COMPONENT 1:

MARKETING PLAN
Overview
Marketing plan outlines the marketing strategy for the proposed enterprise. It is like a
blueprint on how marketing strategies will be implemented. It gives an overview on
the possible position of the proposed business in the market and the strategies that can
be used to ensure the success of the enterprise. Marketing plan will also guide the
business owners in identifying the best marketing strategies to be used given the
available resources. Having a clear marketing plan gives clarity on where the business
is going.

Objectives
At the end of the module, the participants should be able to:
1. describe the proposed product or service,
2. identify the target market and major competitors of the planned enterprise,
3. list down the unique features of the proposed product/service,
4. identify the appropriate pricing, promotional and distribution strategies to use,
and
5. prepare a simple marketing plan.

Topics
 Product/Service Description
 Market Description (Target Market, Competition)
 Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
 Pricing Strategy
 Promotional Strategy
 Distribution Strategy

Expected Outputs
 Accomplished exercises
 Marketing Plan
COMPONENT 1:
MARKETING PLAN
TOPIC 1: Product and/or service description
What is your product/service?

Ideally, for a business to be successful, it must offer the products or services that your
customers want or need. Products are tangible things like food, clothing, gadgets, cars,
etc. Services on the other hand are transactions where there are no physical goods
transferred from buyer to seller (e.g. haircut, motor/vehicle repair, transportation
service, salon etc.).

In determining the product/service that you will offer, the following are some of the
things you should consider:

1. How to produce 2. How much to

3. What quality?
the product/service? produce?

5. What are the 6. What are the

4. What price? substitute complementary
products/service? products/service?

The product and service description defines the features of your product or service,
the unique selling points offered by your product or service, and how your product or
service satisfies client needs and expectations.
COMPONENT 1:
MARKETING PLAN

Activity 3. Description of product/service

Describe the product/service of your proposed enterprise. Characterize your
products/service using different parameters.

Example: Product Description of the ABC Dairy Cooperative

PARAMETER DESCRIPTION
Fresh Milk (Processed)
Content rich in protein, calcium, iron, phosphorous, vitamin A,
and several other nutrients
Appearance and color White, no evidence of infection or traces of blood
Packaging 1L bottle
Production Volume 492,750 L per year
Product Uses Liquid milk, butter, cheese, etc.
How much do you target to produce in a month or year?

ABC Dairy Cooperative has 100 members with an average of 2 carabaos per member.
With an average of 13.5L harvest per day, the coop is expected to produce 300,000L
of pasteurized fresh milk. This will be enough to cater 5% of the demand-supply gap
of pasteurized fresh milk in Laguna.
COMPONENT 1:
MARKETING PLAN

Description of Your Product and/or Service

Use the guide questions below to help you describe your product and/or service. If
you have several products or services, describe only one (major) during the activity.

1. What is your product or service?

2. What are the key features of your product or service? (you can present you
answer in table just like how the example is presented)

3. How much do you target to produce in a month or year?

4. What are the main uses of your product or service?

COMPONENT 1:
MARKETING PLAN

TOPIC 2: Market Description

Who are your target customers? Who are your competitors?

The market description explains who your target customers are and why you chose
this market. You should also clearly state why your target customers need the product
or service you are planning to sell. An analysis of your competitors should also be
presented.

Identifying market segments and potential demands will help you choose the option
on where you want to focus your activities. For this, you will need to assess the target
market and competition.

A. Target Market
Target market refers to a group of potential buyers to whom you want to sell your
products and/or services. Consumers who make up a target market share similar
characteristics including geography, buying power, demographics, and incomes.

Establishing the target market is important for any enterprise in the development of a
marketing plan. If an enterprise does not know who its target market is, it could cost a
lot of money and time for an enterprise as marketing to all customers is inefficient and
expensive.

Activity 4-a. Target Market Analysis

List down your products and users of your products. List down the needs and
expectations of these users for the products.

