The marketing plan serves as an implementation tool in corporate practice and essentially contains all of the company's marketing activities for the planning period taken into account. A marketing plan can be created as part of product management , brand management or for an entire company. As a rule, it covers a planning horizon of one to three years and is regularly part of the company's business planning.

The creation of the marketing plan is based on the strategic analysis and the overall strategic concept of the company and leads to a characterization of the marketing instruments to be used. Specifically, the marketing plan can be defined as follows:

A marketing plan always has a specific reason and a time frame, includes a communication concept, statements about a product or service, and takes a position on sales activities and pricing strategies. It encompasses more than a sales concept or market concept and can be part of a business plan.

The importance of a structured approach has already been proven numerous times. Studies often come to the conclusion that companies that approach their marketing tasks systematically and in a structured manner tend to appear much more professional in the market. However, a systematic marketing concept is only a starting point for a successful implementation. This means that a good marketing concept cannot be successful without a good implementation strategy.

1. Marketing plan - that's why every import-export company needs one!

A marketing plan is a document for a structured procedure to identify markets and market needs for a service to be offered and then to meet them better than the competition. The marketing plan itself is intended to perform some specific functions:

• The risk of wrong decisions should be reduced.
• General risks should be identified and reduced.
• Possible future options for action should be identified.
• The complexity is determined by the definition of possible courses of action
• reduced.
• Synergy effects between individual actions should be promoted.

 There are also requirements for the marketing plan itself. 

Simplicity: The marketing plan must be easy to understand.

Robustness: The plausibility of the results must be guaranteed; the marketing plan must not propose any manifestly bad or wrong solutions.

Verifiability: The results must be easily verifiable so that the recommendations can be traced.

Adaptability: The marketing plan must be able to adapt to new information, new thought patterns and individual user requirements without great difficulty.

Completeness: All relevant aspects of a problem to be solved or a real process must be included in the marketing plan.

Communication skills: The user must be able to communicate quickly and directly with the marketing plan.

The benefits of the written marketing plan

A written marketing plan has several key benefits for a company:

It serves to determine the market-oriented course and represents a master plan for the entire company. In addition, it leads to more transparency in the marketing process and helps to communicate the entrepreneurial vision. Furthermore, a marketing concept prevents blind pragmatic actionism or at least curbs it. In addition, the company's marketing activities can be structured as part of a marketing plan.

The business plan and the communication concept must be distinguished from the marketing plan.

A business plan is usually more comprehensive and focuses on the presentation of the actual business model. Planning calculations and business considerations dominate the content. A communication concept focuses on the presentation of the media strategy and can be part of a marketing plan

Contents of a marketing plan

A structured marketing plan comprises the following sub-areas:

• Company characteristics
• Structure and development of the market
• Perspectives of the relevant environmental areas
• Situation and position of the company
• Target program of the company
• Strategy profile
• Marketing mix
• Planning calculation and planning overviews

 

The situation and position of the company represents the current situation and position of the company in the competitive environment. In detail:

• Market position analysis
• Business program analysis
• Market psychological analyzes
• Target strategy analyzes
• Strengths and weaknesses of the company
• Current status quo of marketing concepts

The company's target program represents the corporate goals as well as the relevant area, marketing and sales goals. Furthermore, it deals with the marketing policy goals and the restrictions on implementation (limiting factors).

The strategy profile includes the presentation of the strategy mix that the company has developed as part of business development and that it would like to implement in the future. It is important to determine a basic strategic concept and a strategy profile. In addition, competitive strategic action patterns must be described and the actual and target portfolios must be formulated. Typical instruments that are used here to arrive at a strategy profile are: SWOT analysis and portfolio analysis .

The marketing mix deals with the implementation of the marketing tools.

he following aspects must be covered:

• Formulation of the performance policy
• Definition of distribution policy instruments
• Formulation of the communication approach
• Determination of the pricing strategy and the specific prices
• Presentation of the marketing processes
• Fixing of guidelines for resource allocation
• Formulation of the priorities and activity levels of the marketing mix

The planning calculation and planning overviews contain sales planning,

Contribution margin planning as well as product group planning resulting from the marketing activities.

