The marketing communication plan

Résumé du document

In studying marketing communication planning it is important to remember that the marketing communications plan is a single part of the overall marketing plan just as the product plan, the pricing plan or the distribution plan (the 4P's). In this essay we'll see what a marketing communications plan is, how we do it and what it implies. A marketing communication plan is a plan that is carried out by various departments in the organization to achieve certain goals. The chief responsibility lies with the marketing department but it will get assistance from other departments in drawing up the plan. The marketing communication plan will be built in light of the marketing plan which will itself be part of the corporate strategy plan.

Extraits

[...] The fifth step is to decide on the marketing communications mix. Then we have to develop a campaign, decide how results will be assessed and finally implement the plan. A marketing communication plan helps identify goals and how to achieve those. These goals can include increased awareness of the company's products to the target audience for example. It also defines the cost of achieving these goals. The plan forces us to identify the costs associated with the tools we want to use. [...]

[...] It is important to conduct a situation analysis with for example, a SWOT and PEST analysis. Each plan should also include resources required that is to say men (skilled professionals capable of handling specific activities within the company), money or budget and Minutes (time required). Concerning who should be included in such a plan. The answer would be as many people as possible! The marketing team should in my opinion use all sources of information when putting the plan together. [...]

[...] Some organizations produce a plan on a yearly basis. Others have a rolling plan where the communication plan will cover the period of specific campaigns that are being implemented. Most companies actually have a mixture of both. The plan should be reviewed on an ongoing basis even if appropriate, on a monthly or weekly basis. This allows discovering what is working well and what is not at an early stage. That way, money can save a huge amount of money. [...]

[...] The chief responsibility lies with the marketing department but it will get assistance from other departments in drawing up the plan. The marketing communication plan will be built in light of the marketing plan which will itself be part of the corporate strategy plan. We can say that the marketing communications plan is made out of 8 steps. The first step is to identify the target audience that is to say to know what they buy, why, how do they decide on what to buy and so on. [...]