Target Market Analysis: ABC Dairy Cooperative

Customers’ Milk Tea shops Cakes and Candy Households Coffee Shops
Needs Pastry Shops Processors
Pasteurized 20 liters in 20 liters in 20 liters in Pasteurized 20 liters in
milk reusable milk reusable milk reusable milk milk in 1L reusable milk
jars/containers jars/containers jars/containers disposable jars/containers
plastic bottle

To facilitate the writing of the target market, answer the guide questions in Column
1. Sample answers are provided in Column 2 for your reference.
 COMPONENT 1:
MARKETING PLAN
GUIDE QUESTION
1. Among all the possible customers
you have identified, which type of
customers or segment will your
enterprise focus on?
2. Why did you choose to focus on
this market segment?
3. Why do your target customers need
your product or service?
4. What specific need of your target
market will the product or service
address?
5. What is the estimated demand for
your product or service?
6. What percentage of the market do
you hope to penetrate?
EXAMPLE: ABC DAIRY COOPERATIVE
 End-Consumers (households) in Laguna
 Coffee shops
 On the average, every household member
consumes around 22 liter of milk per year.
If we target households, we have sure
buyers of our product year-round
 Coffee shops can be found almost
everywhere. These shops demand bulk
volume of milk.
 There are limited suppliers of dairy buffalo
milk in Laguna. Current suppliers of milk
supply only 50% of the entire demand for
dairy buffalo milk.
 Availability of high-quality and nutritious
dairy milk.
 In the province, the total demand is
estimated at 15 million liters per year.
 The existing milk suppliers can only supply
10 million liters per year
 Hence, the estimated demand-supply gap is
about 5 million L per year
 Projected annual production volume of
cooperative: 300,000 liters
 This is about around 6% of the current
demand-supply gap
COMPONENT 1:
MARKETING PLAN
List down your products and users of your products. List down the needs and expectations of these users for the products.

Customers’ Market 1 Market 2 Market 3 Market 3 Market 4

Needs

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 COMPONENT 1:
MARKETING PLAN
Answer the following guide questions.

GUIDE QUESTION Name Of Your Enterprise:

____________________________________________________________
1. Among all the possible customers you
have identified, which type of customers
or segment will your enterprise focus
on?
2. Why did you choose to focus on this
market segment?

3. Why do your target customers need your

product or service?

4. What specific need of your target market

will the product or service address?

5. What is the estimated demand for your

product or service?

6. What percentage of the market do you

hope to penetrate?

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COMPONENT 1:
MARKETING PLAN
B. Competitors
Competitors can make a huge impact on your enterprise. The relative market shares
(or market strength) of competitors can influence your position in the market, whether
your business can set prices independently, or whether you have to follow the lead of
your competitors.

To decide on the type of customers to target, it is important to get a picture of their

competitors, especially with regard to the selling prices, the quality of their products
and the location of their markets. With this information, entrepreneurs can make
better decisions on how to position their enterprises in relation to the competition.

Activity 4-b. Competitors’ Analysis

List down all the existing and potential major competitors of your enterprise, their
prices, their target customers, their products/services, and their strengths and
weaknesses.

Competitor’s Analysis: ABC Dairy Cooperative

Competitor 1 Competitor 2 Competitor 3
Enterprise 1 Enterprise 2 Enterprise 3
Products  1L Pasteurized milk  1L Pasteurized milk  1L Pasteurized milk
Offered
Quality of  Fresh  Fresh  Fresh
Product  Class B  Class A  Class A
 free from infection  free from infection  free from infection
Target  Households  restaurant  restaurant
Customers  Schools  coffee shops  coffee shops
 milktea shops  schools
Weaknesses  small-scale  location of farm and  location of farm and
 manual production store (store location is store (store location is
 limited milk collection far from production site) far from production
site)
Strengths Location of farm/store large-scale large-scale
(farm is near to store & very efficient at very efficient at
store is near target production production
consumers), very low selling price low selling price
accessible to source of
inputs and buyers of
outputs

To facilitate the writing of the market description, answer the guide questions in
Column 1. Sample answers are provided in Column 2 for your reference.

