The Marketing Plan: How to Prepare and Implement It, 3rd ed.

Citation

Jacobson, M.D. (2003), "The Marketing Plan: How to Prepare and Implement It, 3rd ed.", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 20 No. 1, pp. 73-75. https://doi.org/10.1108/jcm.2003.20.1.73.4

Before delving into the nitty‐gritty of the marketing plan, William M. Luther begins the book with a review of the role of marketing within a business; something that he states many practitioners overlook. In fact, there are eight chapters to read before the book even begins to talk about developing a marketing plan. While I found this to be a bit frustrating, I think it was a necessary starting point. In my opinion, any good marketing plan needs to have its roots firmly established to be successful.

The book is made up of five parts. They include:

• •

  Part one: The Role of Marketing Within a Business.

• •

  Part two: Decisions to Be Made before Developing Your Marketing Plan.

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  Part three: Developing Your Brand Personality.

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  Part four: Developing Your Marketing Plan.

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  Part five: Feedback – Using Controls and Market Research to Complete the Loop.

Part one talks about where the marketing function fits in with other components and plans for a business. Here, the author outlines what he believes to be the seven components of planning. They are:

1. 1.

   (1) Creating your fact book: contains an analysis of current market economics, your competition, your business, and your customers.

2. 2.

   (2) The strategic and/or business plan: covers selecting markets with good profit potential and isolating critical business strengths in order to be competitive.

3. 3.

   (3) The operational plan: developing business strengths that can deliver competitive products and/or services.

4. 4.

   (4) Your positioning statement: how you want your business strengths to be perceived by prospective customers.

5. 5.

   (5) The marketing plan: how the positioning statement translates into recognizable and preferred brands.

6. 6.

   (6) An action plan: a detailed execution of strategies.

7. 7.

   (7) Feedback: utilizing controls and research to monitor existing and future conditions for inclusion in your fact book.

Chapters two through six continue the discussion of how marketing fits within the entire business structure. Chapter seven covers how to develop a unique, memorable, desirable, and believable positioning statement and provides thumbnail case histories of companies that have or have not done so. In Chapter eight Luther gives reasons why all your strategies should reinforce your positioning, and again gives examples of businesses that have and have not done so.

Finally, Chapters nine through 17 cover how to develop the marketing plan itself. Throughout these chapters, Luther uses many business examples to support his recommendations, as well as to illustrate how to use marketing tools to their best advantage. One example of this is the Internet and e‐commerce, discussed at length. Now in its third edition, The Marketing Plan had been updated to include this essential new channel.

The book covers every channel – from advertising and direct marketing to couponing and pricing strategies, trade shows, merchandising and public relations. There is even a detailed “what‐if” financial model that facilitates the creation of a marketing budget. The author also includes references or a “who to call” throughout his content.

I found the book to be easy to read and a good review of the basics, which would suit either an aspiring entrepreneur just starting his/her own business or a novice in the field of marketing. The book also serves as a refresher course in marketing that includes real‐life examples. The author notes “The examples of objectives and strategies were written by my marketing seminar participants, so they definitely reflect the real world in the twenty‐first century” (p. xvii).

To help readers tie together the large amount of information, the author includes a comprehensive marketing plan outline that can be followed step‐by‐step. For someone looking for the nuts and bolts of a marketing plan from A‐Z, I would recommend this book.