Marketing Plan Development; Starting the Process

Selecting a Teammate

You should develop the marketing plan with a teammate, if at all possible. Good marketing plans require an understanding of marketing concepts, information gathering and a lot of thought. It is good to have a partner to bounce ideas and thoughts back and forth to make sure that the marketing plan is right on with moving the organization toward its marketing objectives.

Marketing Plan Organization Selection

Select a single site business or organization, NOT a franchise or multiple site organization.  A traditional site retail organization is the easiest to develop a meaningful marketing plan. You can visit a retailer as a shopper and obtain considerable information for a marketing plan. DO NOT select a business, organization or product that you will need to obtain information from the manager or owner. Chances are they will not cooperate.

                You do not want to select large organizations and franchisors that have multiple sites because they typically have marketing experts in the organization who prepare marketing plans. It will be difficult for you to develop a marketing plan that is better than the experts. Small single site organizations need help and ideas resulting from marketing plans. The purpose of a marketing plan is to develop strategy and tactics to achieve marketing objectives of the organization. It is not a report on what the organization is currently doing, that is a SWOT analysis.

 
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