This document outlines the key components of a marketing plan, including an introduction, target market strategy, product/service strategy, pricing strategy, distribution strategy, advertising/promotion strategy, and sales strategy. The introduction should define the purpose and target market in 7 sentences. The target market strategy identifies the specific niche and customer benefits. The product/service strategy differentiates the offering from competitors. The pricing, distribution, advertising, and sales strategies explain how the company will reach customers and deliver the product or service. The overall goal is to present a compelling case that there is an untapped need in the market that the company is well-positioned to address.

1. Marketing Plan

6. Company Overview

7. Company Overview
 Introduction (1 paragraph)
 Name, location, organization
 Slogan
 Mission Statement
 History and Current Status (1 paragraph)
 Markets and Products
 Objectives
 Length: about 1 page

8. Slogan
 Pithy 4 to 10 word statement of
company purpose
 Use in business plan, advertising,
descriptions of business, business
cards, …

9. Mission Statements
 Examples…

10. Mission Statement
Semiconductor Equipment
[Semiconductor Equipment] will
become a world leader in supplying
lithography automation and
productivity enhancement products
for the semi-conductor industry
through innovative design and
unique customer insights.

11. Mission Statement
Website Management Co
The mission of [Website
Management Technologies] is to
help businesses engaging in e-
commerce achieve their sales and
customer service objectives by
enabling a better understanding of
Web site visitors’ behavior.

12. Mission Statement
Tech Support Company
[Tech Support Company] exists to provide outstanding
technical support service and technical training to its
customers. The Company’s target customers are
developers of computer applications, companies with high
demands for technical service and support, and retail
consumers of computer products. We are committed to
becoming the premier provider of technical help desk
solutions and professional training for IT personnel.
Towards this end, our management has affirmed that it
will adhere to the qualities of integrity, challenge,
innovation, enjoyment, shared leadership and customer
satisfaction.

13. Mission Statements
 What is a mission statement?
 What makes a good mission
statement?

14. Mission Statements
Fast Food Industry
To make, distribute and sell the finest quality
all-natural ice cream and related products in
a wide variety of innovative flavors made from
Vermont dairy products.
Ben & Jerry„s
To satisfy the world's appetite for good food,
well served, at a price people can afford.
McDonald‟s

15. Mission Statement
LL Bean
Sell good merchandise at a
reasonable price;
Treat your customers as you would
your friends.
Leon Bean, 1911
Collins and Lazier, Managing the Small to Mid-sized Company

16. Mission Statement
General Electric
Become #1 or #2 in every market we
serve and revolutionize this company
to have the agility of a small
enterprise.
Jack Welch, 1983
Collins and Lazier, Managing the Small to Mid-sized Company

17. Mission Statement
Shipbuilding
We will always build good ships.
At a profit if we can,
At a loss if we must,
But always good ships.
Bath Ship Works

18. Mission Statement
Great Britain – WWII
Our whole people and empire have vowed
themselves to the single task of cleansing
Europe of the Nazi pestilence and saving
the world from the new dark ages. We
seek to beat the life and soul of Hitler and
Hitlerism. That alone. That all the time.
That to the end.
Winston Churchill, 1941
Collins and Lazier, Managing the Small to Mid-sized Company

19. Mission Statements
What makes a good mission statement?
 Compelling
 Inspiring
 Clear, measurable objectives
 Concise

20. Marketing Plan

21. Marketing Plan Objectives
 Most important piece of your plan
 Build on industry and marketplace analysis –
define your niche
 Identify your customers
 Demonstrate how you will solve problems for
customers
 Describe how you will reach customers –
advertising sales
 Convince reader that there is an eager market
for your product or service

22. Marketing Plan Outline
 Introduction
 Target Market
 Product/Service Strategy
 Pricing Strategy
 Distribution Strategy
 Advertising and Promotion
 Sales Strategy
 Sales and Marketing Forecasts

23. Introduction
 Seven sentence introduction
1. The first sentence tells the purpose of the marketing
strategy.
2. The second tells how you‟ll achieve this
purpose, focusing upon your benefits.
3. The third tells your target market – or markets.
4. The fourth, the longest sentence, tells the marketing
weapons you‟ll employ.
5. The fifth tells your niche.
6. The sixth tells your identity.
7. The seventh tells your budget, expressed as a
percentage of your projected gross revenues.

