The contribution of marketing planning to the success of an organization, whatever its area of activity, lies in its commitment to detailed analysis of future opportunities to meet customer needs. It offers a wholly professional approach to selling to well-defined market segments those products and services that deliver the desired benefits.
Thoughts to Consider
Organizations operate in a complex and fast-changing environment and managers need some way of interacting with their environment.
Marketing planning is merely a managerial process for coping with environmental uncertainty.
Strategic marketing planning needs to precede tactical marketing planning.
The output of the process (the plan) spells out how an organization expects to achieve its objectives.
Academic researchers agree that there is a link between marketing planning and long-term organizational success.
The planning process is universal, although the formality of its implementation may very between organizations.
NOTE: Organizational culture is the biggest barrier to implementing effective marketing planning.
McDonald, M 2006. How to Plan Marketing. Business the Ultimate Resource. P. 67