Contents of marketing plans or structure of marketing plans

1.       Executive summary and table of contents: the marketing plans should open with a brief summary of the plan's main goals. The executive summary permits senior management to grasp the plan's major thrust. A table of contents should follow the executive summary.

2.       Current market situation: this section presents relevant backword data on sales, costs, profits, the market, competitions, distribution, and the maco environment. The data are drawn from a product fact book maintained by the prdocut manager.

3.       Opportunity and issue analysis: after summarizing the current market situation, the prdocut manager proceeds to identify the major opportunities or threats, strength or weaknesses, and issues facing the product line.

4.       Objectives: one the product manager has summerized the issues; he or she must decide on the plans financial and marketing objectives.

5.       Marketing strategies: in developing the strategy, the prdocut manager talks with the purchasing and manufacturing people to confirm that they are able to buy enough material and produce enough units to meet the target sales volume levels. The product manager also needs to talk and to the sales manager to obtain sufficient sales force support and to teh financial officer to obtain sufficient funds for advertising and promotion.

6.       Action programs: the marketing plan must specify the brand marketing programs for achiving the business objectives. Each marketing strategy element must elaborate to answer these sufficient funds for advertising and promotion.

7.       Projected profit and loss statement: action plans allow the product manager to build a supporting budget. On the revenue side, this budget shows the forecasted sales volume in units and the average price. On the expense side, it shows the cost of production, physical distribution, and marketing, broken down into finer categories. The difference between revenues and sales is projected profit. Once approaved, the budget is the basis for developing plans and for material production schedualing employer and marketing operations.

8.       Controls: the best section of the marketing plan outlines the controls for monitoring the plans; typically the goals and budget are specified out of each month of quarter. Senior management can review the results each period. Some control sections include contingency plans. A contingency plan outlines the steps management would take in response to the specific adverse developments, such as price wars or strikes.