What are the components of a marketing plan?

Marketing should always begin with a thorough marketing plan, which allows you to evaluate the market potential for your products or services and develop strategies to meet that potential. A complete, written marketing plan contains seven main components:

1. Market research and analysis
The first component of a marketing plan allows you to gather pertinent information about the potential market for your product(s) and/or service(s), evaluate strengths and weaknesses, and identify a target audience.

2. Marketing and financial goals and objectives
The second component of a marketing plan consists of defining your marketing and financial goals and objectives. The goals and objectives will help you focus and evaluate your marketing efforts.

3. Marketing mix
The marketing mix, and third component of a marketing plan, describes the specific strategies you will implement to reach your target audience, entice the target audience to spend their money and create a desire in them to return to your enterprise. Strategies covering the 4 Ps of marketing (product, price, place and promotion) are developed.

4. Marketing budget
The fourth component of a marketing plan consists of developing a marketing budget, which will allow you to plan for marketing expenditures.

5. Monitoring and evaluating market response
The fifth component of a marketing plan describes the strategies you will use to monitor and evaluate the market response to your marketing strategies. Evaluating the effectiveness of your marketing plan will allow you to make adjustments to meet your goals.

6. Contingency plan
The contingency plan, and sixth component of a marketing plan, describes possible adjustments to make to your strategies if your marketing tactics are more or less effective than originally planned.

7. Marketing plan check list
The final component of your marketing plan is a marketing plan check list. This check list allows you to summarize the tasks that need to be accomplished to put your plan into action.

More information may be found in Marketing for the Value-added Agricultural Enterprise at http://www.utextension.utk.edu/publications/pbfiles/PB1699.pdf or Agritourism in Focus: A Guide for Tennessee Farmers at http://extension.tennessee.edu/publications/pbfiles/PB1754.pdf