The Marketing Plan In order to create a Marketing Plan, the entrepreneur, must first complete the Industry Analysis.

Since the Industry Analysis, will provide the necessary knowledge of the environment, in order to know what can distress the marketing strategy decision-making. The entrepreneur should start by documenting the existing strategy of the companys primary competitors. In order to formulate the market positioning strategy, entrepreneurs should consider Product or Service Strategies, Pricing Strategies, Distribution Strategies, Promotion Strategies, and the Strengths and Weaknesses of its competitors. In order to create the Marketing Plan, marketing research is necessary. With this research, the entrepreneur will be able to know who will buy the product or service, the size of the potential market, the price that should be charged, the most suitable distribution channel, and the most effective promotion strategy to reach potential customers. It is important for the market research to start by defining its objective and purpose, and its the most difficult step. The steps for this are the following: Defining the Purpose or Objectives: The entrepreneur must make a list of the information that will be needed to prepare the marketing plan. Some of the objectives need to determine what potential customers will be willing to pay for the product or service, where the customers would like to purchase it, and what the customers expect to hear and learn about the product or service. Gathering Data from Secondary Sources: This data may be gathered from magazines, newspapers, libraries, government agencies, and the Internet. The purpose for reviewing secondary data is to get information, which will aid the entrepreneur in making better decisions in regards to the marketing plan. Gathering information from Primary Sources: Gathering this data consists on the collection procedure of data, through observation, networking, interviewing, focus groups, or experimentation. The most successful ventures focus on information about their customers, competitors, and the industry by using networking. The chapter also provides a table, which compares the survey methods, regarding their cost, flexibility, response rate, speed, and depth. Analyzing and Interpreting the Results: For this step, it depends on the size of the sample, but the purpose of this is to evaluate the results and interpret them in response to the research objectives, which were specified in the first step of the research. This step allows the entrepreneur to gain valuable insight.

While the Marketing Plan focuses on all of the marketing activities of a venture, for one year or more, the Business Plan focuses on the road map for the whole organization over time. The Business Plan, aside from focusing on marketing activities, it also focuses on decisions regarding research and development, operations, manufacturing, personnel, financial projections, and analysis, and future growth strategies. The Marketing Plan is a significant element in the

creation of a Business Plan, since it establishes how the entrepreneur plans on competing and operating in the marketplace, in order to achieve the business goals, and objectives. The entrepreneur should prepare the marketing plan, annually in order to then be able to make decisions regarding production, manufacturing, personnel changes, or financial resources needed. The Outline for the Marketing Plan is the following: Situation Analysis o Background of venture o Strengths and weaknesses of venture o Market opportunities and threats o Competitor analysis Marketing objectives and goals Marketing strategy and action programs Budgets Controls