Programme: BTEC Higher National Diploma (HND) in Business
Unit Number and Title: Unit 19: Marketing Planning

Unit Level: QCF Level 5 (Y/601/1259)
Module Tutor:
Email:
Date Set: 07th April 2014

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Module Specification

Aim
The aim of this unit is to provide learners with the understanding and skills to develop marketing plans that meet marketing objectives, and meet the needs of the target market.

Unit abstract
Effective planning is essential for any marketing activity to ensure that an organisation realises its marketing objectives. Without planning, marketing activity can be inappropriate and waste resources and opportunities.

This unit introduces learners to different ways of auditing, to looking at how internal and external factors can influence marketing planning for an organisation, in order to build up a picture of the marketplace.

Learners will gain an understanding of the main barriers to marketing planning, the effects of barriers, and how these can be avoided or overcome.

Ethical issues in marketing are important in terms of how an organisation and its products are perceived by customers and employees, and can affect the overall ethos and ultimate success of the organisation. This unit will enable learners to investigate and examine how exemplar organisations have been affected by ethical issues, how they deal with them, and how ethical issues should be taken into account when developing marketing plans.

On completion of this unit learners will be able to produce a marketing plan for a product, a service or an organisation that is realistic, in terms of objectives and resources, and effective in terms of the current situation in the marketplace.

Learning outcomes
On successful completion of this unit a learner will:

1 Be able to compile marketing audits

2 Understand the main barriers to marketing planning

3 Be able to formulate a marketing plan for a product or service

4 Understand ethical issues in marketing.

Unit content

1 Be able to compile marketing audits
Changing perspectives: changing perspectives in marketing planning; marketed strategic change

Assessment of capability: evaluate issues relating to aspects of competing for the future and balancing strategic intent and strategic reality

Organisational auditing: evaluating and coming to terms with organisational capability; balancing strategic intent and strategic reality; the determinants of capability e.g. managerial, financial, operational, human resource and intangible (brand) capability; approaches to leveraging capability; aspects of competitive advantage

External factors: approaches to analysing external factors that influence marketing planning; the identification and evaluation of key external forces using analytical tools e.g. PEST (Political, Economic, Social, Technological), PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Ethical), STEEPLE (Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal, Ethical); the implications of different external factors for marketing planning; Porter’s five forces analysis; identifying the organisation’s competitive position and relating this to the principal opportunities and threats; market, product and brand lifecycles

2 Understand the main barriers to marketing planning
Barriers: objective/strategy/tactics confusion; isolation of marketing function; organisational barriers (organisational culture, change management, ethical issues, behavioural, cognitive, systems and procedures, resources); competitor strategy and activity; customer expectation

3 Be able to formulate a marketing plan for a product or service
The role of marketing planning in the strategic planning process: the relationship between corporate objectives, business objectives and marketing objectives at operational level; the planning gap and its impact on