Dear Tourism Partner,
Having dealt with the basics of E-marketing in the previous edition of the Africa Adventure TOURISMmarketer, we will now have a look at how to create a conventional marketing plan.
Sadly enough, many tourism related enterprises neglect this very important part of running their business successfully.
Marketing and Advertising decisions should not be made by gut-feelings in spontaneous circumstances but planned well in advanced.
A marketing plan is not meant to be a pile of paper, created to satisfy directors, investors, banks etc., but is an invaluable tool in your day to day marketing decisions. If you make the effort to create a marketing plan for your business, you will make better decisions - every time! |
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Your MARKETING PLAN (sample layout) |
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What should a marketing plan include?
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| Important note: |
Your marketing plan needs to be yours! It needs to be written by yourself, because no one else knows your business as well as you and it certainly must not be copied from someone else's plan.
Also resist the temptation to download "boxed" marketing plans from the Internet as they might look good but will not benefit you at all.
The creation of your marketing plan should be a close-up look into the various aspects of your business, and should reflect the true circumstances, much like your early morning reflection in the bathroom mirror. |
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| 1. Executive Summary |
| 2. Situation Analysis |
2.1 Market Summary
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2.1.1 Market Demographics
2.1.2 Market Needs
2.1.3 Market Trends
2.1.4 Market Growth
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2.2 SWOT Analysis |
2.2.1 Strengths
2.2.2 Weaknesses
2.2.3 Opportunities
2.2.4 Threats
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2.3 Competition
2.4 Services
2.5 Keys to Success
2.6 Critical Issues
2.7 Historic Results
2.8 Macroenvironment
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| 3. Marketing Strategy |
3.1 Mission
3.2 Marketing Objectives
3.3 Financial Objectives
3.4 Target Marketing
3.5 Positioning
3.6 Marketing Mix |
3.6.1 Place
3.6.2
Product
3.6.3 Pricing
3.6.4 Promotion
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| 4. Financials, Budgets, and Forecasts |
4.1 Sales Forecast
4.2 Expense Forecast
4.3 Linking Sales and Expenses to Strategy
4.4 Contribution Margin
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| 5. Controls |
5.1 Implementation Milestones
5.2 Marketing Organisation
5.3 Contingency Planning |
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| Explanation of each topic |
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| 1. Executive Summary |
The Executive Summery gives a short description of your company and the services it offers. It should be around four to six paragraphs but certainly not longer than one A4 page.
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| 2. Situation Analysis |
Here you start to think about what is. Think hard and be honest to yourself! Again, four to six paragraphs are sufficient.
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2.1 Market Summary
Describe the markets you are active in and identify your current target markets.
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2.1.1 Market Demographics
Identify the demographics of your target markets and explain the Market Geographics, Market Demographics, Market Psychographics and Market Behaviors.
2.1.2 Market Needs
Describe the Market Needs of your target markets and how you cater for these needs.
2.1.3
Market Trends
Describe the Market Trends of your target markets and create a Market Forecast based on your experiences.
2.1.4 Market Growth
Explain the Market Growth of your target markets over the last few years.
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2.2 SWOT Analysis
The following analysis should highlight the internal strengths and weaknesses of your business and the
opportunities and threats facing it in its external environment.
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2.2.1 Strengths
Describe the strengths of your business. This could be any of the following: Reputation, Brand, Values, Staff, Strategy, Structure, Skills, Style, Systems, Facilities etc.
2.2.2 Weaknesses
Describe the weaknesses of your business.
2.2.3 Opportunities
Describe the opportunities you can see for your business. This could be any of the following: Suppliers, Competitors, Markets, Guest / Client Dependency etc
2.2.4 Threats
Describe the threats you have identified for your business. This could be any of the following: Market Entry, Substitutes, Economy etc.
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2.3 Competition
Identify your key competitors, describe their services, market shares, growth rates and pricing. You need to know who you are competing with, or you might be in for a nasty surprise when suddenly your markets migrate to a competitor you didn't even know about.
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2.4 Services
Explain your services that differentiate you from your competition.
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2.5 Keys to Success
List the "Keys to Success" as you see them.
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2.6 Critical Issues
You may have many strengths and few weaknesses but you need to be honest to yourself, there are always some critical issues. You need to identify these and describe them logically, not emotionally!
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2.7 Historic Results
Surely your previous marketing activities have produced results. Analyse them and list the ones with the best results such as product / price / place / promotion etc.
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2.8 Microenvironment
Describe the external, environmental issues that affect your business such as political / economic / social / technological etc issues.
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| 3. Marketing Strategy |
The marketing strategy is developed based on your situation analysis and needs to communicate the unique set of your products, services and brand values to your clients.
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3.1 Mission
Here you need to describe your mission. What is it you are doing and why!
It could be something like this, but please don't copy, THINK of your own values:
"The ................... is dedicated to providing its guests with the highest quality of service and
standards. We seek to deliver on our promise of value and quality above all else. We value our
place in the community and will work to develop those relationships and to respect and protect our
environment.
We will continue to strive to create value for the company whilst honoring our
brand values and encouraging our personnel to develop themselves in an environment of trust, loyalty and encouragement."
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3.2 Marketing Objectives
Ask yourself what it is you want to achieve with your marketing campaigns.
Sample:
• To continue to communicate our strategic objectives to our target markets effectively.
