Your friend is developing a marketing plan for her new business. What should she put in this plan?

Your friend is developing a marketing plan for her new business. What should she put in this plan?

A. Where she wants to sell her product

B. The price of her product

C. A description of the people in her target market

D. All of the above

Answer: D. All of the above

A comprehensive marketing plan should include all the elements mentioned: For this, they should determine the location of the sale of the product, the price to be fixed as well as a description of the target market. All these components form a coherent plan of the business success in the overall and specific strategic planning.

Pricing is also key to the firm deciding on where to sell the specific product, as it influences its distribution. For instance, an independent business concern dealing with handmade jewellery may opt for the sale of their products to the public on such channels as internet sales on platforms such as Etsy, crafts fairs, and exclusive stores. This results in altering the customers’ experience on how to locate and acquire the product.

Another criterion of a marketing plan is pricing. It should represent the value of the product, the cost of producing the product and the competition prevailing in the market. For instance, an organic skincare line can afford to charge extra much higher prices than a normal skincare line for its products due to the quality of organic and natural ingredients used and biodegradable packaging that is considered to be luxury.

The explanation of who the target market is proves useful in correctly marketing products and services. Demographic information, containing age, gender, and income; information of psychographic character, containing interests, and values; and finally behavioural information. For instance, a fitness app developer might have a strategy of advertising to reach millennials in their 20s and 30s who are more sensitive to technology and are interested in contactless fitness applications. Knowledge of this audience informs where and how certain features are incorporated into the product, which channels will be used for adverts, and what message will be presented.

That way, all these elements have been tackled in the marketing plan to give a guideline to where and how the right customers should be reached with the right product at the right price in the right places.