The Importance of Making a Marketing Plan for a Company to Start-up Businesses

Chapter 1

Overall Introduction

A marketing plan is a document that is written when a company is being set up and which provides a clear analysis and assessment of the market. Whether you are opening a special restaurant, or establishing an Internet company, making a good marketing plan is the first step. The more accurate the plan, the more opportunities can be won.

The marketing plan is not just for investors, but also for the company itself and its products. So, it is important to know where the market opportunities lie, how to design products, and how to make customers more willing to buy these products. A marketing plan needs to address several key questions, such as who are the competitors; how to beat these rivals; how to prepare enough resources about customer buying habits to enable enterprises to keep a steady stream of sales revenue; how to manage the company and how many staff to hire; how to assign jobs to them; how to set up departments.

Making a marketing plan is a complex but useful activity for most companies, to say nothing of setting up a new business in the market. This paper does not mention all aspects about the marketing plan but it will give detailed explanations about the importance of making a marketing plan and some specific cases study to analyse it. Establishing a successful satisfying marketing plan will benefit some businesses. Moreover, it suits for all businesses, big or small, to converge effort toward or meet in a common purpose and determination, which will promote teamwork. At the same time, whatever a company wants to get from a business, the business can continue without clients. Marketing plan being based on understanding marketing value can help a company to appeal and hold more customers.

Chapter 2

Rationales

Introduction

This chapter will give the reasonable reasons why it is important making a marketing plan for a company to start-up businesses. It focuses on the topic and outlines more explanations in details.

Technology Innovation

With the rapid development of technology, doing marketing plans could make full use of various materials. It was not known that how much influence the technology has made to marketing plans. For instance, if there is no advanced technology, it will be easy to be ignored that the plan was just written on paper for start-up businesses. This paper will give an explanation about the impact of technological development on marketing plans.

Business Expansion

Companies have always been looking for opportunities to increase profits. For different businesses, the role of marketing plan is not the same. Sometimes a good marketing plan may possibly help to promote sales of existing products and explore emerging markets. For example, the reason for doing a marketing plan can be to determine which market offers the best opportunities to rise for trades in a short term.

Public Psychology

There are generally unpredictable risks in start-up businesses. Public psychology is normally that they want to know the problems in advance and take some measures to avoid before happening. It is very necessary and effective for these people to make a well-prepared marketing plan. This paper aims to provide sufficient reasons for those who want to prepare in advance of starting a business.

Chapter 3

Literature Review

Introduction

The purpose of this section is to provide different literature evaluations, which gives the definition of marketing planning and explains the importance of making a marketing plan for a company to start-up businesses. The main information was taken by these literature views in several books in DKIT library.

Overview of Marketing Planning

Global commerce, sophisticated technology, and markets are the main trend in society nowadays, which can be changed at the click of a mouse. Marketing is a dynamic function that companies needed. The gradual change is an important reason that marketers can rely upon what is presenting a new product or developing an active marketing strategy, which is the most cost-effective way to take advantage of an emerging occasion. The cases of Reflect.com and Achieva can be considered, which is that these two companies’ directors are also underlined that making a complete marketing plan is the key point to start up a new business. (Burk Wood, 2003)

Proctor mentions that it is necessary to adopt a systematic way to arrange and carry out sales strategies. It bases on making a reasonable and effective plan. Besides, a full marketing plan includes several subsidiary plans which supplement some information detailed so as to targets having been determined can be achieved better. (Proctor, 2000)

The Definition of Marketing Planning

Burk Wood defined marketing planning as the organized procedure of exploring and making analysis about the marketing condition; emerging and recording marketing strategies, intentions, and platforms; and executing, assessing, and commanding events to complete the purposes. The consequence is the marketing plan, a paper in this organized method that explains what can be gained from the marketplace and shows what will be carried out for a company to reach its marketing objects. (Burk Wood, 2003)

What’s more, Burk Wood presents what is the organized procedure to make a marketing plan, which makes a series of compatible marketing choices and movements for a certain company during a long term. (Burk Wood, 2013)

Meanwhile, McDonald and Wilson give the definition in this process is the purpose of completing marketing objectives, which can make marketing plan to be the deliberate submission of marketing resources. Marketing plan is basically a reasonable structure and a variety of programs result in the environment of marketing objectives and the preparation of a plan to complete them. (McDonald & Wilson, 2011)

Making a marketing plan is the combinative and coordinative action, which concentrates on a company’s activities. The calculated and deliberate resolutions should be made based on company and function levels. That can present systematic, logical and practical ideas in a marketing plan, which can lead to the right track when a company meet the barriers. (Drummond & Ensor, 2001)

The Advantage of Marketing Plan

Burk Wood describes that the customers are primary kept focused on in marketing plan, which can lead you to decide what your company will do and what it won’t do for customers, and supports you to inspect offerings in the background of competition and the marketing situation, and establish rationales to do the allocation of resources for realizing marketing proficiency and value. (Burk Wood, 2002)

In addition, McDonald provides a result that marketing plan is vital in which a company need to control the gradually aggressive and difficult situation. The great mass of managers considers that marketing plan with some formal processes benefits improve this reasonableness in order to reduce the difficulties of business processes and offer practical measurements to the future development of company. Most corporations depend only upon estimation of sales and systems of budget due to the complexity and difficulty. (McDonald, 2002)

