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Marketing planning refers to the structured process of formulating marketing objectives and appropriate marketing strategies to achieve these goals. For example, businesses will typically aim to increase their market share. Marketing planning is about formulating the various marketing strategies to achieve this goal. A marketing plan is devised to facilitate this. The role of marketing planning for a business is to identify the needs and desires of its customers and devise approaches to meet these. Hence, it helps to improve the firm’s overall marketing and its chances of success.

A marketing plan shows the marketing objectives and marketing strategy of a particular business. Marketing objectives are goals that help to give marketing teams a sense of purpose and direction. They also help senior managers to hold the marketing department accountable for their contribution to the overall organization. However, the marketing objectives of a particular organization depends on the type of business under consideration. Typically, a for-profit organization will strive for marketing objectives that help to achieve improved profitability. By contrast, the marketing objectives of a non-profit organization might focus on social marketing in order to promote a particular social cause.

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Essentially, a marketing plan requires consideration of all elements of the marketing mix (comprised of: product, price, promotion, place, people, processes, and physical evidence) in order to meet the marketing objectives of the organization. The main elements of a marketing plan usually include:

• an executive summary outlining the main points of the marketing plan
• a situational analysis outlining the internal and external factors affecting the organization
• a market analysis outlining the intensity of competition in the market
• marketing objectives
• market research
• identification of target market(s) and market segments
• the marketing mix: details of the product, price, promotion and place
• marketing strategies, and
• marketing budgets, including the resources required to execute the marketing plan.

A detailed marketing plan gives managers and employees clear focus and direction. It enables the business to formulate appropriate marketing strategies in order to meet the marketing goals of the organization. Marketing strategies are the different long-term actions used by an organization to achieve its marketing goals. A marketing plan is a prerequisite to formulating marketing strategies to achieve the objectives of the organization. This in turn requires careful consideration of the four components of the traditional marketing mix.

Nevertheless, as with all plans, there is a danger of following the marketing plan too rigidly. For example, changes in the external environment requires changes to be made to the marketing plan, i.e. it needs to be flexible enough to adapt to change.

If organizations do not adjust their marketing strategies to changes in market conditions, they risk making inappropriate marketing decisions that could be costly to their bottom line (profitability). Hence, marketing managers continually use a range of tools to monitor and adapt to such changes. Examples of these tools include the use of market research data, market analyses, and sales forecasting.

 Advantages of marketing plans

Advantages of marketing plans (i.e. the role of marketing planning) include:

• Marketing planning helps marketing managers to formulate more effective marketing strategies in order to meet the needs and wants of the firm’s customers.
• It enables marketing managers and marketers to have a better sense of direction and purpose. This helps to improve employee motivation and labour productivity.
• As a decision-making tool, it helps marketers to identify potential problems and plan appropriate solutions to these issues.
• It helps marketing managers to align their marketing plans and marketing strategies with the rest of the organization. This improves the firm’s overall chances of success in meeting their aims and objectives.
• It can inform and improve financial decision-making. Marketing budgets can be more appropriately set to ensure that resources are used in the most cost-effective way.

 Disadvantages of marketing plans

However, marketing plans also have limitations. Disadvantages of marketing plans include:

• Time and money are used to ensure the marketing plans are prepared in a comprehensive way. This comes at an opportunity cost, i.e. the money and resources could have been better spent on other areas of the business.
• Marketing planning might not be realistic for smaller firms to use due to their very limited marketing budgets. Hence, the value of marketing planning is somewhat questionable for such firms.
• Even the best prepared and most thorough of plans are used only as a guide in business decision-making. The marketing plan can become outdated very quickly, and is unlikely to be followed too rigidly, as the organization will need to adjust its strategies as unforeseen opportunities and threats in the external business environment arise.