1.

The Strategic Marketing Planning Process

The strategic marketing plan indicates marketing objectives and the strategy and tactics for
accomplishing the objectives and guides implementation and control.

The Marketing Plan Guides Implementation:

The relationships between strategy and the annual marketing plan are shows in the Exhibit
15.1. The planning cycle is continuous. Plans are developed, implemented, evaluated and
revised to keep the marketing strategy on target.

MARKETING STRATEGY

Annual
Marketing
Planning

Annual
Marketing
Planning
Implementation
Control and
Evaluation Revision

Annual
Marketing
Planning
Implementation
Control and
Evaluation Revision

Exhibit 15.2: Strategy and Planning Relationships

Contents of the marketing plan:
The followings are the contents of Marketing Plan

Strategic situation summary

market target description
objectives for the market
marketing program positioning strategy
o product strategy
o distribution strategy
o price strategy
o promotion strategy
o marketing strategy
o coordination with other business strategy

 Forecasts and Budgets

Managing the planning process:
An effective planning process is closely linked to successful implementation of plans. Exhibit
15.2 shows three dimensions of the planning process. These ares Analytical Process Dimension: this dimension of the planning process consists of the
tools for systematic planning- analytical techniques, formal procedures and systemswhich are needed to developed robust and tested plans and strategies.
Behavioral Process Dimension: this dimension of planning is concerned with how
managers perceive planning activities and the strategic assumptions they make.
Organizational Process Dimension: this dimension is concerned with the
organizational structure in which planning is carried out, along with the associated
information resources and corporate culture.

Analytical Process
Dimension

Marketing
Planning
Process

Behavioral Process
Dimension

Organizational
Process Dimension

Techniques
Procedures
Systems
Planning models

Managerial
perceptions
Participation
Strategic
assumptions

Structure
Information
Culture

Exhibit 15.2: Dimensions of Marketing Planning Process

Process
Consistency

2. Implementing Strategic Marketing Plan

The effectiveness of strategy implementation determines the outcome of marketing. The

management of the planning process may enhance implementation by building commitment
and ownership of the plan and its execution.

Implementation process:
Research underlines the influence of two sets of factor on marketing strategy implementation,
structural issues, including the companies marketing functions, control systems, guidelines
and behavioural issues,, concerning marketers skill in bargaining, negotiation, resource
allocation and developing informal organizational arrangements, consider several
organizational and interpersonal aspects of effective implementation.
A good implementation process spells out the activities to be implemented responsible for
implementation, Time and location of implementation and implementation will be achieved.

Activities to be
implemented

Implementation process
How
implementati
on will be
done

Responsibilit
y for
implementat
ion

When Implementation
will be done

Building implementation effectiveness:

Managers are important facilitators in the implementation process, and some are better
implementers than others. Planners and implementers often have different strengths and
weakness. An effective planner may not be good at implementing plans. Desirable
implementations skills include:

The ability to understand how others feel, and good bargaining skills.
The strength to be tough and fair in putting people and resources where they will be
most effective.
Effectiveness in focusing on the critical aspects of performance in managing
marketing activities.
The ability to create a necessary informal organization or network to match each
problem with which they are confronted.

In addition to skillful implementers, several factors facilitate the

implementation process. These include organizational design, incentives and effective
communications.
Organizational design:
Certain types of organizational designs aid implementation. For example, product managers
or multifunctional coordination teams are useful implementation methods. Management may
create implementation teams consisting of representatives from the business functions and/or
marketing activities involved.
Incentives
Various rewards may help achieve successful implementation. For example, special
incentives such as contests, recognition and extra compensation are used to encourage sales
people to push a new product.

Communications
Rapid and accurate movement of information though the organization is essential in
implementation. Both vertical and horizontal communications are needed in linking together
the people and activities involve in implementation. Meetings, status reports, and informal
discussion help to transmit information throughout the organization. Computerized
information and discussion support system like corporate intranets hells to improve
communications speed and effectiveness.
Internal Marketing
One interesting approach to enhancing strategy implementation effectiveness is the adoption
of internal marketing methods. Internal marketing involves: developing programs to win line
management support for new strategies; changing the attitudes and behavior of employees
working at key points of contact with customers; and gaining the commitment of those whose
problem solving skills are important to superior execution of the strategy.
Internal marketing goals may include: promoting the external marketing strategy and how
employees contribute, developing better understanding between customers and employees
(regardless of whether they have direct contact) and providing superior internal customer
service to support external strategy.

Strategy

Plan

Targeting at key
groups in the
customers,segments
company,alliance
partner companies
and other influencer

Internal
Marketin
g
Program

External
Marketing
Program

Targeted at key

and niches and

other external
influencers.

Figure: Internal Marketing

One developing aspect of internal marketing is the opportunity to actively market plans and
strategies not only inside the company, but also with partner organizations and their
employees. Effectives implementation may rest also on company- wide and network wide
effort to put marketing plans and strategies into effect.

3. A comprehensive approach to improving implementation

One comprehensive way to deal with difficulty in the implementation of the marketing plan is
to employ the balanced scorecard method. This process is a formalized management control
system that implements a given business unit strategy by means of activities across four
areas: financial, customer, internal business process and learning and growth or (innovation)
The balanced scorecard was created by Kaplan and Norton in reaction to the difficulties that
many managers experienced when trying to implement a particular strategy. A strategy is
often not defined in a manner that describes how it might be achieved. Merely
communicating the strategy to employees does not provide any instructions as to what actions
they must take to help achieve the strategy. More importantly managers might even take
action to the detriment of other areas in an organization when attempting to implement the
strategy.
The balanced scorecard provides a framework to minimize such an occurrence by
encouraging implementation of a common strategy, which is communicated and coordinated
across all major areas of the organization. The balanced component of the balanced scorecard
reflects the need to consider how all areas of the organization function together to achieve a
common goal of strategy implementation.
The major benefit of the balanced scorecard is that
An often aggregate, broadly-defined strategy is translated to every specific action.
Through execution and monitoring of these actions management can assess the
success of the strategy and also modify and adjust the strategy if necessary.