Competitors’ Analysis: ABC Dairy Cooperative

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 COMPONENT 1:
MARKETING PLAN
GUIDE QUESTION EXAMPLE: ABC DAIRY COOPERATIVE
1. How can you compete with your  Our coop has stable supply of fresh (raw)
competitors? milk
 Our coop collects and processes fresh milk
everyday
 Our farm location is near the source of inputs
and near the target market
2. How can you increase your  Cooperative members have to increase farm
market share over time? productivity by strictly following the package
of technology (POT). Current yield is only
about 80% of optimum yield.
 We need to improve both farm and
processing productivity so as to be
competitive with other dairy milk available in
the market
 We also have to increase our production
capacity for fresh milk

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 Competitor’s Analysis: __________________________________________________

Competitor 1 Competitor 2 Competitor 3

__________________________ _______________________________ ______________________________

_
Products
Offered

Quality of
Product

Target
Customers

Weaknesses

Strengths

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 COMPONENT 1:
MARKETING PLAN
Competitors’ Analysis: ABC Dairy Cooperative
NAME OF YOUR
GUIDE QUESTION ENTERPRISE____________________________________________________________________
1. How can you compete
with your competitors?

2. How can you increase

your market share over
time?
 TOPIC 3. Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Unique selling proposition or USP is what makes your enterprise stand-out from other
businesses. It is a statement you choose to help customers differentiate your products
and your brands from your competitors.
It answers the following questions:

1. What does your 2. What is it that you

business stand for? are known for?

3. What statement
can summarize the
details of what your
business stand for?

Activity 5. Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

For your activity, list down the distinctive features/practices of your business.

Distinctive features of ABC Dairy Cooperative

1. Freshly collected
milk: Fresh (raw milk) 2. High-quality milk at 3. Clean and safe milk
are collected every competitive prices storage.
morning from the farm.

4. Safe work, happy and 5. 100% natural and

meticulous workers creamy milk

Example USP: ABC Dairy Cooperative

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COMPONENT 1:
MARKETING PLAN
At ABC Dairy Cooperative, we love the creamy natural taste of our milk. We
produce a high quality carabao’s milk that will guarantee you the tastiest, and
healthiest dairy carabao milk for your whole family every day. ABC Dairy coop’s
milk is made of 100% natural milk with no added preservatives. It is packed with
calcium, protein, vitamins, and minerals.
Our pasteurized milk is always fresh. We collect milk from our farmers daily. Our
milk processing facility is clean and safe with happy and meticulous workers
ensuring you an experience of premium quality carabao’s milk.
“Masarap, masustansya, Laging bago”

For your activity, list down the distinctive features/practices of your business.
What makes your product or service better than what is already available in the
market?

Write your Unique Selling Proposition and choose a statement or tag line that will
help your customers differentiate your product/service from your competitors.
 TOPIC 4: Pricing

How much are you going to charge for your product/service?

Pricing Strategy

Pricing strategy involves determining how you will set the price of your product or
service. Good pricing is crucial to the success or failure of an enterprise. Price is
what the seller feels how their product or service is worth. It is the value of the
product/service expressed in terms of money.

There are many pricing strategies that can be used in setting the price of your
products/services. The following are the common pricing approaches that can be used
by your business/enterprise:
1. Competitive pricing- pricing strategy based on competitors’ charges
2. Price Skimming- setting higher price than the prevailing market price to
maximize the revenue from customers willing to pay a higher price for your
product/service
3. Discriminatory pricing- setting prices depending on the market, customer, or
location
4. Introductory price- setting low price in order to attract new customers or enter a
new market
5. Cost Plus Pricing- setting price based on cost and mark-up

Criteria for Setting Price

Many enterprises fail to take into consideration other aspects in setting prices for
products/services. In determining the pricing strategy to be used, it is important to
take into consideration the internal and external factors influencing prices such as
the type of customers, competitors, supply and demand and state of economy.

