Question

1. Compare and contrast the first element between a business plan and a marketing plan. There are chapters in the textbook covering these topics.
2. Compare and contrast the second element between a business plan and a marketing plan.

Answer 1

A Business Plan is a written document describing the nature of the business, the sales and marketing strategy, and the financial background, and containing a projected profit and loss statement. A business plan is also a road map that provides directions so a business can plan its future and helps it avoid bumps in the road.

A marketing plan is an operational document that outlines an advertising strategy that an organisation will implement to generate leads and reach its target market. A marketing plan details the outreach and PR campaigns to be undertaken over a period, including the company,s criteria in assessing the effectiveness of these initiatives.

A business plan includes the sales and marketing strategies of the business and therefore marketing plan is inevitable component of a business plan.

The essential elements of a business plan are:

• Executive Summary: This section outlines the points in the plan and describes how the business will present its offering to the public.
• Company description: This section describes the clients the company wants to work with, the advantages you have in the market and the void that your business intends to fill.
• Market analysis: This section describes how large your market is , how your prices are structured, and how you will remain competitive in your industry.
• Organisation and Management: The focus is on the structure of your business. It mentions the owner(s) of the company, the delegation of responsibilities aamong key persons, the promotion and incentive structure, and the key stakeholders and shareholders of the business.
• Goods and Services: The section gives a detailed description of your company,s offerings. It also emphasises on how your products differ from your competitor's and the benefits your products offers to your customers.
• Marketing: The company's growth strategy is described here.Its the marketing plan that is being ellaborated in this section.
• Financial projections: Financial goals of your business is expressed here. It outlines how the marketing and sales ultimately equate to a profit.

The key elements of an effective  marketing plan includes:

• Strategic Analysis: It includes the market analysis, customer analysis, competitor analysis and the competitive advantages of the business.
• Setting Goals: The goals that the company wish to achieve are described here. It includes the financial goals like sales growth, market share etc and the goals relating to your market and customers like customer satisfaction, capacity for innovation, employee engagement and satisfaction etc respectively.
• Choosing a strategy: It describes the way the company will achieve the alredy set goals and objectives to develop a competitive advantage. Porter's competitive matrix defines three basic strategies which are differenciation, cost leadership and specialisation.
• Strategy implementation or the marketing mix: The marketing mix includes product policy, pricing policy, distribution policy and communications policy. The previously detrmined marketing budget is split up between these instruments. The goal is to achieve the strategy as efficiently and successfully as possible.
• Performance Review: The review checks the extent to which the markrting instruments are helping the goals set.It checks vital areas including implementation shortcomings,team,s performance and corrective measures are taken or marketing mix adjusted accordingly.

Comparison and contrast between first two elements of business plan and marketing plan:

The first and most important part of business plan is the executive summary.It lets potential investors know whether the project looks viable or not.The executive summmary should include:

• Mission statement : A brief statement of the business and its objectives.
• Company information: Introduction of the founders with their biography.
• Growth projections: Outlines and quantifies the earning potentials of the business.
• Products or services: Description of the products or services offered by the business.
• Financial Information: Outlines the current capital for the company, including any current investors.

The first element of an effective marketing plan is Strategic Analysis.

At the core of the strategic analysis is the existing scenario in which the company, product or service is operating. Key issues that must be dealt with comprehensively are:

• Market analysis: What is the market potential of the product or service?
• Customer analysis: What is the target groups for the business, and what is their buying behavior?
• Competitor analysis: What competitors are operating on the market and how do they operate?
• Competitive advantages: What makes the company's offer stand out from others? What is your unique selling point/unique value proposition?

COMPARISON OF FIRST ELEMENTS OF A BUSINESS PLAN AND MARKETING PLAN

	BUSINESS PLAN	MARKETING PLAN
First element	Executive Summary	Strategic Analysis
Features	Projects an overall summary of the business plan.It covers all the vital information of the busiiness that the clients or investors intends to evaluate.	It analyses the operational efficiency of the products and services in the market.It deals with study of the market requirements in the context of product viability and growth as well as customer satisfaction.
Components	Mission statement, Company information, Growth projections, products or services and financial information.	Market analysis, Customer analysis, Competitor analysis, and competitive advantages.
Status	Vital and external .Mostly prepared for the interest of shareholders and investors	Vital and internal.Mostly prepared for in house team analysis and review.Sometimes the summary statements are used by external clients for their analysis and valuations.
Measurability	Both easily measurable factors like projected sales growth and and that are difficult to measure like company's goodwill are included.	Most analysis are statistical and measurable like sales quantity, customer population, employee targets etc. Some factors which are difficult to measure are included like customer satisfaction.

SECOND ELEMENT:

The second element of a business plan is Company description.

The company description outlines vital details about your company, such as where you are located, how large the company is, what the company does, and what you hope to accomplish.This part should include:

• Company name: As registered in the state where you do the business.
• Type of business structure: Sole proprietorship, limited liabilities company, partnership or corporation.
• Ownership/management team: Names of key people behind the company.
• Location: Headquarters of the company and other outlets.
• Company history: When was the company started, what inspired you to start the company, and what need does your company fulfill.
• Mission and Vision statements
• Objectives: Immediate objectives you want to accomplish based on the data in the rest of the business plan.

The second element of an effective Marketing plan is Setting Goals.

This includes both financial and marketing goals.Goals setting depends on the following:

• Market research: A thorough on and off site research must be done to understand key features like consumer buying habits in the industry, market size, market growth or decline and any current trends.
• Positioning: The difference in how the target market sees you is your positioning. Compelling branding and marketing messages should be developed that clearly communicates how you want to be perceived.
• Budget: A monthly schedule of what you plan to spend on marketing should be prepared.A metric must be established that tells you to stop if the strategy is not yielding sufficient ROI.

	BUSINESS PLAN	MARKETING PLAN
Second element	Company description	Goals setting
Features	Additional features of the company which are not included in the executive summary are ellaborated.	After the strategic analysis is done, a practical target setting is done for both financial and marketing decisions and strategies.
Components	Name, Business structure, Ownership details, Location details and Immediate objectives.	market research, Positioning, targeting, Budgeting and Metrics inclusion and projection.
Users	External includingb clients and shareholders	internal : For inhouse targeting . Projections used by external users.