Glossary of marketing planning terms
Assumptions The major assumptions on which the marketing plan is based.
Benefit A perceived or stated relationship between a product feature and the need the feature is designed to satisfy. See also Differential advantage and Feature.
Brand A name or symbol which identifies a product or service. A successful brand identifies a product or service as having sustainable, competitive advantage.
Budget The revenue and costs associated with forecasts used in planning.
Business plan A plan commonly intermediate between a company’s strategic plan and its annual marketing plan. The purpose of the business plan is to establish the broad business objectives and strategies to be pursued by the business unit or centre over a time period of as many as five years. In this respect, business plans are similar to strategic plans which concern themselves with equally long time-frames. Business plans are like strategic plans in one other respect: usually they deal with such strategic considerations as new product development, product acquisition, and new market development to achieve desired financial goals. Business plans also require extensive marketing input for their formulation and, in this respect, they share characteristics in common with marketing plans. However, business plans generally do not include action programmes – a feature typical of marketing plans – but simply spell out intentions and directions. For example, if new product development was among ...
