A marketing plan is at the basis of every company for its products and services. This plan launches the direction that a business is going to take in order to support their business, draw customers, take advantage of any known opportunities and make a profit (Winer, 2004). The purpose of any plan in business is to spot the directions that one is going to take in order to reach an exact result. Planning is at the heart of business principles that emphasizes the future probability and success of a business. The planning is based on the idea that before a business can hope to compete effectively and achieve a competitive advantage in the marketplace; it must start with clarity in direction. That means having a well defined mission and create a workable approach to realize that mission. A business plan is about sitting down, describing the future course for the business and then working out the best possible way to get there. When a person in business writes a business plan, an important piece of that overall business plan is the marketing plan. The purpose of a marketing plan is to clearly recognize the direction that the company has decided to take in order to market their specific business and how to go about promoting that business as well as how to attract and retain customers and utilize identified marketplace openings. A marketing plan helps define how to interact with customers and what marketing activities to undertake in order to enhance those same customers experiences. The marketing plan locates many things such as who the main consumers will be, who the competitors are, where will the distribution be, what will be sold, amount of earnings, what type of endorsements for the product, level of service, and so on (Winer, 2004).

The marketing planning process forces one to assess what is going on in that given marketplace and how it affects their business. Many times, just starting the process of preparing a marketing plan directs in developing a successful marketing strategy. A company learns to gather targeted information on their business and the ongoing volatility of the marketplace. During all of this research, a company learns who its customers are and how to best meet their needs. A marketing plan helps join the marketing efforts into one unified effort. The marketing strategy is shaped by the overall business goals. It includes a description of the business, a depiction of the products or services, a profile of the target users or clients, and defines the company's role in relationship to the competition. The marketing strategy is basically a document that can be used to judge the suitability and helpfulness of a specific marketing plan (Preston, 2006). The marketing plan can be thought of as the practical application of the marketing strategy. Looking at all of this, it is clear that one cannot have a marketing plan without a marketing strategy.

The marketing strategy provides the goals for the marketing plans. The marketing plan is like a road map with the specific plans. There are around 6 major components to a marketing strategy. The objective, customer targets, competitor targets, product or service features, core strategy, and implementation/marketing mix (Winer, 2004). How a company will deal with the competitive marketplace and how they will implement and support its day-to-day operations is a broader way to look at it. Because today’s marketplace is so aggressive, a strategy that insures a dependable approach to offering a product or service in a way that will outperform the competition is significant. There must also be a well-defined methodology for the day-to-day process of implementing it. The objective is usually formed by the mission statement. This mission statement focuses on the major goals in terms of the business and the customers as well as the business philosophy. The objective also falls into much more specific areas such as financial goals, sales growth, profitability, market shares, advertising awareness, and so on. Many times, the goals or objectives can actually clash one another. This can come into play in the area of increasing market shares and increasing profits. This happens because in order to increase market shares the price would have to be lowered or engaging more salesman. These lower the profit and can also increase costs so it is fighting against increasing profits. Because of this, there is usually priority given to one objective over the other. Lastly, all objectives should be quantifiable, have a specific time frame, and should have measurable terms.

Customer and competitor targets focuses on which customer group or demographic to focus on. Within this area there are two general strategies. The first one is market penetration strategy, which spotlights current customers, customers who are already buying the product. The second one is a market development strategy. This highlights customers who have been targeted to buy a certain product, but have not been convinced enough to actually buy it. Customers from the first strategy should be the highest priority because they have the potential to be loyal customers and also to buy more in the future. It is also important to keep the competitors in sight. In order to sway customers from another company and to keep current customers from going elsewhere, it is pertinent to know where the other companies are at and how they are marketing their products (Ashmore, 2005).

After determining the customer and the competitors it is important to look at the product features. Taking a look at what was found out about the customer’s tastes and competitor’s products, decisions must be made about the specific features that the product will have. Features such as size, internal components, color, packaging, and design are all important to look at. Some companies develop different features for different segments (Lake, 2006). Such as the Sony Viao being advertised to high school and college kids in different packaging than it is offered in to large corporations. Core strategy and implementation are the last of the six. This is where the company strengths have the opportunity to convene with the market opportunities. Developing and competitive advantage is the basis of why customers will choose one product over another. There are three characteristics of gaining competitive advantage. Customer value should be produced, the consumer must see the increased value, and lastly, the advantage should be difficult to replicate. The implementation stage is also known as the marketing mix. This is when the marketing manager makes the strategy operational. This is the most tangible stage out of them all. Implementation must always have suitable channels of distribution, advertising, product features, proportionate pricing, and customer service (Winer, 2004).

As aforementioned, a good place to begin the creation of a strategy is by deciding what the overall objective of the company should be. After choosing a direction that will be most helpful in the interests of the company, the next step would be to choose a strategy that will be most effective in that market. There are many different strategies out there, to name a few: cost leadership strategy, differentiation strategy, and focus strategy (Porter, 1985). The cost leadership strategy is basically a concept saying that one can produce and market a product at a lower cost than competitors. The low costs (savings) should convert to profit margins, which are higher than that of the industry average. Conditions that should exist to support this strategy are an ongoing availability of operating funds, good manufacturing skills, close supervision of labor, products that are easy to manufacture, and distribution at a low cost.

The differentiation strategy is creating a product that is thought of as being unique in that given industry. Importance should be on brand image, special features, better service, strong technology, and a good distributor network (Gruendling, 2006). This “differentiation� should also convert to profit margins higher than average. Some areas that should exist to carry this plan include strong marketing capabilities, successful product engineering, an imaginative workforce, and the skill to research well and have a good reputation. The last strategy would be the focus strategy. This one is probably the most complicated of the other strategies listed. The focus strategy is a more extreme form of the other two strategies. It focuses on a specific segment of the marketplace, product, or cost management. It is usually engaged when the timing is not right to try a more holistic application of the other two strategies. Basically, this strategy works for serving a particular market in an outstanding way, so competitors cannot compete. This usually is in the form of serving a smaller market than others in the industry. Because this strategy brings barely any competition, the profits can be high. The marketing plan and the marketing strategy both play an integral part in what can become a huge success story. If they are followed and executed correctly, the potential for growth is limitless.

References
Ashmore, E. (2005). What are the Components of a Good Marketing Strategy?
Retrieved July 10, 2006, from http://www.ashmore-assoc.com/marketing
strategycomponents.html
Gruendling, K. (2006). Savvy Marketing Tips to Gain a Competitive Edge [Electron
Version]. Rural Telecommunications, 25, 20 â€" 27.
Lake, L. (2006). Marketing Basics for the Small Business. Retrieved July 11, 2006,
from http://marketing.about.com/cs/sbmarketing/l/aa060103a.htm
Porter, M. (1985). Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. New York: The Free
Press.
Preston, S. (2006). Marketing Basics. United States Small Business Administration.
Retrieved July 11, 2006, from http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/marketing
/basics.html
Winer, R. (2004). Marketing Management (2nd ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education.

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