Marketing Planning

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Of course Ike had the staff and resources to do it right. If you find yourself a little short on your general staff, The Marketing Guy can pitch in with:

• Long and Short Term Product Planning. For the short and long terms, you need to plan how your products will evolve to meet changing market conditions. Your current products are only as viable as the markets they serve. The Marketing Guy can help you make sure your products keep pace with dynamic markets by comparing the trends and needs of those markets and your products' applicability to those needs.

• Competitive Analysis. What is brand X up to these days. Brand Y ? Where are they heading ? Who's gaining on whom ? At whose expense ? Are you all playing a zero sum game ?

• Strategic Planning. Now that the markets and competition have all been analyzed, how do you blend it all together with your product plans to produce a market strategy to achieve your goals ? You do know what those goals are don't you ?" +newline+newline+

• Market Analysis. Which ways are your markets going ? What's the next trend around the bend ? Where is the next bend? The answers to these and other questions need to be updated on a regular basis. But are they?