Marketing Plan

Marketing Plan

 Value of Marketing Plans

            By reviewing “Learnscape 4: How Are We Doing”, it is evident that a company’s financial performance is closely related to its ability to develop and successfully executing a marketing plan. In order for marketers to gain any form of credibility with an organization's management and shareholders, he or she needs to be able to demonstrate that he or she has the ability of designing and delivering on a marketing plan that meets the following criteria:

1.  Provides the organization with a clear direction on what path needs to be taken
2.  Showcases that it has an understanding of the highly challenging environment
3.  Acknowledge the opportunities and complexities that are presented by websites and social media use.
4.  Provide the organization with an alignment tool
   
5.  Able to ensure commitment from all the organization's key stakeholders

By meeting the above criteria, the marketing plan can act as a guide that enables the marketer and the organization to assess the progress being made and make adjustments in the necessary areas. The effectiveness of a marketing plan relies heavily on the amount of input that goes into its development. Marketing plans that are developed based on input from all the different aspects of an organization are more effective than one which is developed based on input from only one aspect of an organization. The marketing plan needs to be able to determine the value of the marketing campaign to the organization.

The lack of formal marketing plans usually results in marketers pursuing the market in a reactive fashion instead of an active fashion. The marketer lacks insight on the occurrences in the market and does not have a clear direction to follow. This leads to failure of the marketing campaign. For example, Nokia’s failure in the mobile phone sector is primarily linked to its poor marketing strategy. The company’s marketing message does not reflect the changing mobile phone environment and hence it does not resonate with the average consumer.

 Philip Kotler’s Marketing Plan

            Based on the diversity and scope of activities related to marketing, it is important for marketers to make official their pursuits on an annual basis by developing marketing plans that are comprehensive. The act of formalization through writing helps the marketer to review upcoming periods, conduct market analysis and develop marketing objectives and goals that are well aligned with the goals and objectives of the institution.

 The marketing plan provides the marketer with a road map that he or she should follow and thus needs to be as comprehensive as possible. By covering almost every aspect of the business, the marketing plan ensures that it accounts for any occurrences that might hinder the success of the plan. The more the information that is covered by the plan, the more effective it is. Kotler’s approach towards the development of a marketing plan ensures that all essential aspects are effectively and progressively covered. It is also well structured to provide systematic progression across the important aspects of the business and ease of use.

Therefore based on the information gathered it is evident that Philip Kotler’s framework for developing a marketing plan is very useful. An example of a health care facility that utilized Philip Kotler's model framework is the New York-Presbyterian Hospital in their marketing campaign dubbed, “Amazing things are Happening Here." Another example is of Saint Peter's Healthcare System in New Brunswik New Jersey. There camping dubbed " Saint Peter's Nurses" was very effective and is regarded as one of the best marketing campaigns by a health care facility.