The Marketing Plan Handbook
Written by Alexander Chernev

In The Marketing Plan Handbook, Chernev gives a simplified approach to writing marketing plans. It outlines the basic principles of writing a marketing plan and it puts emphasis on marketing as a value-management process. It incorporates the relevant aspects of the business, such as the financial, operational, technological and organizational aspects. Chernev states that marketing plans do not have to be lengthy but should contain need-to-know information and not so much nice-to-know information which is not directly related to the decision at hand and is rarely actionable. He breaks down the marketing plan in eight parts: executive summary, situation analysis, goal, strategy, tactics, implementation, control and exhibits. The executive summary is an overview of the company stating its goals and proposed actions. The executive summary consists of five parts: an introduction, situation overview, goals, action overview and conclusion. It will present the product or service being marketed and the primary purpose of the plan. It will also identify any opportunities or threats in a company’s performance. It will outline the strategy, tactics, implementation and control of the plan and conclude with a short summary. The situation analysis is the evaluation of the company and the environment that it operates in. The situation analysis consists of the company overview, market overview and target selection. It will define the goals, current performance of the company, its assets and core competencies. It will also identify its customers, collaborators and competitors. It will focus on its target as well as those that will not be targeted. The goals are set by involving two steps: identifying the focus of the company’s actions and defining the benchmarks to be reached. This may consist of sub goals set by