A. Planning is the process of anticipating the future and determining the courses of action necessary to achieve

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1 Marketing Planning and Forecasting I. What Is Marketing Planning? A. Planning is the process of anticipating the future and determining the courses of action necessary to achieve organizational objectives. B. Marketing planning is the implementation of planning activities as they relate to the achievement of marketing objectives and is the basis for all marketing strategies. C. marketing is an organization s attempt to develop long-term, cost-effective links with individual customers for mutual benefit. D. the process of determining the organization s primary objectives and then adopting courses of action. E. deals with the implementation of activities specified in the strategic plan. F. Planning occurs at different organizational levels: 1. management is more concerned with strategic planning, usually long range. 2. management and supervisory management more often deal with tactical planning, usually focusing on narrower, shorter term plans. II. Steps in the Marketing Planning Process A. Defining the mission. B. Determining organizational. C. Assessing organizational resources and evaluating and. 1. Organizational resources include,,,, and employee capabilities. 2. Environmental dimensions that influence risk and opportunity are, -,, l, and social-cultural. 3. SWOT (,,, and ) analysis is an important strategic planning tool.

2 a. Matching of internal strength with produces a situation known as leverage. b. A problem exists when environmental threats attack an organization s weakness. c. Constraints refer to situations where organizations are unable to capitalize on opportunities because of internal limitations. d. An environmental threat to a current organizational strength is termed a vulnerability. 4. A is the limited periods during which the key requirements of a market and the particular competencies of a firm best fit together. D. Formulating a marketing strategy. 1. The net result of opportunity analysis is the formulation of marketing objectives. 2. Marketing planning efforts must be directed toward establishing marketing strategies that are resource,, and. 3. Marketing strategy is the overall company program for selecting a particular target market and then satisfying consumers in that market. E. Implementing marketing plans. 1. The overall strategic marketing plan serves as the basis for a series of operating plans. 2. At every step of the marketing process, marketing managers use feed back to monitor and adapt strategies III. Tools Used in Marketing Planning A. Strategic business units are divisions within companies and are composed of key businesses with specific managers, resources, objectives, and competitors. The SBUs possess: 1. A distinct mission. 2. Their own managers. 3. Identifiable customer segments. 4. Specific competitors. 5. The ability to be planned independently of other units in the firm.

3 B. The market share/market growth matrix is a four-quadrant matrix that plots market share (the percentage of a market controlled by a firm) against market growth potential in the industry. Relative Market Share High Low Growth Rate High Stars Question Marks Low Cash Cows Dogs 1. Cash cows represent products 2. Stars. 3. Dogs. 4. Question marks. C. The market attractiveness/business strength matrix is a portfolio analysis technique that rates SBUs according to market attractiveness and the organization s strengths. D. Evaluating the matrix approach to planning. 1. The market share/market growth matrix indicates that successful SBUs undergo a series of changes as they move through their. 2. The market attractiveness/business strength matrix is a useful diagnostic tool for identifying SBUs with the greatest and least potential. E. Spreadsheet analysis. 1. Spreadsheets are special computer software used in answering " questions. 2. Spreadsheet analysis may be used to anticipate marketing performance, given a specified set of circumstances, such as determining the outcomes of various prices for a new product. IV. Sales Forecasting A. A sales forecast is the estimate of the firm s sales or income for a specified future period. 1. Production scheduling.

4 2. Financial planning. 3. Inventory planning and procurement. 4. Determination of personnel needs. B. forecasting techniques are more subjective because they are based on opinions rather than on exact historical data. 1. The jury of executive opinion combines and averages the outlooks of top company executives. 2. The technique seeks opinions of experts outside the firm. 3. The sales force composite is based on the belief that organizational members closest to the marketplace (sales force) are likely to have better insight concerning short-term future sales than any other group. This is the approach. 4. The survey of buyer intentions uses mail-in questionnaires, telephone polls, or personal interviews to determine the intentions of a representative group of present and potential customers. C. forecasting methods employ statistical computations such as trend extensions based on past data, computer simulations, and econometrics in order to produce numerical forecasts. 1. Market tests help gauge to a new product and permit the evaluation of various prices, promotional strategies, and other marketing mix variations through comparisons of various test markets. 2. Trend analysis involves sales by analyzing the historical relationship between sales and time, based on the assumption that the factors that collectively determined past sales will continue to exert similar influence in the future. D. Steps in sales forecasting. 1. The top-down method of sales forecasting begins with an environmental forecast of general economic conditions. 2. In environmental forecasting, projections are likely to be based on factors such as consumer spending/savings patterns, balance-of-trade surpluses and deficits, government expenditures, and business investments.

5 3. Developing the industry sales forecast involves measuring the relationship between the general economic forecast and other relevant environmental factors. 4. Forecasting company and product sales begins with an analysis of previous years and a review of past and present market shares. 5. Grassroots, or bottom-up, forecasting is an alternative approach to top-down forecasting. 6. sales forecasting is difficult because no historical data are available.