• To provide a positive accommodation experience to all our guests.
•To accomplish our growth targets within the given time and budget. Expand our markets and identify new markets for our products and services.
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3.3 Financial Objectives
Ask yourself how it will influence the financial part of your business.
Sample:
• Increase overall room revenue by 10% on the next year.
• Accomplish growth within the given budget of R ?
• Increase corporate contracted rates to reflect the return of confidence in the corporate
travel market.
• Keep payroll expenses down and reduce the level of overtime within the workforce.
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3.4 Target Marketing
Describe the markets / customers you want to target with you marketing campaigns. This needs to be in line with your services and products you offer.
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3.5 Positioning
Describe the positioning of both your physical location, and the your services / products on offer.
Sample: "The ............ is positioned as a five star plus, holiday traveller's hotel, strategically located
and offering a high level of personal service. Our focus is on offering our guests added value and
differentiating ourselves in our levels of personal service. We provide a quality hotel experience
where guests are valued, respected and their business is truly appreciated."
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3.6 Marketing Mix
The classic marketing mix includes: Place, Product, Pricing and Promotion
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3.6.1 Place. Describe where your marketing takes place. Sample: "Our product and service information is sold to the guest via personal selling, direct marketing,
advertising and the Internet. Delivery channels include travel agents and international reservations
systems."
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3.6.2 Product. Describe your product in short. Sample: "Our high quality facilities accompanied by exemplary personal service, differentiated from
competition inline with the overall brand strategy has proven to be a successful approach
generating high levels of repeat business."
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3.6.3 Pricing. Describe your pricing strategy. Sample: " Our Pricing strategy has been consistent with the differentiation objective, to provide added value for a
reasonable rate as opposed to discounting and devaluing our products and services.
Room rates quoted are per night, per room with continental breakfast
included:
• single - R ?
• double - R ?
• double deluxe - R ?
• suite - R ?"
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3.6.3 Promotion. Describe your promotional focus: Sample: "Our primary focus will remain on mass communication via print ads in trade publications
and on the Internet. Direct mail campaigns to existing and prospective clients will increase as a
cost effective means of targeted campaigning.
Personal selling in the local market will remain an important element of the mix in order to
continue to build long-term relationships within the local community and generate high levels of
corporate activity.
Public relations activities will continue to play an important role in the marketing mix, presenting
the hotel as a supportive member of the community and participating in significant local events."
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| 4. Financial, Budgets and Forecasts |
Here you will give an overview of the financial implications, your budgets and predicted forecasts.
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4.1 Sales Forecast
What do you see will happen or what do you want to happen in the next year. Tip: Display a chart with your monthly Sales Forecast accompanied by your spreadsheet calculations!
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4.2 Expense Forecast
Explain your marketing expenses and your monthly budget. Tip: Display a chart with your monthly Expense Budget accompanied by your spreadsheet calculations!
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4.3 Linking Sales and Expenses to Strategy
Elaborate on how your sales are influenced by your budget and vice versa. Tip: Display a chart with your monthly Sales vs. Expenses Forecast accompanied by your spreadsheet calculations!
Sample: "Our marketing expense is structured to reflect the corporate strategy differentiation. Quarterly
travel trade publications and interim monthly press ads communicate our message to key
corporate clients in one of our most significant target markets. Monthly Internet advertising
expenses include banner ads, and strategic links with car hire, airline and destination management
companies' websites to drive business to the hotel. Direct mail activity builds our targeted
customer database, not only in terms of improving the quality of the data we currently hold, but on
increasing the size of the database with prospective customer information. Public relations
expenses cover PR events, participation at local functions and sponsorship funds. Overall, the
percentage of total revenue required to support the marketing expense is considered a moderate
amount."
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4.4 Contribution Margin
Tip: Display a chart with your Contribution Margin Forecast accompanied by your spreadsheet calculations!
Contribution margins should increase due to:
• Differentiation/focus strategy increases ability to specialize.
• Maintenance of expenses within specified levels.
• Increased efficiency in capacity utilization.
• Economies of scale due to increased purchasing efficiencies.
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| 5. Controls |
Describe what controls you put in place to adhere to the Marketing Plan.
Sample: "Our marketing plan is structured to enable us to achieve the strategic goals we have set for
ourselves, in terms of increasing overall revenue as a result of differentiating our products and
services from the competition. Our marketing team will ensure that the plan is implemented to the best of their ability and with
the highest levels of efficiency and accuracy."
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5.1 Implementation Milestones
Describe the milestones of your marketing plan. Tip: Display a chart with your Marketing Milestones.
Samples of possible milestones:
- Update all marketing materials
- Contract media space
- Ad agency liaison on print ad material
- Evaluate business results ongoing quarterly
- Direct mail lists to purchase / prepare
- Ad agency liaison on direct mail material
- Despatch / monitor campaign results
- Public relations functions to schedule
- Evaluate sponsorship requests
- Establish list of sponsorship events / companies
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5.2 Marketing Organisation
Describe your marketing organisation and the duties of everyone involved.
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5.3 Contingency Planning
Have a plan for the time where your marketing plan faces unexpected developments!
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Above marketing plan layout is intended for orientation purposes. You might want to add some headings or even take some of them away.
However, the content of your marketing plan needs to be your content!
As said before, do not copy a ready made plan, but start to think about your marketing, this is where the real benefit lies! |
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