Strategic Marketing (MKT646)

Semester October 2021- February 2022

Marketing Plan Project

Work in a group and develop a new marketing plan for one existing product or services
from any LOCAL MUSLIM COMPANY in Malaysia. This project is to help students in
collecting, analyzing, and integrating pertinent information to formulate marketing
strategies and then develop a proper marketing plan that needs to be presented. Below
are the guidelines on the content of a marketing plan:

The table below is an example of a structure of a marketing plan.

I Executive Summary

It is a summary of the plan’s main goals and recommendations. It varies from a

paragraph to several pages. Most importantly, it permits busy higher management
to grasp quickly the plan’s major thrust. The Executive Summary "sells" the
marketing plan to readers through its clarity and brevity. The summary should
present a description of the product/service, its target market, and its need within
the market. The summary should also provide an overview of the main points of
the plan and should emphasize an action orientation. The summary is normally
one of the last parts to be prepared.

II Table of Content

A table of contents should follow the executive summary. It is useful if you are
thinking of applying for loans or other resources to implement your project. The
content is vital because many individuals in the decision committee come from
different backgrounds and each individual may be interested in only a certain area
of o expertise within the plan.

III Introduction

The introduction is the explanation of the details of the project. Unlike the
executive summary, which shows an overview of the project, the introduction gives
the background of the project and describes the product or service. After reading
this part, the examiner or evaluator will understand what the product is and what
you propose to do with it.

IV Situation Analysis using SWOT Analysis Strategic Business Tool

This section presents relevant background data on the market, product,

distribution, macroenvironment and the company itself. Since you are analyzing
the actual environment, you need to prove your claim from facts and not from your
feeling or thinking. Quoting sources of information is critical as proof of claim.
Footnotes or references are needed.

A. Identify Strength and Weaknesses of the company’s situation

Company Situation describes your product experience, know-how, financial,

human and capital resources, suppliers, etc. Here you will be describing the
strengths and weaknesses of your organization. You will then be using the
strengths/weaknesses analysis to define the main issues that the plan must
address. An analysis to identify internal strengths and weaknesses which may
include the following areas in an organization:

Areas Factors to consider

Management Experience level, management style, size
Product offerings Uniqueness, quality, price,
Marketing Type and scope of marketing plan
Personnel Quality and experience of the workforce
Finance Sales revenues
Manufacturing Quality and dependability of suppliers
R&D Plans for product improvement, R&D budget

B. Analyze other environmental factors and identify Opportunities and

Threats related to the product from your analysis.

The Situational Environment

1. Demand and demand trends. (What is the forecast demand for the
product? Is it growing or declining? Who is the decision-maker, the
purchasing agent? How, when, where, what and why do they buy?)
2. Social and cultural factors.
2. Demographics.
3. Economic and business conditions for this product at this time in the
geographical area selected.
4. State of technology for this class of product. Is it a high-tech state of the
art? Are newer products succeeding older ones frequently (very short life
cycle)? In short, how is technology affecting this product or service?
5. Politics. Is politics (current or otherwise) in any way affecting the situation
for marketing this product?
6. Laws and regulations. (What laws or regulations are applicable here?)

The Neutral Environment

1. Financial environs. (How does the availability or non-availability of funds
affect the situation?)
2. Government environs. (Will legislative action or anything else currently
going on in state, federal, or local government be likely to affect the
marketing of this product or service?)
3. Media environs. (What’s happening in the media? Does current publicity
favor or disfavor this project?)
4. Special interest environs. (Aside from direct competitors, are any influential
groups likely to affect your plans?)

Product Situation
Product Situation presents sales, prices, distribution, contribution margins
and net profits for several past years. If you develop a new-to-the-world
product, you do not need to produce past data. However, you should look at
issues like the state of technology for the class of your product, and the
frequency of new products replacing the older ones.

Competitive situation
Competitive Situation presents the major identified competitors and is
described in terms of their size, financial situation, goals, plans, experience,
know-how, human and capital resources, market share, product quality, and
current and future marketing strategies and other characteristics that are
needed to understand their intentions and behaviors. You need to describe and
analyze your competitor's strengths and weaknesses, the marketing channels
 they use, whether or not they enjoy favor with their customers, and anything
else that you feel is relevant to the marketing situation. An effective analysis of
the competition should demonstrate that the company has a realistic
understanding of its major competitors and its marketing strategies. As in with
the industry analysis, a realistic assessment makes readers feel confident that
the marketing actions in the plan are well-grounded.

V Problems and Opportunities

State or restate each opportunity and indicate why it is an opportunity. State or

restate every problem and indicate what you intend to do about each problem.
An analysis to identify external opportunities and threats usually includes the
following factors:

Areas Factors to consider

Consumer/Social Size and stability of the market
Competitive Number and size of competitors
Technological The effect of technology on any facet of the business
Economic Current and projected economic situation of the market
Legal/Regulatory The effect of legal and regulatory factors on the business

VI Goal Setting

Goals are quantified. Goal setting involves setting measurable marketing

objectives to be achieved for a specific market, a specific product or brand, or an
entire marketing program. The product Manager must decide on the plan’s
objectives that are the financial objectives and marketing objectives.

eg. Financial Objectives

Earn an annual rate of return on investment over the next five years of 15% after
taxes.
Produce a net profit of RM 200,000 in 2001.
Produce a cash flow of RM 300,000 in 2001.

eg. Marketing Objectives

Expand brand and flavors to cater the needs for 10 new town markets in the next
two years.
Expand the number of dealers in order to go into the new town markets within 2
years.

All these objectives will provide a solid foundation to use in the marketing
strategies, action programs, and financial requirements.