INTERNAL FACTORS EXTERNAL FACTORS

Costs
PRICING Competitors
Marketing Strategy
STRATEGY Type of Consumer
Marketing Objectives
State of Economy

The following guidelines may be useful in setting your prices:

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COMPONENT 1:
MARKETING PLAN
1. Cost

Before setting your price, you should identify all costs involved with running
your business. These include fixed cost (cost incurred in production that does
not vary on the level of output) and variable costs (cost that vary depending on
level of output). To make a profit, your price must be higher than your cost.

2. Competitors

The prices of competitors will give you a benchmark on how to set your prices.
Once you know your competitor’s prices, then you will know where to position
your products/services.

3. Customers

You should know who the buyers/users of your products/services. You must be
able to answer questions like: how do prices alter their purchase decision? Do
they have bargaining power over the price set? do they consider high price as
high quality?

4. State of Economy

There are products or service that are sensitive to changes in economic

conditions such as unemployment and wages. When the economy is in
downturn, some products/services need to drop prices.

Activity 6. Pricing Strategy

Using your product information and market information, identify the best pricing strategy
that you should use for your business and estimate the price for your product/service.

Examples: Pricing Strategy Analysis for ABC Dairy Cooperative

A. Competitor’s Prices: ABC Dairy Cooperative

Competitor 1 Competitor 2 Competitor 3

Product
Dairy Coop 1 Dairy Coop 2 Dairy Coop 3
Pasteurized Fresh Milk
1L PhP 120 PhP 100 PhP 130
You can add more columns if you have identified more than 3 competitors
You can add more rows if you offer several types of products
COMPONENT 1:
MARKETING PLAN
 COMPONENT 1:
MARKETING PLAN
B. Pricing Strategy: ABC Dairy Cooperative

To facilitate the writing of the market description, answer the guide questions
in Column 1. Sample answers are provided in Column 2 for your reference.

Guide Question ABC Dairy Cooperative

1. How will you set the price of Our cooperative will use cost-plus pricing strategy.
your product or service?  We will negotiate with our buyers for a guaranteed
floor price that will cover all costs and a mark-up of
at least 15%.

2. How does the pricing of your Since we will use cost plus-pricing strategy, the price
product or service compare of our products is lower than the prevailing market
to the market price of similar price.
products or services?
 Work together to answer the guide questions
A. Competitor’s Prices: ________________________________________

COMPETITOR 1 COMPETITOR 2 COMPETITOR 3

PRODUCT
_______________ __________________ _______________
Product 1

Product 2

Product 2

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COMPONENT 1:
MARKETING PLAN
B. Pricing Strategy: _________________________________
Guide Question
1. How will you set the price
of your product or service?

2. How does the pricing of

your product or service
compare to the market
price of similar products or
services?

Remember! Setting high price means fewer customers will purchase your products. Nevertheless, the price should be high enough to cover
production and marketing costs and yield the expected profit.
 TOPIC 5: Promotional Strategy
How are you going to market your product/service?

Successful enterprises do not just wait for customers

to come to them. They promote their
products/services. Promotion refers to activities that
help raise the awareness of consumers on product or
service.
There are several ways on how to promote your
products and services. In developing a promotional
strategy, you should consider the following
information:
1. your unique selling proposition that will help your
customers recognize and differentiate your
products from competitors,
2. the form and cost of promotion that will be used,
and
3. your target markets.

How will your target customers know about your

product or service? Below are some examples of
promotional strategies practiced by some
entrepreneurs.

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COMPONENT 1:
MARKETING PLAN
Visit to prospective buyers
personal selling, presenting products to prospective
customer face-to-face

Social Media/Website
creating social media account to where the products will be
featured

Trade Fairs
attending expo or exhibition organized by government or private
companies to showcase the products/service

Paid Advertisements
any paid form of presentation and promotion of products
(e.g. broadcast, print,etc.)
COMPONENT 1:
MARKETING PLAN
Activity 7. Promotional Strategy
The development of a promotion strategy involves thinking about how you can inform
your customers about your products or services and influence them to buy from you.