24. Introduction – Example
The purpose of Prosper Press is to sell the maximum number of
books at the lowest possible selling cost per book. This will be
accomplished by positioning the books as being so valuable to free-
lancers that they are guaranteed to be worth more to the reader
than their selling price. The target market will be people who can
or do engage in free-lance earning activities. Marketing tools to be
utilized will be a combination of classified advertising in magazines
and newspapers, direct mail, sales at seminars, publicity in
newspapers and on radio and television, direct sales calls to
bookstores, and mail-order display ads in magazines. The niche to
be occupied is one that stands valuable information that helps free-
lancers succeed, the ultimate authority for free-lancers. Our
identity will be one of expertise, readability, and quick response to
customer requests. Thirty percent of sales will be allocated to
marketing.

25. Target Market Strategy
 Identify the market niche you will
serve
 Be as specific as possible
 Better to be too specific
 Benefits to target market
 What problems do you solve?
 What needs do you fulfill?

26. Two Types of Benefits
 Emotional
 Hope, fear, love guilt, greed,
convenience
 Financial
 Increased profit, value pricing, save
money, payback period

27. Talk to Your Customers
 Imperative that you talk with customers!
 Casual conversations
 Interviews
 Surveys
 Focus groups
 Identify needs
 Listen!
 NOTE: see “The New Market Research”
(online INC article)

28. Target Market Questions
 What buy now? How get service?
 Would you be interested in …?
 Demographics
 Newspapers, magazines, TV
 Would you buy?
 Where would you expect us to advertise?
 Who do you consider our competition?
 Other comments?
Levinson, “Guerrilla Marketing” 3rd edition

29. Creating New Market Space
HBR, Kim & Mauborgne
New
Market
Space
What factors might be
eliminated that the
industry has taken for
granted?
Eliminate
What factors might be
created that the
industry has never
offered?
Create
What factors might be raised well beyond industry standards?
Raise
What factors might be reduced well below industry standards?
Reduce

30. Product/Service Strategy
 Describe how the design of your product/service
fulfills unmet marketplace needs
 Differentiate your product/service from the
competition
 Explain why and how customers will switch to
your product or service
 Describe how you will defend your product or
service from competition

31. Product Attribute Map
Attribute 1
Attribute 2
You
Competitor 2
Competitor 3
Competitor 1

32. Pricing Strategy
 Describe and justify your pricing
strategy
 Provide evidence that your target
market will accept your price
 Position your strategy relative to
current and potential competition
 NOTE: Low price often (usually) is NOT
a good strategy for a startup!

33. Advertising/Promotion
 Describe how you will communicate with
current and potential customers
 Advertising
 Public relations
 Personal selling
 Printed materials
 Other means of promotion
 Explain why this be strategy is most effective
in reaching your target market
 Note: See Guerrilla Marketing

34. Distribution Strategy
 Explain how you will deliver your product
or service to your customers
 How will your customers acquire your product
or service
 Describe and justify the distribution
channels you will use
 Describe how you will gain access to your
planned distribution channels

35. Sales Strategy
 Describe to whom you must sell your
product or service (not always obvious)
 Explain how you will “sell”
 An internal sales force
 Manufacturer's representatives
 Telephone solicitors
 Describe how you will support your sales
effort
 internal staff
 service operations

36. Goals for Marketing Plan
 Compelling “story” that there is a need in
the market
 Need flows logically from industry
analysis
 Product/service designed to fulfill market
needs
 Advertising, price, distribution, and sales
all flow logically, convincingly from
characteristics of the market
 “WOW! What a great idea! I wish I had
thought of that…”