VII Marketing Strategy

Marketing Strategy presents a list of the target market, positioning, product lines,
price, distribution outlets, salesforce, service, advertising, sales promotion, and
research and development and marketing research. Detailed analysis of the market
size and the profile of your target market must be generated before you can set
your strategies.
Finding a focus on what product offerings will be directed toward which customers
are essential for developing an effective marketing program.

Because an organization cannot satisfy the needs of all consumers, it must

concentrate its marketing efforts on the needs of specific niches or target markets.
In describing the target markets, consider why a particular target market was
selected and how the product or service meets the needs of the target market.

Describe exactly who are your customers and what, where, when, why, how, how
much and how frequently they buy. You should define your market in terms of
demographics, geographic, and lifestyle. The main important thing to remember is
to gear your resources and strength to your most likely customers. You need to
indicate the reason for selecting a particular target market and the size of the
market.

Once you have decided on a specific target market, you need to find the points of
difference that will make the product superior to its competitive substitutes. From
there, you need to position the product in the consumer's mind.

eg.

Target market:
The product will be targeted at one-to-three-person households with an annual
income of more than RM 60,000 in which both adults are likely to work outside the
home - adventurous consumers wanting premium quality products.
Upscale households, with particular emphasis on female buyers.

Differentiation:
The product differentiation attributes are its unique spicy taste, quality,
convenience, and range of flavors, and premium packaging.

Positioning:
The product will be positioned in consumers' minds as "very high-quality,
authentic Asian spicy flavors that can be prepared easily and quickly."
The best-sounding and most reliable shelf stereo system

Marketing mix strategies:

Once positioning has been decided, you will need to prepare the marketing mix
strategies. The strategy section provides a statement showing how the business
will achieve its objectives. The statement indicates areas the firm will emphasize in
its drive for success. Effective strategies tell management what paths to follow for
key marketing mix variables. For example, a sustainable competitive advantage
can be developed through brand identification, niche marketing, or low costs.
Brand strength and product differentiation can be improved through the use of
new advertising themes, increased ad expenditure, and special promotional events.
Businesses that need to improve profitability could pursue a strategy of raising
prices.

Strategies Among elements to include

Product Features, brand name, packaging, service, warranty
Price Initial price, discounts, allowances, credit terms
Promotion Advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, publicity
Place Outlets, channels, coverage, transportation
 eg. Product line:
Add one lower-priced model and two higher-priced models.
Price: Price somewhat above competitive brands.
Distribution outlets: Heavy in radio and TV stores and electronic appliance stores;
increased efforts to penetrate discount stores.
Sales force: Expand by 10% and introduce a national-account management system
Service: Quick and widely available service
Sales promotion: Develop an advertising campaign that supports the positioning
strategy; emphasize higher-price units in the ads

VIII Action Programs

The next step is to translate broad strategy statements into specific actions and
tactics. Each marketing strategy element must now be elaborated to answer what
will be done, when, who will do it, how much will it cost. You need to set up a
schedule to show the starting and completion date of all activities and assign
responsible individuals to ensure the project is completed on time. Please design
action programs on a monthly basis for a year period and followed up by a yearly
action program for the next two years. (in total you should be looking at 3 years
action program)

e.g. Action Programs

February: Advertise in a major newspaper on introduction of the product. Suraya,
the promotion manager will handle the project at a budget of RM 100,000.
March: Roadshow at primary schools in the major city center to promote products
by giving free samples and demonstration of product usage. Lee, a senior sales
manager will organize the whole operation, which is expected to cost RM 232,000.

IX Anticipated results

Once the specific tactics have been selected, managers are in position to forecast
the results of the new marketing plan. These are usually presented in the form of
break-even chart, projected profit and loss statements, and cash flow budgets.
While a complete business plan often includes extensive financial analysis, such
as a complete cost breakdown and estimated return on investment, marketing
planners frequently do not have complete accounting data for computing these
figures. For example, decisions concerning how much overhead is to be
apportioned to the product are not usually made solely by marketing personnel.
However, the marketing plan should at least contain a sales forecast and estimates
of relevant marketing costs.

A basic approach to sales forecasting is shown in the table below:

 Compute sales projections on a monthly basis for the first year and a yearly
projection for the next two years.

You need to build a supporting budget for the marketing plan. The budget should
be on a yearly basis for a three-year basis. On the revenue side, it shows the sales
forecast. On the expense side, it shows the cost of production, physical
distribution, and marketing costs. The marketing costs such things as advertising,
sales-force training, and compensation, channel development, and package design.
Try and get the actual prices of costs involved. These figures may come from
experts in the area or industry standards.
e.g.
The price of advertising on television during prime time?
Once approved, the budget is the basis for developing plans and schedules for
material procurement, production scheduling, employee recruitment, and
marketing operation.

X Implementation and Control

This section outlines the control for monitoring the plan’s progress. This process
tries to get the marketing program to move in the direction set for it. Here, you
need to develop a control mechanism for the implementation of the marketing
program. Typically the goals and the budget are spelled out for each month or
quarter. Senior management reviews the results each period. At this stage, results
are compared to goals. Positive deviation could be exploited while negative
exploitation should be corrected.

Among the questions to consider at this stage:

Who is responsible for controlling the marketing plan?
How will the success or failure of the plan be determined?
How long will it take to get the desired results from the plan?
How frequently will the progress of the plan be monitored?

Some control sections include a contingency plan in case the programs or

strategies do not achieve the objectives or goals. Inflation, fires, price-cutting often
 interferes with the best market plans. Ask a series of “what if” questions about
possible events in the marketplace and answers them.

XI Summary

Summarize advantages, costs, and profit, and clearly state the differential
advantage that your plan for this product offers over the competition and why the
plan will succeed.

XII Appendices

Include all supporting information that you consider.

Prepared by:
Dr Wan Marhaini Wan Omar