Chapter 3
THE MARKETING PLANNING PROCESS: 2 REMOVING THE MYTHS
SUMMARY
- Problems and barriers that have to be overcome to make marketing planning work
- Ignorance about the process of marketing planning and associated operational problems
- The main barriers are described and include:
- weak support from the board of directors
- lack of a plan for planning
- confusion over planning terms
- numbers in lieu of written marketing objectives and strategies
- too much detail, too far ahead
- once-a-year ritual
- separation of strategic and operational planning
- failure to integrate strategic marketing planning into corporate planning
- delegation of planning to a planner
- These problems can be overcome by requisite systems, which are outlined
- Exercises to turn the theory into practice
- Readers who are sure these barriers do not exist in their organization may go straight to Chapter 4
- Note to readers: While this is an extremely important chapter, in that many excellent marketing plans fail because of the barriers and problems explained here, those readers who wish to cut to the chase, as it were, may choose to go straight to Chapter 4, although it is strongly recommended by the authors that this chapter should be read before attempting to prepare a plan.
INTRODUCTION
In spite of the apparent simplicity and logic of the process described in the last chapter, marketing planning remains one of the most baffling subjects, both for academics and practitioners alike.
The purpose of this chapter is to remove ...
