Total Marketing Approach - Week 2

Marketing Planning – Marketing as a process at the business center level

It is clear that the development of a written marketing plan is crucial to every business. This plan will be directed at one or more products and possibly improve both coordination and performance. Just as Drucker said, if you market well, selling is unnecessary. Therefore, with the right marketing plan, performance is sure to improve. It is also important to note that the use of a mission statement is important and labeled, “the foundation of marketing” in the Business Plans video. It is a quick way of getting organizational goals across to the customer, showing that the marketing is geared towards them.

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"Typically executives spent, on average, 45 days each year on planning, relying most heavily on information from the sales force, management information systems, and internal marketing research” (Lehmann 1). Also, there are two general parts that the marketing plan is divided into:

1.     Situation analysis, which analyzes the background of the market for the product.

2.     The objectives, strategy, and programs based on the background analysis that direct the firm’s actions (Lehmann 1).

This is the typical structure for a marketing plan:

            I. Executive Summary

            II. Situation Analysis

                        A. Category/competitor definition

                        B. Category analysis

                        C. Company and competitor analysis

                        D. Customer analysis

                        E. Planning assumptions

            III. Objectives

            IV. Product/Brand Strategy

            V. Supporting Marketing Programs

            VI. Financial Documents

            VII. Monitors and Controls

            VIII. Contingency Plans

(Lehmann 13).

In other words, research must be done first to determine the needs of the customer (most important marketing factor) and then the action plan is compiled. This structure is a more complicated view than Drucker’s five questions which all pertain to the Total Marketing Approach. The questions are: 1. What is our mission? 2. Who is our customer? 3. What does our customer value? 4. What are our results? 5. What is our plan? (Cohen 30).

More specifically, to develop a marketing plan, a S.W.O.T. analysis must be conducted. S.W.O.T. stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (Competitive Advantage video). This will be the research needed to move forward in creating strategies and actions.

While there may be a plan for one or several products, the length of time for each varies. Basically, marketing plans change because the consumers’ interests/needs are seasonal. A past study showed most marketing plans are around one year as compared to strategic plans, which have a longer time horizon of three to five years. This statement in Lehmann’s book (Analysis for Marketing Planning) reminded me of how Drucker said how important innovation is to marketing. It is important to adjust to the changing times and be able to adapt to market the strongest product. For example, the impact of the Internet on marketing cause a need for the assumptions underlying the plan to be checked frequently and the data constantly updated throughout the planning cycle (Lehmann 3).

At the same time, Lehmann mentioned something that I thought was interesting and very important to marketing. What I heard from Drucker was that the customer is the most important factor in marketing but at the same time Lehmann points out the importance of competitor orientation. It is important to mold to the customer but also be better than the competition.

For the planning process I learned that the marketing plan is a limited cycle of continuous tasks. There is no beginning or ending to the planning process (Lehmann 10). There are two general approaches to planning:

1.     “Top-down planning: the marketing plans are formulated by either senior or middle management with the aid of staff and product management and then implemented by the latter.

2.     Bottom-up planning: the lower ranks down to field salespeople are actively involved in the planning process through collecting competitor and customer information and making forecasts. The information is subject to higher-level review, but lower-management personnel play key roles in the process” (Lehmann 10).

Personally, I think that bottom-up planning is the way to go because it is the salesmen that are doing the legwork in the field. They are the ones that know what the customer want and will be more effective in marketing to them. I also think that this helps to clarify Drucker’s view in chapter four because he was talking about how marketing is beyond a function in a company. I can see now what he was talking about because since everyone has input or is somehow involved in the process, then marketing is a commitment.

A marketing plan can easily fail if some standards are not met. There needs to be enough analysis/research on the customers desires to be able to market to what they want and to provide sufficient strategies. It is also important to have a structured written plan in order to keep employees in line and have a template of actions that are necessary. At the same time, marketing plan is something that needs to be planned and executed by and for the employees of the company. Proper managers must be put in charge and rewarded based on attainment of objectives. The speed and the length of the plan are also important. Not too fast or slow as well as a balanced length is crucial. Lastly, reevaluation or changing of the plan must not be done too much because employees may have a hard time adjusting, which would affect product performance (Lehmann 6-7).

As I said earlier, it is important to have the right managers leading the marketing plan. Drucker believed that good leadership is essentially marketing (Drucker 39). With proper leadership, a manager is able to better implement the plan to be followed by employees. An effective leader will be able to do most of the things on this list:

1.     Maintain absolute integrity. 2. Know your stuff. 3. Declare your expectations. 4. Show uncommon commitment. 5. Expect positive results. 6. Take care of your people. 7. Put duty before self. 8. Get out in front. (Cohen 41). 

These qualities also do not necessarily require schooling. Most are learned by experiences outside of the classroom such as military service. I thought it was shocking that some may not know that interviewers are secretly looking for these qualities to be able to do a certain job. It makes me wonder if all my schooling is worth it.