Question

Q6. Marketing planning is central to marketing management of any organization. Evergreen Group is a large multinational firm dealing in Logistics, Multimedia, Airline and Retail. You are a team leader for developing an annual marketing plan for an SBU in Evergreen Group Ltd. Critically brief your members on any five (5) significant contributions that successful development and implementation of the marketing plan could add to customer satisfaction and corporate success.

(Please the Expert needs to submit a detailed answer which must be a standout in a very competitive MBA Marketing Class).

Answer 1

Marketing Planning is the backbone of any organization as it decides the future of the products that are sold by any company. A carefully devised marketing strategy can lead to effective selling of its products in the market otherwise the product will totally collapse in the market if it is not properly marketed. The following points for successful development and implementation of marketing plan which can lead to maximum customer satisfaction and corporate success are discussed below:

1. For devising and preparing a proper marketing plan for any company, the first step should be carrying out market research. Whenever a marketing plan is to be formulated for a new product, the company should observe the market status of that product offered by other rivals and how successful it is, in the current market. The marketing team should see what profits the said product is making in the market currently and what are the future prospects of this product. It will be effective to observe the customer mood in the market, what are their requirements and needs, what problems they are facing while using the product, what modifications they need in the current product.
2. The marketing strategy should identify the customer base and which customers are to be targeted. Different strategies can be formulated for targeting different age groups of customers. Also according to products, the customers can be segmented so that particular group can be targeted effectively.
3. After study of the market and customers, there is need to devise an effective marketing strategy. Marketing strategy should take into consideration all the aspects of the products or services and it should properly be communicated to the employees to the organization. Marketing strategy is subject to failure if the employees are not properly trained about it and the aims and objectives are not known to them. Effective available methods should be used by the marketing teams like print media, television, internet, preparing presentations and delivering them at some organized events in malls, trade fairs and public places.
4. The pricing of any product also depends on the cost incurred on the advertisement and launching of the product. So, it is the job of the marketing team that the cost required for marketing planning and advertisement is not over and above the desired limit as it will effect the final price of the product. If the input cost of the product is high, desired results cannot be expected from the market as the customers may look for other options already available in the market. Hence, marketing team should always keep in mind the input cost and make sure that it does not increase during formulation of marketing plan.
5. Once the product is launched using the current marketing strategy, proper review and market monitoring mechanism should be put in place to observe the market position of the product and the share it is fetching in the market, as compared to the products of the same category offered by the rivals. It will help the team to do adjustments or modifications in their ongoing strategy, if needed and train their marketing executives accordingly. If any business desires to achieve the success, it should look for maximum customer satisfaction and an effective customer grievance redressal system should be put in place to address the concerns of the customers. The ultimate road to success of any organization is attaining maximum level of customer satisfaction and taking care of customer needs and requirements.