Agency Management Marketing Plan of a Client

4. MARKETING PLAN OF THE CLIENT

WHAT IS MARKETING STRATEGY?
Marketing strategy is the long term plan designed to achieve marketing objectives of the
client’s firm. There is a need to frame proper marketing strategies with respect to product,
pricing, distribution, promotion, branding, packaging, etc. It is thus important for the agency
to properly understand clients marketing strategy & accordingly develop the marketing plan
as the base of the marketing plan is crucial for the firm.
What's the difference between a marketing strategy and a marketing plan?
A marketing plan outlines the specific actions corporate intends to carry out to interest
potential customers and clients in their product and/or service and persuade them to buy the
product and/or services they offer. The marketing plan implements marketing strategy.
Marketing strategy provides the goals for marketing plans.
The marketing strategy is shaped by overall business goals. It includes a definition of
business, a description of products or services, a profile of target users or clients, and defines
company's role in relationship to the competition. The marketing strategy is essentially a
document that managers use to judge the appropriateness and effectiveness of their specific
marketing plans.
MARKETING AUDIT
Definition: A systematic, comprehensive, and periodic review of the entire marketing
activities of an organization.
Purpose: The purpose of the audit is to:
 Determine what is currently being done
 Evaluate what is being done
 Recommend what should be done in the future
DEVELOPING A MARKETING PLAN:
Recieving Marketing Brief

Outlining marketing problem/opportunity

Setting marketing objectives

Selecting target market

Designing marketing strategy

Implementation of marketing plan

Setting evaluation criteria

1. Receiving Marketing Brief:

Understanding the client marketing strategy by getting the detailed information from them is
of prime importance. Marketing brief enhances the agency’s knowledge about client’s
marketing efforts. It comprises the details of clients business that will give inputs for
preparing the marketing plan.

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2. Outlining Marketing Problem/Opportunity:

It consists of the following steps:
a. SWOT Analysis
b. Environment scanning, and
c. Competitive analysis.
a. SWOT analysis: consists of identifying internal strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) in the
internal environment and also examining external opportunities (O) and threats (T); its
components are customers, competitors, channel intermediaries & other demographic,
economic & political factors. Out of all the factors of external environment, the agency
undertakes a detailed study of customers, competitors, channel intermediaries that help to
design the strategy in terms of marketing mix
b. Environmental Scanning: comprises of collection and interpretation of information about
forces, events and relationships in the external environment that may affect the future of the
organization or the marketing plan implementation. Examination of macro environmental
forces:
 Social
 Demographic
 Economic
 Technological
 Political / Legal
 Competitive
Market opportunities are areas where there are favourable demand trends, where the company
believes customer needs and opportunities are not being satisfied, and where it can compete
effectively.
c. Competitive Analysis:
An important aspect of marketing strategy development is the search for a competitive
advantage; something special a firm does or has that gives it an edge over competitors. Ways
to achieve a competitive advantage include having quality products that command a premium
price, providing superior customer service, having the lowest production costs and lower
prices, or dominating channels of distribution. Competitive advantage can also be achieved
through advertising that creates and maintains product differentiation and brand equity.
Competitive advantage can be with reference to cost, product/service differentiation & Niche
Strategies.
3. Setting Marketing Objectives:
Marketing objectives should be the means to achieve sales objectives. By working through
target market data and the market segment data, one should come up with marketing
objectives that address every group.
Marketing objectives should follow the same rules as the sales objectives, and be measurable,
quantifiable (meaning there is a specific number of some sort assigned to each one), and time
specific. An organization should have a marketing objective that addresses each group in a
specific target market. For this reason, we need to have good data about the sizes of market,
potential market, and the current customer base. Additional information such as recognized
opportunities, customers' buying rates, and other behavioural issues shall also be addresses.
This information helps to estimate the numbers needed to attach to the marketing objectives.
4. Selecting the Target Market:
After evaluating the opportunities presented by various market segments, including a detailed
competitive analysis, the company may select one, or more, as a target market. This target