Brand management

In theory, trademarks are protectable signs used to distinguish products. In practice, brands are among your company's most valuable assets. In particular, a brand is a monetary asset when consumers are willing to pay more for a labeled product than for a no-name product simply because of its existence. Strong branded products are generally viewed as innovative, high-quality products that are uniquely positioned in the consumer's psyche. The added benefits of the brand may be perceived as so strong that they dominate the product experience.

A strong brand generally has the following benefits for the manufacturer:

• Differentiation from the competition
• Formation of preference among customers
• Increasing customer loyalty
• Increasing the scope for pricing policy
• Promotion of innovation or minimization of innovation risks
• Improvement of the corporate image
• Increasing the value of the company
• Strengthening negotiating power vis-à-vis retailers and lenders

On the other hand, brands also offer a number of advantages for consumers:

• Orientation in our stimulus-flooded world
• Relief in decision-making
• Quality assurance through the "proven" name
• Identification with the brand
• Satisfaction of prestige needs
• Trust in the product or service

The advantages mentioned are reason enough to deal intensively with the topic of brand management and to take care of the development and maintenance of one's own brands.

The core elements of brand management are brand identity and brand image. Brand identity represents the self-image of the brand on the part of the company, characterized for example by goals, visions and values. Brand image, on the other hand, describes the brand expectations and the brand experience of the target group.

The Barai Overseas supports you in the context of strategic brand consulting and follows a six-phase approach in the implementation of the overall consulting. This defines brand positioning as a systematic and structured sequence of logically arranged project steps.

Brand positioning is a key success factor in marketing. If you succeed in permanently linking the brand with the desired attitudes and expectations, you will increase the brand value and thus the value of your company in the long term. We provide you with our know-how from numerous brand consultancies in order to develop a distinctive and individual brand positioning together with you.

The model that has proven itself in the past is a closed control loop. Barai Overseas sees itself as a key service provider in the following phases: analysis, vision and strategy. Optionally, support is also available in the further phases. The possible topics in the individual phases are very diverse and are briefly describe

A thorough brand analysis precedes a successful brand. How is the brand perceived by customers (brand image)? What positioning is the brand aiming for? How satisfied are the consumers with the services? Which target groups does the brand address? These questions form the basis for the further phases and should be examined as part of a previous market research.

The vision phase serves to focus on the previously gained knowledge and the resulting consequences. The comparison of self-image and the perception of others may lead to the development of a new brand philosophy. At the end of the phase, the result is the determination of the (new) core values ??of the product brand under consideration or the determination of a (new) brand identity. This phase is of essential importance, as this project step creates a clear picture of the desired perception by the customer. In the next step, this supports the development of a communication strategy that is designed on the basis of the identity components (services, values, ...) and the expectations of the (potential) customers.

Is your brand based on a clear branding strategy?

You can only achieve your brand goals if you have a clear concept and a well-formulated strategy. We support you in the development of your brand strategy and the creation of your brand concept. The marketing concept will be your guide for all your marketing activities. Guidelines and key figures must be established for successful and efficient implementation. The following questions need to be clarified: Which instruments of the marketing mix should be used and which communication strategies and instruments lead to a coherent overall concept? Aspects such as the creative realization of a new corporate identity and the creation of internal and external commitment must also be clarified.

 

The image of a brand is the subjective, i.e. personal perception of the brand from the consumer's point of view. It is therefore important to find out how individual variables, e.g. B brand awareness, brand sympathy or trust in the brand are perceived by (potential) customers. Brands can get into turmoil at any time due to events, e.g. B. when a new product is launched, scandals are uncovered in the management department or the start of a new strategic PR campaign goes wrong. Comprehensive analysis and measurement methods are used by the Barai Overseas for Marketing in order to provide decision-makers with high-quality, relevant data in an understandable manner. From the company's point of view, brand loyalty is an indispensable indicator of what future buying behavior will look like:The stronger the relationship between consumer and brand, the greater the likelihood of repeat purchases.

We are offering a Personal Coaching Program for less than $50 per year. I will be there to guide you through the whole process of setting up an import export business from your country. If you are serious about A-to-Z Practical Consultation of Exim, then this is the program for you. Our expertise will help you in your journey to becoming a successful businessman.

Join our personal coaching program and get access to www.exportimport.guru with our Personalized Whatsapp Support for your Startup. Kindly Whatsapp us on +91 8128111191 or email barai@exportbooster.in for all help

Cordially Yours,
Kishan Barai
www.baraioverseas.com