Although the exact length and layout varies from company to company, most marketing plans cover one year in anywhere from 5 to 50 pages. Smaller businesses may create shorter or less formal marketing plans, whereas corporations generally require highly structured documents. To guide implementation effectively, every part of the plan must be described in considerable detail. Sometimes a company will post its marketing plan on an internal Web site so everyone can consult specific sections and collaborate on changes. A marketing plan usually contains the following sections.

Executive summary and table of contents.

The marketing plan should open with a table of contents and brief summary for senior management of the main goals and recommendations

Situation analysis

Describes the target market and the company’s position in it, including information about the

market, product performance, competition, and distribution. This section includes the following:

• A market description that defines the market and major segments and then reviews customer needs and factors in the marketing environment that may affect customer purchasing.

• A product review that shows sales, prices, and gross margins of the major products in the product line.

• A review of competition that identifies major competitors and assesses their market positions and strategies for product quality, pricing, distribution, and promotion.

• A review of distribution that evaluates recent sales trends and other developments in major distribution channels.

Threats and opportunities

analysis

Assesses major threats and opportunities that the product might face, helping management to anticipate important positive or negative developments that might have an impact on the firm and its strategies.

Objectives and issues

States the marketing objectives that the company would like to attain during the plan’s term and discusses key issues that will affect their attainment.

Marketing strategy

Outlines the broad marketing logic by which the business unit hopes to engage customers, create customer value, and build customer relationships, plus the specifics of target markets, positioning, and marketing expenditure levels. How will the company create value for customers in order to capture value from customers in return? This section also outlines specific strategies for each marketing mix element and explains how each responds to the threats, opportunities, and critical issues spelled out earlier in the plan.

Action programs

Spells out how marketing strategies will be turned into specific action programs that answer the following questions: What will be done? When will it be done? Who will do it? How much will it cost?

Budgets

Details a supporting marketing budget that is essentially a projected profit-and-loss statement. It shows expected revenues and expected costs of production, distribution, and marketing. The difference is the projected profit. The budget becomes the basis for materials buying, production scheduling, personnel planning, and marketing operations.

Controls.

Outlines the controls that will be used to monitor progress, allow management to review implementation results, and spot products that are not meeting their goals. It includes measures of return on marketing investment

Kotler and Keller (2017)