first year.

Marketing Strategy: A marketing strategy is an overall marketing plan designed to meet the needs and requirements of customers. The plan should be based on clear objectives. A number of techniques will then be employed to make sure that the marketing plan is effectively delivered. Marketing techniques are the tools used by the marketing department. The marketing department will set out to identify the most appropriate techniques to employ in order to make profits. These marketing techniques include public relations, trade and consumer promotions, point-of-sale materials, editorial, publicity and sales literature. Marketing techniques are employed at three stages of marketing.

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Market research enables the organization to identify the most appropriate marketing mix. The mix should consist of: 

the right product

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sold at the right price

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in the right place

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Using the most suitable promotional techniques.

To create the right marketing mix, marketers have to ensure the following: 

The product has to have the right features - for example, it must look good and work well.

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The price must be right. Consumers will need to buy in large numbers to produce a healthy profit.

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The goods must be in 'the right place at the right time'. Making sure that the goods arrive when and where they are wanted is an important operation.

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The target group needs to be aware of the existence and availability of the product through promotion. Successful promotion helps a firm to spread costs over a larger output.

Finally techniques need to be applied to monitor the success of marketing activity.

Budgeting & marketing Strategy: Develop a Marketing Budget    

For your advertising and promotional plan For costs allocated for advertising and promotions For advertising and promotional materials For a list of advertising media to be used

Operating an effective marketing plan requires money, so you will have to allocate funds from your operating budget to cover advertising, promotional and all other costs associated with marketing. Develop a marketing budget based on the cost for the media you will use, and the cost for collecting research data and monitoring shifts in the marketplace.

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Describe Location (Place) 

description of the location  advantages and disadvantages of location Again, try to describe the location of your business from your customer's perspective. Describe its assets -- i.e., the convenience, whether or not public transportation is accessible, and the safety aspects - street lighting, well lit parking lot or facility, decor, etc. Your location should be built around your customers; it should be accessible and should provide a sense of security. Develop Pricing Strategy 

pricing techniques and brief description of these techniques  retail costing and pricing  competitive position  pricing below competition  pricing above competition  price lining  multiple pricing  material costs  labor costs  overhead costs Although your pricing strategy may be based on the strategy devised by others, you should study this plan and the strategies used by competitors. That way you will acquire a thorough understanding of how to price your product, and you can determine if your prices are in line with competitors, if they are in line with industry averages and what adjustments you can make to bring them in line. The key to success is to have an well-planned strategy, to establish your policies and to constantly monitor prices and operating costs to ensure profits. Keep abreast of changes in the marketplace because these changes can affect your bottom line. Develop an Effective Promotional Strategy       

advertising media print media (newspaper, magazine, classified ads, Yellow Pages advertising, brochure) radio television networking business cards tee shirts, hats, buttons, pens 15

Develop a promotional strategy that uses various media for promoting your business. Monitor the different media identifying those that most effectively promote your business. Concentrate on developing material for these formats that clearly identifies your services, its location and price. Since financial institutions weigh the soundness of your marketing plan when deciding whether your business is a good risk for their money, it is important that you prepare and present credible market data that shows there is a need in the community for your business and that demonstrates your ability to compete.

Implement a marketing plan: In this guide: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Write and implement a marketing plan Develop a marketing plan Describe your marketing tactics Implement a marketing plan

Print entire guide Once you are confident you have a thorough, comprehensive marketing plan for your business, you can take steps to implement the actions outlined in the plan. Your marketing is more likely to succeed if you have adequate resources and expertise to implement it. If you or your team doesn’t know how to implement your business's marketing plan, seek direction and advice from marketing experts and invest in building your staff's skills. Communicate with your staff The more you involve your staff in your marketing plan, the more they will invest themselves in it. Your team needs to have total confidence in the information and actions outlined in its marketing plan. Communicate the plan to your team as much as possible, and make sure they have an opportunity to contribute to it. In particular: 

make sure they understand how the marketing plan fits within your business's goals, objectives, priorities and policies

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discuss whether your staff have the skills and aptitude to implement your marketing plan

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give them opportunities to develop their marketing skills and mentor your staff if they are enthusiastic Consider whether you need to recruit marketing staff.

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Know your end goal Don't lose sight of your unique selling proposition. It is what sets you apart from your competition, and helps keep your marketing focused and effective. Monitor your progress You should treat your marketing plan as a living document that you continually revise. Revisit your marketing plan at least once every quarter. Develop a set of questions that help the review process such as: 

Are you on target?

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Have your tactics been too ambitious?

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Is your budget on track?

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Are any of your tactics not working on your customers?

Monitoring Your Progress: Developing an effective strategic plan is only "half the battle." Getting it implemented is the other, and generally the tougher, half. And an important part of strategy implementation is monitoring – taking a periodic look at "how it's going." Monitoring the implementation of your strategic plan is important for a number of reasons. First, it helps to assure that your efforts conform to the plan. That you're actually performing the action steps you intended. That you're "on track." Second, you've got to be sure the results you achieve align with your quantified objectives.. That you're accomplishing what you intended to accomplish. Monitoring helps here too. Also, monitoring allows for corrective action. For making the necessary changes along the way. To "fine tune," not only your strategies, but you’re planning process as well. And since monitoring is part of a control process, it encourages improved performance. Knowing they'll be measured stimulates employees to do a better job. Finally, and most importantly, monitoring provides the essential link between the written plan and the day-to-day operation of your business. It demonstrates to all that "you really are managing the business according to your plan". Monitoring the plan makes your entire planning effort a tangible reality rather than a once-a-year academic exercise.

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