It is feasible for any business unit level strategy and provides a means to link
performance evaluation to strategy implementation.

4. Internal Strategy-Organization Fit

It is important that the organization s competitive and marketing strategy be compatible with
the internal structure of the business and its policies, procedures, and resources.
1. Organizational Stretch
The absence of good fit between marketing strategy and organizational characteristics
is likely to be a significant barrier to effective strategy implementationOrganizational stretch to execute strategy should be considered, that is, the degree
to which structure, capabilities, systems, processes, and resources allocation may
require adjustment to deliver the strategy. Marketing strategy must also be consider to
the context provided by corporate strategy and business strategy being pursued by
other business units since lack of capabilities may be problematic.
2. The role Of External Organization
The implementation of marketing strategy is affected by external organization such as
strategic alliance partners, marketing consultancy, advertising and public relation
firms, channel members and other organizations participating in the marketing effort.
The development of collaborative relationships between suppliers and producers
improve implementation. Value chain management strategies encourage reducing the
number of suppliers and building strong relationship.

5. Strategic marketing evaluation and control

Marketing strategy has to be responsive to changing conditions. Evaluation and control keep
the strategy on target and show when adjustments are needed. Managers need to continually
monitor performance and when necessary revise their strategies due to changing conditions.
Strategic marketing planning requires information from ongoing monitoring and evaluation
of performance.
Customer relationship management
The widespread adoption of customer relationship management (CRM) systems to integrate
all customer data from different source, in combination with electronic point-of-sale customer
data
capture, offers several new and powerful resources for strategic evaluation and control.
Penetrating analysis of databases may reveal important patterns and the effect of marketing
action.
Overview of Control and Evaluation Activities:
Control and evaluation consumes a high proportion of marketing executives and energy
.Evaluation may seek to (1) find new opportunities or avoid threats (2keep performance in
line with managements expectations; and (3) solve specific problems that exist.

The major steps in establishing a strategic control and evaluation program are described in
figure given below. Strategic and annual marketing plans set the direction and guidelines for
the evaluation and control process.

Figure: strategic marketing evaluation and control

The Strategic marketing Audit

A marketing audit is useful when initiating a strategic evaluation program. Since evaluation
compare results with expectations, it is necessary to lay some groundwork before setting up a
tracking program.
Audits may are conducted every three to five years more frequently in special situations.
Purpose of Audit:
To praise the effectiveness to the strategic marketing plan.
To gaining basis for selecting performance criteria.
To choose relevant marketing metrics to assess actual performance.

6. Marketing performance measurement

The importance of monitoring performance against objectives and demonstrating the added
value achieved through marketing efforts has lead many organizations to make substantial
investments in systems of marketing metrics to evaluate marketings contribution. Marketing
metrics use both internal and external information sources to provide a structure for
monitoring the effectiveness of marketing activities and strategies.
The Importance of Marketing Matrics:
In the majority of organizations, marketing executives are under growing pressure to
demonstrate their contribution to firm performance. This pressure reflects mandate for greater
accountability in the use of company resources, but also impacts the professional standing of

the marketing organization within the firm. The goal is to make the better causal links
between marketing activities and financial return to the business. Research suggests that the
ability to measure marketing performance, through appropriate system and metrics , is
significantly and positively related to company performance, profitability, stock returns and
to marketings stature within the organization.
The Use of Marketing Metrics:
The quantitative measurement of marketing performance is not a simple task. Critical
question to consider in developing a metrics-based reporting system related to marketing
performance are:
Does what we report to management actively probe end-user behavior (customer
retention, acquisition. usage) and why consumers behave that way (awareness,
satisfaction, perceived quality)?
Are the results of end-user research routinely reported and in a format integrated with
financial metrics?
In these reports are results compared with levels previously forecast in business
plans?
Are the results compared with the levels achieved by competitors on the same
indicators?
Is short term performance adjusted according to the change in brand equity?

Types of marketing metrics:

There are several ways of grouping marketing metrics. Some measures are associated with
assessing competitive position and effectiveness with the customer, while others addresses
product profitability, product and portfolio performance, customer profitability, sales and
channel effectiveness, pricing, promotion, advertising and web activities and financial
performance.
Selecting relevant metrics
The choice of the most relevant metrics is critical. Guidelines suggest that choices should be
made in the light of the need to;

Measure performance relative to strategy.

Track performance relative to competitors.
Track performance relative to customers.
Track performance over time.
Model performance(to test the impact of different elements of

Designing a Management Dashboard

The dashboard may be a conventional report or a software product. The dashboard requires
that senior management agree to a restricted set of key marketing metrics to communicate
and evaluate the companys marketing performance. The dashboard facilitates control of
short term activities and longer term planning. Objectives and processes should be aligned
with the dashboard.
The attraction of the dashboard concept is to provide decision makers with a reduce set of
vital measures in a form that is easy to interpret and apply. Advanced software package can
display critical information in easy to read graphics, assembled in real time from corporate
information systems.