The Importance of Marketing Plan

There is little research experienced getting connection between the equality and achievement of plan system to evaluate if increase a market share or assess with reference of advanced cost-effectiveness. Moreover, from Capon, Farley and Hulbert’s study (1988), it shows that there is no positive correlation among a marketing plan and performance standard. However, a company making a structure plan has less change in profitability than other companies without it. Providing another study of Stasch and Lanktree (1980), it benefits from a sample of six companies, which found a common optimistic relationship existing among results of a marketing plan and various standards of performance evaluation. Most administrators consider that a marketing plan provides many invisible advantages while relating directly between a marketing plan and marketing performance improved is so difficult, such as carrying out serious ways for strategies development and make sure of considering outside environment. (Lehmann & Winer, 2008)

A large quantity of external and internal aspects influences the ability of accomplishing cost-effective transactions in a confusing way. There is little doubt that it is very important to make a marketing plan when a growing number of aggressive and complex situation are considered for a company. Furthermore, most administrators believe that a formalized marketing plan can improve the reasonableness in order to reduce difficulties of transaction operations and increase possibilities to achieve the aim for company future hopes. Due to the large difficulties, it is well-known that most companies would rather depend on estimation of sales and systems of budget. However, it relates to opportunities and problems a company will meet in the market. It is more necessary and difficult to record the chances and strategies in a marketing plan for a company. (McDonald & Wilson, 2011)

Chapter 4

Research Methods

Introduction

The main information of this chapter is to introduce the methodology which the writer indicates so that make accomplishment for the research objective. By the way, a specific method will be analysed with some practices in businesses. Moreover, it will give the purposes that why the researcher takes this method and presents findings based on these cases. ‘we can therefore define research as something that people undertake in order to find out things in a systematic way, thereby increasing their knowledge.’ (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2012)

Qualitative Research

Creswell (2002) describes that qualitative research is quite necessary in conditions where it is confusing what accurately is being found out in a research, so as to support the researcher consider what information is essential and what isn’t. Denzin and Lincoln (2000) indicate that although quantitative research is normally known for what it should be observed previously a research starts. The research procedure can develop more detailed and make writer feel more clear about the topic of study with time progresses.

Secondary Research

This part mentions a supply of data, which are all provided from previous study papers, journalists, magazines and newsletter as well as daily commentary. Some cases are offered to give detailed analyses about the research topic. Dawson (2009) indicates that the secondary research method is very suitable for researcher who wants to save time and be economical. In addition, various information can be obtained quickly and conveniently, which is also accessible for public. However, there are few weaknesses which is impossible to be avoided for the secondary research method. For instances, if there was no enough investigation for current situation, some out of data would be substantively collected even without any value, which is not be related to researcher’s needs and not available.

• Online Data Describe

Online comments will be collected from some website that presents various arguments by some social and business elite. If possible, the researcher will create a topic post on the business website that anyone can comment on. The post of online comments will be continued for 3 days. Temporarily, some realistic practices or business news will be offered from the internet.

• Example of Case

This fragment will give the explanation about the importance of a marketing plan for a car company named ‘Mustang’ in America.

Chapter 5

Discoveries and Analyses

Introduction

This chapter refers to the writer’s findings and describe the result comprehensively standing the base of research process. Findings are taken from some cases and compare within different arguments about the topic from books being used in literature review finished in chapter 3. Due to these results, analyses are generally presented to help understanding the significance of making a marketing plan for a company.

Chapter 6

Conclusion

In conclusion, there are advantages and disadvantages to make a marketing plan for a company to start-up businesses. Through this research including to find and read several books relating the topic benefits for those who require to establish their own businesses.

Chapter 7

References

Burk Wood, M. (2003), The Marketing Plan: a Handbook. NJ: Prentice Hall.

Proctor, T. (2000), Strategic Marketing: an introduction. London: Routledge.

Burk Wood, M. (2013), Essential Guide to Marketing Planning. 3^rd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.

McDonald, M. & Wilson, H. (2011), Marketing Plans: how to prepare them, how to use them. 7^th ed. Chichester: Wiley.

Drummond, G. & Ensor, J. (2001), Strategic Marketing: planning and control. 2^nd ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann

Lehmann, D. & Winer, R. (2008), Analysis for Marketing Plan. 7^th ed. International ed. Boston; London: McGraw-Hill.

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2012), Research Methods for Business Students. 6^th ed. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall.

Creswell, J. (2002), Research Design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches. 2^nd ed. London: SAGE.

Denzin, N., Lincoln, Y. (2000), Handbook of Qualitative Research. 2^nd ed. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications

Why Do I Need a Marketing Plan? (2016), The Australian Government Business, Australian, viewed 20 March 2017,

[https://www.business.gov.au/info/plan-and-start/develop-your-business-plans/marketing/why-do-i-need-a-marketing-plan].

Dawson, C. (2009), Introduction to Research Methods: a practical guide for anyone undertaking a research project. 4^th ed. Oxford: How To Books.