A marketing plan is a document comprised of three phases to analyze a firm's market and potential for success. Phase one involves declaring missions/objectives and analyzing strengths/weaknesses. Phase two implements a marketing strategy using segmentation, targeting, positioning and the four P's (product, price, place, promotion). Phase three controls the plan by evaluating metrics to improve future strategies using portfolio analysis of products. While tedious, the marketing plan establishes profitable strategies through an ongoing process of analysis, implementation and revision.

1. THE MARKETING
PLAN
a presentation by A. Raines

2. WHAT IS A MARKETING PLAN?
A marketing plan is a document
meant to assist in analyzing a market
and a firm’s potential success within
its environment and situation.
This plan is comprised of three
phases, all of which encompass
multiple analysis methods to aid a
business in understanding its current
market situation, its strengths and
weaknesses, it objectives and
strategies, its action programs, and its
projections of financial success.

3. PHASE ONE: Planning
In the first of the three phases, businesses must take
two steps. The first is to declare missions and
objectives of the firm. This declaration allows your
business to have a foundation on which it builds; a
statement of who you are and where you plan to go.
This statement gives your company goals in which
they plan to reach and an idea of how they will reach
them.
The second step to this phase is analyze the
business and its situation through a SWOT analysis.
This gives a business insight into its internal
strengths and weaknesses alongside an
understanding of how it will externally function
through opportunities and threats. With this
analysis, a business can better understand its
environment both internally and externally and learn
how to better adapt.

4. PHASE TWO: Implementation
Phase two of the marketing plan involves the implementation of a
marketing strategy.
This marketing strategy is divided into two individual analysis plans to
aid a business in identifying opportunities and properly marketing to
their benefit.
The two steps involved in this phase are:
STP Analysis
The Marketing Mix
Figure 1

5. Step One of Implementation Phase:
Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning (STP)
By segmenting and targeting and positioning your marketing strategy, you are
setting your business up for success. When using this analysis, you are:
Segmenting your market into different groups based on their desires, their
needs, and their personal characteristics (such as demographics or where they
are located)
Targeting each segment with a marketing strategy that appeals most to them
Positioning their brand in relation to other available products. This positioning
is meant to distinguish the brand as strong amongst the alternatives and
identify themselves as the superior choice.

6. Step Two of the Implementation Phase:
Product, Price, Place, Promotion (Marketing Mix)
By establishing an understanding of each segment of your market, how they
can be targeted, and what resources they require, a business is ready to begin
also establishing product value and asset allocation. They do this through the
four P’s of the Marketing Mix.
Figure 2

7. THE FOUR P’s
Product: This is where you create value by developing a product that will appeal to
customers and become desirable.
Price: This is where a value is captured. Captured value needs to be properly
established, as too high of price leads to lower conversion and too low of price can
lead to insufficient profits
Place: This is where value is delivered. Accessibility is key to good profits, as the
more channels in which a product can be reached, the more likely a purchase is to
occur.
Promotion: This is where value is communicated. Value can be communicated
through a variety of things which include everything from advertising and
marketing to promotional deals and good reviews. In today’s market this can also
include promotion through influencing, which is a large portion of modern day PR.

8. PHASE THREE: Control
Phase three of a business marketing plan is where evaluation of the entire
process takes place. Metrics are used to explain what occurred, why these
occurrences happened, what was outcomes of these occurrences were, are how
the future is projected. In reference to the processes in the prior slides, these
metrics measure the current standing of a company in their environment and
their projected standing in the future market.
A performance evaluation allows a firm to review their tactics, understand their
conversions, and better improve their strategies.
Other marketing metrics can include analytics of product engagement,
financial metrics, and portfolio analysis.

9. Phase Three: Control
Portfolio Analysis
The final aspect of the third phase involves
analyzing your product or service portfolio
and resource allocation. Formed into a graph,
products can be classified into four categories
that are determined by market growth rate and
relative market share. Market share establishes
a products market strength in relation to other
companies in the industry. Market growth is
the rate at which that particular industry
growth is occurring.

10. Portfolio Analysis:The Quadrants Explained
Stars: High growth markets and high market shares. These require the most
allocated resources to ensure growth.
Cash Cows: Low growth market but high market share. These have already
previously used allocated resources to develop their share, so they are now
able to cut resources to other products that need them.
Question Marks: High growth market but low market share. These products
must be evaluated to understand whether resources should be allocated to
grow their share or if they should be phased out of the market entirely.
Dogs: low growth markets and low market shares. These products make enough
to sustain themselves, but should not require resources any longer and should
be phased out unless sold next to a complimentary item.

11. THE MARKETING PLAN EXPLAINED
While this process is tedious, it is essential for any companies market success.
The benefit of this plan is that it is not linear; you may move back and forth in
this plan as needed to establish the best outcome for your products, and
revisement of your process is key to success.
The marketing plan is the perfect way to overview your strategies and ensure
profitability in your business, as long as you are honest and truly evaluative in
your practices.

12. References:
Grewal, Dhruv, and Michael Levy. Marketing. 8th ed., McGrawHill, 2022.
Figure 1: Hamzah Shaikh, et al. “A Beginner's Guide to STP Marketing.” Martechlive, 10 Feb. 2021,
https://martechlive.com/stp-marketing/.
Figure 2: Kate. “The Classic Marketing Mix: The 4 P's.” Kate Kowalsky, 25 Feb. 2017,
https://katekowalsky.com/the-classic-marketing-mix-the-4-ps/.