Writing Strategic Marketing Plans Help

Q:I am the manager of a new company and am looking for resources on writing and planning Marketing Plans. Can anyone help, point me in the right direction etc.

A:There's some pretty good software available that contains word processor and spreadsheet templates for most of the possible planning required by marketing managers. It's called MarketingBuilder by Jian Software. They also make PublicityBuilder, A similar PR tool. I've found them useful and certainly worth the price. although i do like and enjoy reading Levinson's "Guerilla" Marketing series i can't believe two people here reccommended the "Attack" book as a guide to writing a marketing plan. I have the book in my bookcase and by no means is it a good guide to writing a comprehensive marketing plan. not even close. "Developing a Winning Marketing Plan" by William Cohen is much better. I'm not saying it's the best. the problem w/ most books on marketing plans is they are waaay tooo Qualitative and not Quantitative enough. you must have a good understanding of what all your marketing numbers are, where they come from, how they're computed and how they relate to one another. Borders books has a good Marketing section in which I'm sure you can find something suitable. Reading one book on marketing, no matter how well written, isn't going to do you much, though it may help you understand and navigate the marketing process a little better, so that you can effectively work with a marketing professional. Marketing is like anyother professional service. Consultants are expensive and you want to know just when you need them and when you are safe to "do it yourself". The planning of a marketing plan is especially the time when you can benefit most from a marketing consultant. Analysis of market research data, planning out a strategic marketing program, and evaluation of your current program are where you can especially leverage your marketing dollar and get the most out of a marketing consultant. There are many other aspects that you can do yourself and save a lot of money. But the bottom line is that marketing is a complex endeavor that is too critical to the success of your business to be entirely put into the hands of an amateur. Most companies meet their marketing needs by hiring a full-time marketing director (which is generally not a full-time job) or alternatively, a marketing consultant. Actually, "most companies" don't meet their marketing needs, and I would say that is the reason why over 50% won't be around to see the year 2,000 printed on their invoices...but that's a different story altogether. 1. In response to a request for information on seminars in the *San Francisco* bay area, you send people to a url promoting your seminars in the *Tampa Bay* area. No notice of that small detail. Seems quite deceptive to me. 2. You have repeatedly used the third person in referring to "Superior" Third person is self-exclusive. More deception. 3. The self-promotional posts generally were missing a sig file. That is bad manners, not to mention an obviously premeditated attempt at misdirection. 4. A HoTMaiL address. Nothing inherently wrong with it, but a bit of research would have shown that many people just don't trust them. Too much spam and flaming comes from those places. (Not related to stealth marketing) 5. Your consistent portrayal of small business owners as being lazy is not only annoying, but a really bad marketing tactic. It also shows a truly poor understanding of the system of business in an organised society. (Neither of these give me a great deal of confidence in your abilities as an expert.) 6. You use old school *sales* tactics in your posts, directing people toward the conclusion that marketing is the only thing that isn't an expense. Hopefully there's no one here so foolish as to believe that. 7. You have abused a number of Usenet conventions, showing a remarkable ignorance regarding the importance of knowing your target markets culture. Could this be an example of the laziness you referred to ?