Marketing Planning

Question 1

What are the 3 Plans in Marketing?

Answer 1

1. Strategic Plan: What portfolio of business activities best position the firm for sustained long-term profitability?
   i. Vision & Mission
   ii. Situation/Environmental analysis/scan
   iii. Goals or Strategies (broad outcomes)
   iv. Objectives (S.M.A.R.T.)
2. Functional /Operational Plans: Strategies for each functional area - marketing, production/operations, finance,
   research & development, human resource management
3. Action Plan that turns strategies into actions Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to address Critical Success Factors (risks)

Question 2

What is a Vision & Mission Statement?

Answer 2

Vision & Mission statement represents the organization’s long term aspirations and how it will be accomplished. It encapsulates the strategic plan and sources of competitive advantage in a few sentences.

Question 3

What are the Goals and Objectives in Corporate Strategic planning?

Answer 3

Goals or Strategies are broad outcomes to be achieved in the future i.e. where the firm wants to be /
achieve in the next 3-5 years.

Question 4

What is Situation Analysis?

Answer 4

Situation Analysis: assessing current situation to clearly state where the firm is now.
Analyse SWOT:
– Internal or micro environment
(strengths & weaknesses)
– External or macro environment
(opportunities & threats)
USED Analysis

Question 5

What does Marketing Planning and Marketing

environment refer to?

Answer 5

Marketing planning combines firm’s objectives & situation analysis to formulate and maintain a marketing plan that moves the firm from where it currently is to where it wants to be.

Question 6

What is the purpose of planning?

Answer 6

• Purpose of planning - Understand you Customers & Consumers Needs and Wants of Customers to base marketing mix strategy
• Which Customers/Market?
• Broad market definition for initial analysis
– Need satisfied
• Narrow market definition for detailed analysis – Geographic
– Product type
– Volume
– Usage situation

Question 7

What is the Value Chain?

Answer 7

• Which Customers are involved in getting AgriFood products to consumers (take ownership)?
• Who assist in the value chain (agents)
• Who are the competitors?

Question 8

What are the strengths and weakness of an Internal Environment?

Answer 8

Internal Environment (functional business areas) - business itself and factors directly controllable by the firm
i. Finance
ii. Manufacturing
iii. Marketing (segmentation, positioning, product range, brand recognition, pricing, promotion, and distribution, customer care)
iv. Research & Development (product development, improving the quality of existing products & cost reduction)
v. Organization, administration & human resource
management (structure, processes, people & skills available, motivators)

Question 9

What are the strengths and weaknesses of an External Micro Environment?

Answer 9

Industry Environment i.e. trends within a firm’s industry that affects its ability to serve its customers

i. Suppliers & Customers i.e. dependency on & supply of input resources and needs & wants of customers & final consumers
ii. Partners & Intermediaries – logistics, financiers, advertising agencies…
iii. Competitors (generic need, product form & category) in the market i.e. industry structure (Porter’s five forces model)

Question 10

What are the opportunities and threats of an External Macro Environment Analysis?

Answer 10

1. Macro Environment - trends outside the industry that
   influence survival. Not controllable by the firm.
   i. Economic trends affecting spending (GDP growth, employment, inflation, income, savings, credit access, exchange rates, terms of trade..)
   ii. Demographic trends such as age, occupation & gender that impact consumption patterns
   iii. Socio-cultural trends affecting attitudes, beliefs, behaviours, preferences, customs and lifestyles
   iv. Technological trends driving change / improvement at all stages of food industry
   v. Political & legal trends impacting on decisions
   vi. Natural Environment trends impacting decisions (pollution,resources available, energy costs, biosecurity, recylcing)

Question 11

What are the two key words of Marketing Strategies ?

Answer 11

Segmentation and positioning & aims to answer:
Who are the customers / consumers?  What,where and why
Benefits sought & offered?

Question 12

What are the implementation and control methods used?

Answer 12

Strategic plan focuses on medium to long term Action plan – tasks, person responsible & time frame (linked to objectives & strategies)
Implementation of the plan involves
monitoring actual performance versus planned and taking action to control the situation if actual performance deviates too widely from planned.