January 2003
This sample marketing plan has been made available to users of Marketing Plan Pro™, marketing planning software published by Palo Alto Software. Names, locations and numbers may have been changed, and substantial portions of text may have been omitted from the original plan to preserve confidentiality and proprietary information.
You are welcome to use this plan as a starting point to create your own, but you do not have permission to reproduce, publish, distribute or even copy this plan as it exists here.
Requests for reprints, academic use, and other dissemination of this sample plan should be emailed to the marketing department of Palo Alto Software at marketing@paloalto.com.
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Copyright Palo Alto Software, Inc., 1998-2002

Confidentiality Agreement
The undersigned reader acknowledges that the information provided by
_________________________ in this marketing plan is confidential; therefore, reader agrees not to disclose it without the express written permission of _________________________.
It is acknowledged by reader that information to be furnished in this marketing plan is in all respects confidential in nature, other than information which is in the public domain through other means and that any disclosure or use of same by reader, may cause serious harm or damage to
________________________.
Upon request, this document is to be immediately returned to _________________________.
___________________
Signature
___________________
Name (typed or printed)
___________________
Date
This is a marketing plan. It does not imply an offering of securities.

Table Of Contents
1.0

Executive Summary

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

2.0

Situation Analysis . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1
Market Summary . . . . . . .
2.1.1 Market Demographics
2.1.2 Market Needs . . . .
2.1.3 Market Trends . . . .
2.1.4 Market Growth . . . .
2.2
SWOT Analysis . . . . . . . . .
2.2.1 Strengths . . . . . .
2.2.2 Weaknesses . . . . .
2.2.3 Opportunities . . . .
2.2.4 Threats . . . . . . .
2.3
Competition . . . . . . . . . .
2.4
Product Offering . . . . . . . .
2.5
Keys to Success . . . . . . . .
2.6
Critical Issues . . . . . . . . .

3.0

Marketing Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.1
Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.2
Marketing Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.3
Financial Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.4
Target Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.5
Positioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.6
Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.7
Marketing Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.8
Marketing Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

4.0

Financials
11
4.1
Break-even Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.2
Sales Forecast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.3
Expense Forecast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

5.0

Controls
16
5.1
Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
5.2
Marketing Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
5.3
Contingency Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

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