Implement and monitor marketing activities
Implement marketing strategies and tactics
Assessment task-1
Many organisations place a great deal of effort into creating a marketing strategy and documenting this into a marketing plan, but fail to implement the required actions and then wonder why the marketing plan failed to deliver the results the organisation was aiming for.
While deciding what to do is important, the actual implementation of the strategies and tactics is equally as important. This means that a systematic approach is required to identify the marketing strategy or strategies of the organisation and then implement the tactics and activities required for each strategy. This initial information can typically be obtained by looking at the organisation’s marketing plan.

The marketing plan

The marketing plan is a document created by an organisation to outline their overall marketing objectives and the strategies, tactics and actions that will be needed to achieve the objectives. It aims to help organise the strategy of the organisation in relation to its products or services.

A marketing plan also includes most of the information required by the marketing department to implement the plan. It is therefore a key document to obtain when planning for the implementation of marketing strategies and tactics.

The following is an overview of the information found in a typical marketing plan.

An overview of the organisation and the industry it in which it operates.
An overview of the current market. This may include a SWOT analysis, a competitor analysis and results from any market research that was commissioned.

The marketing objective or goal of the organisation. This is a statement of what the organisation is trying to achieve or their aim for example, to be the number one online shopping site for electronic goods.

A list of the marketing strategies. A marketing objective or goal may require multiple strategies. The strategies are the long-term actions required for the goal or objective to be achieved. For example, to improve online visibility, to increase awareness of the website and to educate customers.

An action plan. The action plan should outline the tactics or activities required for each strategy. For example, action purchase top placement in internet searches for relevant commonly searched terms, run an advertising campaign on radio and television, establish a loyalty program to increase repeat business and referrals. As with all action plans, it should contain information about the actions required, who will be responsible for them, when they need to be done and the costs associated with each.

The projected budget associated with the plan. This should include estimates of income or revenue resulting from the marketing activities, as well as detailed breakdowns of all costs associated with the plan.

Information relating to control or monitoring the implementation and evaluation of the plan. This typically involves the use of schedules and charts, such as Gantt charts, or similar project management tools.

When implementing marketing strategies and tactics it is necessary to brief participating stakeholders on their roles and responsibilities to ensure the implementation process runs smoothly and efficiently. There are many definitions of a stakeholder, but in the context of a marketing plan, the stakeholders are generally seen as those who either have an interest, or will benefit from the marketing activities, or those that may have an influence on the completion of marketing activities.

This may include: board of directors finance staff human resources staff it staff managers marketing personnel owners production staff supervisor As well as the stakeholders, marketing and non-marketing personnel critical to the success of the marketing plan also need to be identified and briefed. Following on from briefing stakeholders, marketing and