Market plan
A market plan is an important aspect of the business plan. The market plan is the company’s plan which sets out how the company will be marketed, how it will attract more customers (and retain existing customers) in both the short and the long term.
The actual work to develop and formulate a market plan can itself be utilised; it often leads to new suggestions and ideas which can help the company to move forward. A market plan can be short or long and cover the next 12 months or beyond. A market plan should contain information on:
Business concept
What does the company sell and to whom? Why should customers choose us instead of a competitor?
Present situation
Which of the company’s products or services sell well or poorly? Who are our customers? What do our competitors look like? What do they do well and what do they do less well?
Objectives
Where is the company heading? The objectives can be both short-term secondary objectives and the company’s long-term objectives
Strategy and action plan
What do we need to do to achieve the company’s objectives? The strategy must cover a longer time period and the action plan must be specific and formulated for shorter periods of time, e.g. when products are to be launched and what advertising campaigns should be like.
Follow-up
How did it go? Did we achieve our established (short-term objectives)? Follow-up to determine whether or not the objectives established in the market plan provide important information for future market plans.
Test your business
In the test, we will help you identify your intangible assets: