Business Studies in Action: HSC Course 3rd edition
Chapter summaries
Topic 3: Marketing
Chapter 10 Elements of a marketing plan
- An integrated marketing plan gives purpose and direction to all the business’s activities.
- There are five steps involved in developing a marketing plan.
Step 1 Situational analysis: A precise understanding of the business’s current position and where it is heading.
-SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis: provides the information needed to complete the situational analysis and assesses the business’s position compared with its competitors.
-Product life cycle analysis: At each stage of the cycle a different marketing strategy is necessary. A business must be able to launch, modify, and delete products in response to changes in the product life cycle.
Step 2 Establish marketing objectives: The realistic and measurable goals to be achieved through the marketing plan. The marketing objectives should be more customer oriented than the objectives for the entire business, and should include specific targets to be met – for example, ‘Increase market share by 5 per cent over twelve months’. Marketing objectives include:
-Increase market share. Market share refers to the business’s total share of the total industry sales for a particular market.
-Expand the product range. Product mix is the total range of products offered by a business.
Business Studies in Action: HSC Course 3rd ed. Chapman, Norris, Devenish and Merritt. Chapter summary Page 1 Page 1
-Expand existing markets. Geographical representation refers to the presence of a business and the range of products across a geographical area.
-Maximising customer service. Customer service means responding to the needs and problems of the customer.
Step 3 Identify target markets: Specific groups of customers with similar characteristics. Two broad approaches can be used when selecting a target market:
1. Total market: a vast number of people. Example:Basic food items.
2. Market segmentation: the total market is subdivided into groups of people who share common needs. Example: HSC Business Studies students.
Step 4 Develop marketing strategies: Actions to achieve marketing objectives based on the ‘four Ps’ which make up the marketing mix: product, price, promotion and place.
Step 5 Implement, monitor and control the marketing plan:
-Implement: decide which marketing strategies will be put into action.
-Monitor:
- check and observe progress of the marketing plan.
- establish a performance standard
- develop a financial forecast
-Control: compare actual performance against planned through the use of sales analysis, market share analysis/ratios, marketing profitability analysis.
-Corrective action may need to be undertaken and revise the marketing strategy through:
- changes in the marketing mix
- new product development or product deletion.
Business Studies in Action: HSC Course 3rd ed. Chapman, Norris, Devenish and Merritt. Chapter summary Page 1 Page 1