Question

Marketing plans describe the current situation for the product, service, or brand, and the plan for the future. What are the objectives of the marketing plan? In other words, why is one needed? What are the possible outcomes if marketers do not have a marketing plan? Provide specific examples to support your ideas. In replies to peers, discuss whether you agree or disagree with their position and justify your reply with specific reasons, facts, and examples.

Answer 1

A marketing plan can be defined as the interpretation of the marketing or advertising strategies of a company for the future. The objectives of the marketing plan include anticipating future uncertainties and facilitate coordination.

A marketing plan is very important for a business because it helps the business owner to generate better sales and reduce marketing costs. The outcomes or the results when a marketer fails to prepare a marketing plan are budgeting problems and lack of customers.

Through a proper marketing plan, Samsung expanded its marketing distribution and attracted many customers by placing advertisements and commercials. Samsung has the strongest position among its rivals in the market.

A marketing plan can be defined as the interpretation of the marketing or advertising strategies of a company for the future. It involves the analysis of market conditions, the position of the company, the target audience, and the information of the marketing mix. The main motive of a marketing plan is to use the resources in the best possible way in order to reach the marketing goals of a company.

Following are the objectives of a marketing plan:

1. Anticipating future uncertainties - The primary objective in a marketing plan is to connect or reach the gap between the future and present positioning of the company. It helps to predict the possible risks of the company so that the chances of loss are minimized or reduced in the future.

2. Facilitate coordination - For a successful business, effective coordination is very important for a company. It facilitates harmony and collaboration among different departments of the organization. Hence, coordination helps to enhance and improve efficiency and the quality of work in the organization.

A marketing plan is very important for a business because it helps the business owner to generate better sales and reduce marketing costs. The company for a favourable and profitable business requires a proper marketing plan in order to gain share in the market and enhance public awareness regarding their products and services.

Following are the outcomes or the results when a marketer fails to prepare a marketing plan:

Budgeting problems - The marketing budget is very important in a marketing plan. It helps the marketer to analyze or determine the amount of money that should be spent on various marketing actions. For example, If a marketer without a specific goal in his mind, advertises and prints promotional stuff, it may result in overspending and poor budgeting.

Lack of customers - One of the major consequences of not having a marketing plan is the lack of customers. Without a marketing plan, it is very difficult for a business to attract more customers. For example, when a customer is not aware of the business of a company, he/she will not favour that company in the future which may result in the decline of the business.

For instance, the company Samsung mainly focuses on its smartphones. The marketing of this company is hugely reliant on this product. Through a proper marketing plan, Samsung expanded its marketing distribution and attracted many customers by placing advertisements and commercials. This helped the company to increase its sales and enhance their brand image. The major peers or rivals of the Samsung company are Apple and Huawei. Samsung has the strongest position among its rivals in the market. As per example, Apple had a sales record of 48,085.5 units, Huawei had sales of 25085.8 units whereas Samsung made a sales record of 72, 072.5 units in the same year. The market share of Samsung was even higher than the market share of Apple and Huawei.