How to Write a Marketing Plan

The Marketing Plan is a highly detailed, heavily researched and, hopefully, well written report that many inside and possibly outside the organization will evaluate. It is an essential document for both large corporate marketing departments and for startup companies. Essentially the Marketing Plan:

forces the marketing personnel to look internally in order to fully understand the results of past marketing decisions.
forces the marketing personnel to look externally in order to fully understand the market in which they operate.
sets future goals and provides direction for future marketing efforts that everyone within the organization should understand and support.
is a key component in obtaining funding to pursue new initiatives.

The Marketing Plan is generally undertaken for one of the following reasons:

Needed as part of the yearly planning process within the marketing functional area.
Needed for a specialized strategy to introduce something new, such as new product planning, entering new markets, or trying a new strategy to fix an existing problem.
Is a component within an overall business plan, such as a new business proposal to the financial community.

There are many ways to develop and format a marketing plan. The approach taken here is to present a 6-Part plan that includes:

Purpose and Mission
Situational Analysis
Marketing Strategy and Objectives
Tactical Programs
Budgets, Performance Analysis and Implementation
Additional Consideration

How to Write a Marketing Plan This plan is aimed at individual products and product lines, however, it can be adapted fairly easily for use in planning one or more strategic business units (SBU). The page length suggested for each section represents a single-spaced typed format for a plan focused on a single product. Obviously for multi-product plans lengths will be somewhat longer.

It is assumed that anyone developing a Marketing Plan possesses a working understanding of marketing principles. If you do not, it is suggested you spend considerable time learning about basic marketing through the previous sections of the Principles of Marketing Tutorials.

Note, throughout the plan the word "product" is used. However, the information presented in the Marketing Plan tutorials applies to both products and services.

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39 Comments

Arturo Munoz makes this comment

March 17, 2010

What I enjoyed about this article is its simplicity without sacrificing thoroughness. Marketing plans are crucial for developing more than strategy for campaigning, however. They can include strategy for developing other tools for marketing success, such as the use of a marketing database.
Lusindiso makes this comment

March 16, 2010

I thank you guys for doing this, it is helpful.
Pea makes this comment

March 10, 2010

Thank you very much for this, very helpful.
Siraj makes this comment

February 23, 2010

Really - this had helped me a lot to understand in-depth. Many Thanks.
sandile makes this comment

February 16, 2010

Thank you very much, this site is very helpful. I have gotten a lot of information and it is going to help me to my assignment on doing a market research plan.
Kasadha Micheal makes this comment

February 15, 2010

I have learned a lot out of this study concerning marketing, thanks for such a wonderful effort.
Lilit makes this comment

February 09, 2010

Useful article. Thanks!!!!
Faris makes this comment

February 08, 2010

Excellent, no other words can describe this.
Lionel makes this comment

February 04, 2010

That's great research, it may be some useful information for me.
Yun Gao makes this comment

February 01, 2010

This has helped me a lot to know more about the Marketing plan.
jide makes this comment

January 31, 2010

excellent
sudhanshu makes this comment

January 21, 2010

i found it very useful...
Lol makes this comment

January 16, 2010

not bad
qeramixhi makes this comment

January 07, 2010

Excellent idea to create a business plan,Congratulation!
marcus makes this comment

December 03, 2009

thanks for the business tips above on how to write a marketing plan. I was a novice in this aspect but now i can write a creative marketing plan.
ariel makes this comment

December 01, 2009

Truly helpful! Thanks a lot!
... makes this comment

November 29, 2009

Excellent tutorial on writing a marketing plan. Many thanks for this very useful guide!!
anonymous makes this comment

November 27, 2009

Teacher recommended this site. Wonderful and helpful. Thank you.
sepehr makes this comment

November 20, 2009

good work
.... makes this comment

November 17, 2009

Thank You very much, for this marketing plan information
Tomiris makes this comment

November 11, 2009

Thank u for detailed Marketing Plan. You helped me a lot! It is very clear and guides are understandable. Thank u!!!
Nguyễn trường tùng makes this comment

October 28, 2009

good work
Kamariah L. Maat makes this comment

October 25, 2009

Thank you very much. Am learning and hope to write marketing plan in proper way.
NRESH makes this comment

October 12, 2009

Good details, it helped me with my project report.
albino makes this comment

October 02, 2009

THIS IS AMAZING
saqlain makes this comment

September 29, 2009

I appreciate your ideas which is very helpful for all who want to establish business plan first time. thanks a lot.
JMO makes this comment

September 23, 2009

Thank you so much for the information its has really helped me.
tine f makes this comment

September 23, 2009

Thank you so much for this! It would surely help me to create a marketing plan! Thanks!!
henry c makes this comment

September 19, 2009

I sincerely appreciate the effort of the site owner(s). What I have gathered will assist me in developing a perfect marketing plan.
Paul Christ - KnowThis.com makes this comment

September 16, 2009

Edwin: Yes doing this right will take some time and probably money. You might want to look at the Marketing Research tutorials for some ideas. Also, if you have funds you may be able to get a freelancer to help you find the information. If this interests you try eLance. Paul
edwin makes this comment

September 15, 2009

I learn a lot from your tutorial and actually developing a simplified version of my own marketing plan. However, the research portion is very complex, I need to spend huge effort to dig into the market related information. Thanks
NNEKA makes this comment

September 14, 2009

I appreciate the efforts of those who engineered this site. I am a young marketer in a designing and printing company and I'd want to do my best to achieve the objectives of the company. I hope I can find the best strategies here.
moe nawn san makes this comment

September 10, 2009

Thank so much for the marketing information!
karuna makes this comment

September 04, 2009

Nice one!! It is very helpful.
K makes this comment

August 30, 2009

Thanks so much for this site! We're a small start up, and are looking to become more focused and serious about our marketing tactics. This is an awesome starting point. Thanks again!
Tim makes this comment

August 25, 2009

Wow - this is a superb resource and has obviously taken a long time to put together. Small businesses and entrepreneurs can learn a lot here. We'll be recommending these pages to everyone!
Dena Crain makes this comment

August 15, 2009

A reasonable introduction for a lay reader. I have a small business and have been marketing intuitively. I believe it is time now to be more logical in my approach and I think your tutorials will help me. Thank you!
tonia orubo makes this comment

August 11, 2009

nice work
DOMINIC MBUGUA makes this comment

July 26, 2009

Good effort there!!