HOW TO DO A MARKETING PLAN
STEP 3: SWOT ANALYSIS, SEGMENTATION OF THE MARKET AND DEFINITION
OF OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES................................................................................... 8
STEP 4: DEFINITION OF THE YEARLY ACTION PLAN. THE MARKETING MIX. 10
STEP 5: WRITING THE MARKETING PLAN ................................................................... 11 3INTRODUCTION

The objective of this document is to be a guide for new entrepreneurs that want to create
a new business, for the elaboration of the Marketing Plan of the new entrepreneurial
project.

It describes the steps that an entrepreneur has to follow in order to define and elaborate
the Marketing Plan of the new business project.

These steps are:

• Step 1: What is a Marketing Plan?.

• Step 2: How to do a Market Research.

• Step 3: Definition of the Marketing Objectives and Strategies.

• Step 4: Definition of the yearly Action Plan. The Marketing Mix.

• Step 5: Writing the Marketing Plan.


Specially for a start-up, the marketing plan is an instrument that allows to know key
information for the entrepreneur. The marketing plan of a star-up assumes various
functions:
• Carrying out market research for the products and services of the new firm.
• To help the entrepreneur to foresee the demand for the first year of the life of the
new company.
• Identify the number and importance of the actual clients for the new company.
• Analyse and determine the marketing resources available for the new firm.
• Getting to know the SWOT of the new firm in relation with the reality of the
market.
• Identify the profile of the potential new clients.
• Identify the segment of market for each product of the new firm.
• Setting marketing objectives and marketing strategies
• Setting the action plans within the “marketing mix” framework, and the marketing
budgets.

The marketing plan is a document that can contain approximately between 15 and 40
pages.

Market planning is an interactive process and the plan should be reviewed and updated
during its implementation. The marketing plan details who will do what, when, where and how, in order to
achieve the new firm market objectives.
quantitative numbers on customer
behaviour, attitudes, needs and
volumes of business.

• To acquire this kind of data generally
a large number of customers or a
very focused small group in case of
personal contact is required.

• The issues to be researched are what
product/service options do the clients
prefer, and where, when and at what
price do they would buy the product.

• The methodology for doing this
research could be: telephone survey,
mailing of questionnaires and short
but focused questionnaires in case of
personal contact. • These kinds of information produce
qualitative information on customer
behaviour, attitudes or needs.

• The issues to be researched are what
is the way a customer considers the
purchase of a certain product, what he
knows about the product category,
how well he understands the