You are employed as a business analyst at Marketing Department in XYZ company (a company in any field that you may be interested in working there upon your graduation). Your department director has asked you to come up with a draft marketing plan for a new (or an existing improved) product that would be available for consumers in year 2022 in United States.
In general, marketing plans are developed annually, exceptions of longer period do exist for some big-ticket industrial products such as commercial aircraft, as well as to some highly volatile industries such as telecommunications or electronics which may require diligent planning semi annually or quarterly.
Plans typically follow a format similar to that outlined in Exhibit 1.10 “Contents of a Marketing Plan” on page 15 (also in Canvas under “Files”) in Chapter One which including ten (10) parts:
- Executive summary
- Current situation and trends
- Performance review (for an existing product or service only)
- Key issues
- Objectives
- Marketing strategy
- Action plans
- Projected profit-and-loss statement
- Controls
- Contingency plans