The fundamental marketing planning questions provides a framework for understanding the analysis and decision making involved in marketing planning. The stages of the marketing planning process links with the key fundamental planning questions to substantiate the analysis and decision making involved.
The links are as follows: a. Where are now and how did we get here?
The stages of the Business mission, Marketing Audit, SWOT Analysis (could include PEEST, 5 Forces) focus on the business mission which explains the reason for its existence, an audit/examination of the marketing environments, including competition, customer and target markets, and the strengths and weaknesses of the products and/or organisation. b. Where are we headed?
The stage of Marketing Audit and SWOT analysis provide insights by examining marketing environments, objectives, strategies and activities to identify key strategic issues/problem areas. This is further complemented by the SWOT Analysis which will identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the business and its environment. c. Where would we like to be?
The results from the above lead to the stage of defining the marketing objectives. This serves as a roadmap for the business. There are 2 types of objectives that need to be considered i.e. the strategic thrust (future direction of the business) and strategic objectives (product focus) and together they define where the business and its products intend to go. d. How do we get there?
Now that the business has the objectives articulated, the process of the achieving them must be determined. This is