Contents of a Marketing Plan

There are no set rules to writing a marketing plan, but this list of headers should provide a useful framework to follow.

1. Corporate objectives
Covering the long-terms aims and ambitions of your organisation.

2. Marketing audit
Sourcing and collecting information about the marketing environment in which you operate, and summing this up in the form of a SWOT analysis.

3. Marketing objectives
Setting realistic, measurable and timebound objectives for the period of the marketing plan.

4. Marketing strategy
Considering how your strategy will develop in terms of your product and service offering and the markets in which you operate. This will include a consideration of the customers you wish to target.

5. Marketing tactics
Deciding how you will carry out the plan, in terms of the 7Ps of product and service marketing, and the various marketing communications tools available to you.

6. Monitoring and control
Determining how you will assess the performance of your plan, and the achievement of set objectives. This will include both evaluation at the end of the plan period, and monitoring effectiveness throughout so that adjustments to the plan can be made.