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market becomes the focus of the firm’s marketing efforts, and goals and objectives are set
according to where the company wants to be and what it hopes to accomplish in this market.
There are three steps in before deciding marketing strategy: a) Segmentation b) Targeting,
and c) Positioning
a) Market segmentation:
Segmentation is the process of dividing the market into smaller groups of buyers on the basis
of their distinct needs, characteristics or behaviour who might require separate products or
marketing mixes. It focuses on analyzing sub-markets within a greater market. Market
segmentation is “dividing up a market into distinct groups that:
a) Have a common needs and
b) Will respond similarly to a marketing action.
Segmenting Consumer Markets based on the following:
a. Geographical segmentation:
Region, City or Metro, Size, Density, Climate
b. Demographic segmentation:
Age, Gender, Family size and life cycle, Race, Occupation, or Income
c. Psychographic segmentation
Lifestyle, social class, and personality-based segmentation
d. Behavioral segmentation:
Occasions, Benefits, Uses, or Attitudes
The segmentation process involves five distinct steps:
1. Finding ways to group consumers according to their needs.
2. Finding ways to groups the marketing actions-usually the products offered-available to the
organization.
3. Developing a market-product grid to relate the market segments to the firm’s products or
actions.
4. Selecting the target segments toward which the firm directs its marketing actions.
5. Taking marketing actions to reach target segments.
b. Targeting
Target Market consists of a set of buyers who share common needs or characteristics that the
company decides to serve.
Evaluating Market Segments
a. Segment size and growth
b. Segment structural attractiveness
i. Level of competition
ii. Substitute products
iii. Power of buyers
iv. Powerful suppliers
c. Company objectives and resources
Selecting a target market
Target marketing process involves two steps:
1. Determining how many segments to enter:
a. Undifferentiated Marketing – Mass Market ( Targeting broadly)
b. Differentiated Marketing – Segmented Market
c. Concentrated Marketing – Niche Market
d. Micro Marketing – Local Market (Targeting narrowly)
2. Determining which segments offer the most potential:
After evaluating the opportunities presented by various market segments, including a detailed
competitive analysis, the company may select one, or more, as a target market. This target

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market becomes the focus of the firm’s marketing efforts, and goals and objectives are set
according to where the company wants to be and what it hopes to accomplish in this market.
c. Positioning and Re-positioning
Positioning is act of designing the company’s offer & its image so that it occupies a distinct
place in the minds of the target audience. Positioning places a brand in the consumer mindset,
which enables the consumer, recognize brands distinctly as separate offerings. Positioning
communicates the entire set of value propositions for the brand that the buyer associates
himself with. The key idea in positioning strategy is that the consumer must have a clear idea
of what your brand stands for in the product category, and that a brand cannot be sharply and
distinctly positioned if it tries to be everything to everyone.
Positioning benefits:
 Consumer distinguish brands from each other
 Consumer can rank brands in order of their preference
 Creates Value for money equations and facilitates purchase
Positioning has to be:
 Pre-emptive
 Unique
 Consistent not constant
 Containing some consumer insight about the product category
 Communicable
 Embedding a strong reason- to- believe
 Demonstrable through the brand’s appearances and the overall retail effort
Seven approaches to positioning strategy:
1. Using product characteristics or customer benefits ( Daag jayga per raang nahin jayga
Surf excel)
2. The price-quality approach. (Isse sasta aur accha kahin nahin – Big Bazaar)
3. The use or applications approach ( Aspirin)
4. The product-user approach ( Santro, smart, intelligent, handsome)
5. The product-class approach (Unche log unche pasand – Manikchand)
6. The cultural symbol approach ( the indian multinational – Videocon (past) , desh ki
dadkan, Hero Honda (past) , Desh ka namak - Tata Namak, Taste of India - Amul) , and
7. The competitor approach.( Maruti)
5. Designing A Marketing Strategy:
The marketing strategy is a plan of action for using marketing resources effectively to
accomplish marketing objectives. Designing marketing strategy is at the core of the process
of developing marketing plan. It includes
1. Product development, branding, packaging and other Product related strategies
2. Pricing objectives such as skimming, penetration & developing an appropriate pricing
strategy
3. Distribution (Place) strategies wit respect to distributors, retailers, trainin the dealers
& their compensation
4. Promotion strategies such as advertising, sales promotion, public relation, etc
6. Implementing the Plan:
A marketing plan is more than just a statement of objectives; it provides guidance throughout
the year and directs all of marketing efforts. It helps corporate and its marketing team to work
together towards a common goal as they execute their plan. Measures for comparison of the
planned performance & actual performance are suggested in order to assess the effectiveness
of the plan & take corrective action in case of discrepancies. Sometimes, a contingency plan

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is prepared to deal with changing market conditions. The proper implementation of written
plan assures client’s success on marketing front
7. Setting Evaluation Criteria:
It involves measuring the effectiveness of the plan by Comparing actual performance with the
planned performance
Input Variables (Where are we now?)
 Input into plan
 Marketing needs/analysis - Baseline data (Where are we now?)
Process Variables (What did we do?)
 Marketing Specialist Schedule
Product variables (What was developed for marketing plan?)
 Brochures, videos, newsletters, displays, give-aways
 Questionnaires/surveys and focus groups
Outcome Variables (Who knows about it? /What happened?)
a. Awareness and saturation of goals and mission
 General public
 Identified market segments
b. Brand Recognition
c. Awareness of opportunities for Target Segment

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