| As Branding and marketing professionals, we have | | | | It helps staff understand goals and become |
| an in-depth understanding of the importance of a | | | | customer-focused. It also empowers them to |
| marketing plan. However, not everyone | | | | make decisions on their own that are consistent |
| recognizes the benefits of investing in a strategic | | | | with the company's objectives.Tracks Costs / |
| marketing plan prior to launching strategies and | | | | Measures Value: A marketing plan provides a |
| tactics that seem intuitive at the time. The | | | | step-by-step guide to what you are spending |
| following few paragraphs attempt to impart our | | | | money on and when. It enables you to budget |
| understanding of a well-written plan's importance | | | | marketing expenses--helping you keep control of |
| by first defining some of key elements of the | | | | your expenditures, manage your cash flow, track |
| role of marketing in most organizations.Defines | | | | sales to marketing expense ratio, and measure |
| Focus: Your strategic marketing plan gives the | | | | success of your marketing efforts. It also ensures |
| company, and everyone in it, a benchmark to | | | | that product development dollars are not |
| measure all marketing activities against. A | | | | wasted.Charts Success: A marketing plan helps |
| well-developed strategic marketing plan not only | | | | you chart your destination point. It becomes a |
| gives you a structured strategic and tactical | | | | guide through unfamiliar territory.Captures Thinking |
| outline, but also defines your target audience, | | | | on Paper: The finance department isn't allowed to |
| messages, goals, and objectives, in a way that | | | | run a company by keeping numbers in their heads. |
| allows flexibility. A structured plan provides a | | | | It should be no different with marketing. Your |
| benchmark to measure all marketing activities and | | | | written document lays out your game plan. If |
| ensure that the investment they require meet | | | | people leave, if new people arrive, if memories |
| the needs and goals of the marketing plan - | | | | falter, the information in the written marketing |
| preventing you from spending on wasted efforts. | | | | plan stays intact. |