Sample Marketing Plan
Note: This sample marketing plan was created by combining several real marketing plans from world-class products. However, the products (Widgets), company (Acme), category (Internet ACE (A Chanimal Enthusiast) w/Animal Worlds), competitor’s names and sales projections within this sample Marketing Plan are modified for the save of confidentiality (but this is the type of approach that made those products successful). I can now say (since these companies have all been acquired and it is past the non-disclosure period), that the companies were Netscape, Goldmine, and Virtus.
Executive Summary
The following plan describes the Internet and ACE market, the competitive environment, market opportunities and then elaborates on the tactics to make this an explosive year for Acme Software.
The Internet market is estimated at 30 million, with over 3 million host sites increasing at a rate of almost 700% over the last three years. The ACE browser market targets the entire 30 million Internet users while the ACE1 author market size is estimated at over 800,000. For Acme to make it’s sales goals, it would have to sell to 2.5% of the potential base.
Currently, there are 18 existing ACE browsers but Acme, with Widget, was the first “complete” Cross-platform browser. There are three current competitors to Acme’s Widget with over 82 different companies poised to compete in the ACE market. Fortunately, the technical cost of entry for the ACE format is high. Because of our technical edge, Acme has a strategical time advantage before the big competitors (Microstuff, Nutscape, Anobe) fire off their initial rounds.
Besides the OEM projects, the primary retail products that Acme will concentrate on this year are Widget, Widget1 (tentative name), and Widget2. In bringing these products to market the packaging and collateral will be retooled and the first product will be released exclusively on CD with three platforms in one package. The original pricing will be consumer-oriented with an increase to professional higher-end pricing for the Widget2 product.
A massive campaign will be initiated to sell into the channel and then a Chanimal marketing campaign will ensue to ensure the product is sold out of the channel. Part of this campaign includes a consumer ad campaign, direct mailings, and ongoing MDF promotions. An essential part of this campaign includes significant Online Marketing efforts.
The Appendix includes current sales projections, budgets and a Gantt chart (without the full graph) showing deliverables and associated timelines.