To facilitate the writing of the market description, answer the guide questions in
Column 1. Sample answers are provided in Column 2 for your reference.
Promotional Strategies: ABC Dairy Cooperative
Guide Question Example: ABC Dairy Cooperative

1. How will you inform  We will meet with our potential customers. We will
your target invite them to visit the farms and processing plant
customers about in order to gain their trust.
your product or  We will attend trade fairs organized by LGU
service?
2. What will be the  Use of our fresh milk will keep you and your
main message(s) that family healthy.
you will  With a membership base of 200 farmers adopting
communicate in your POT, our buyers are assured of a year-round supply
promotional of milk
activities?

Promotional Strategies: _________________

Guide Question Name of your Enterprise:
_________________________
1. How will you inform
your target
customers about
your product or
service?

2. What will be the

main message(s) that
you will
communicate in your
promotional
activities?

TOPIC 6: Place (Distribution Strategy)

How you will get your product/service to your target customers?
COMPONENT 1:
MARKETING PLAN
Place refers to where your business is located. It also refers to ways on how you can
bring your products/service to your target market. Bringing the products from the
point of production to the point of consumption requires a well-planned distribution
system.

In deciding the place of operation, the following information will help to plan the
operation of the business/enterprise:
 location of customers/consumers,
 location of input providers,
 the type of transportation needed to get the product or service to the customer,
and
 the time and costs involved in bringing the product/service to the customer.

Activity 8. Distribution Strategy

In this step, describe how you will make your product or service available to your
target customers by answering the guide questions in Column 1.

Distribution Strategy: ABC Dairy Cooperative

Guide Question Example: ABC Dairy Cooperative
Where do you plan to put-up Since milk and milk derivatives are highly perishable, it has
your business? to be refrigerated or processed immediately after collection.
The stall and processing facility will be placed near carabao
farms and near target market.

How is your product or service
going to get to the customer?
Describe how your produce will
be sold – whether directly to
your target customers, Via
intermediaries, etc.
What is the contractual
relationship between you and
your target customers?
The cooperative will sell directly to the end-consumer. We
will set up a stall to where our customers can buy fresh milk
24/7. We will also offer free delivery services to those who
will order at least 3 liters of milk.
If our customers will demand at least 50L of milk per week,
then the cooperative will sign a non-exclusive marketing
contract with them.

The contracts provide a guaranteed floor price and an

advance payment of 20% to 30% of agreed volume for
delivery. We will deliver the milk every week.
Work together to answer the guide questions.

Distribution Strategy: ____________________________

Guide Question Name of your
Enterprise:______________________________________________________
Where do you plan to put-up your business?
(Specific Place)

How is your product or service going to get

to the customer?
Describe how your produce will be sold –
whether directly to your target customers, Via
intermediaries, etc.

What is the contractual relationship between

you and your target customers?

25
COMPONENT 1:
MARKETING PLAN
Expected Output: Marketing Plan
Format for Marketing Plan
A. Product Description
B. Market Description
C. Target Market
D. Competition
E. Pricing Strategy
F. Promotion Strategy
G. Place of Operation and Distribution Strategy

References
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2011. The Field
Facilitator Guidelines: Preparing the enterprise development plan. Accessed
on 24 April 2020, http://www.fao.org/3/i2395e/i2395e03.pdf

International Labour Organization (ILO). n.d. Start.COOP - MODULE 3 Preparing

the Business Plan. Accessed on August 30, 2020,
https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/cooperatives/publications/WCMS_644708/
lang--en/index.htm#:~:text=In%20Module%203%20you%20will,outline
%20of%20your%20business%20plan

Piadozo, M.E. 1987. Syllabus on Agricultural Marketing. Department of Agricultural

Economics, CEM-UPLB

Youth Enterprise Development Fund. 2016. Enterprise Development Programs Guide.

Accessed on 2 September 2020, http://www.youthfund.go.ke/wp-
content/uploads/2017/02/ENTERPRISE-DEVELOPMENT-
PROGRAMMES-GUIDE.pdf