Can you live without a marketing budget? You can live. But not for long if you are a small company, and a little longer if the company is large.

What is this budget for? To understand how much money you spend on attracting and retaining a client, how much it costs you to contact one client, how much profit this client brings and what is the difference between costs and income.

Ideally, all this describes the marketing budget. Yes, not all marketing and advertising expenses explained in terms of customer acquisition cost effectiveness. But the fact that everything that happens is subordinated to this goal is beyond the shadow of a doubt.

So, you are the person who makes the marketing budget.

It would be a mistake to think that when preparing you are responsible for it directly to the CEO of the company. Yes, sometimes it is like that. But if you dig deeper, then the board of directors, who hired this CEO, comes into play. Keep this in mind when budgeting.

In addition, the concepts of profitability of marketing tools are often vague, and even more often, generally unclear to those who have not delved into the field of marketing. Don't forget: your CEO will have to defend the spending plan to the board of directors, so the budget logic should be as transparent as possible.

rule1 . About friendship with financiers

Be sure to become friends with the CFO. Senior financial manager. Leading financier. It doesn't matter what he's called on your team or what his nominal position is. The main thing is that this is a person who knows the principles of budget formation in the company and is responsible for them.

I don’t want to explain fundamental things described in textbooks for “non-financial managers”. Pseudoscience and theorizing during budget layout for me, for example. plunges me into a state of slight shock: I myself try to simplify everything as much as possible. Experience has shown that simplicity of presentation and clear logic in the formation of a budget document are very important.

Rule 2. About the logic of the budget

In one of the companies where I worked, there was simply no budget for the current year. It was agreed upon by the highest authorities, and there was no deadline for approval. All payments were made according to the principle “let’s give a project and see if there are funds for it.” I had to urgently establish interaction with the financial director and the budget controller. Since the financial director had the final understanding of the general state of the budget, and the budget controller had knowledge of the availability of money, it was possible to obtain information about funds without unnecessary losses and launch marketing projects on time.

The budget logic should:

– And be extremely transparent

– Be understandable to a person who is far from marketing

Rule 3. About the true goals of the company

When drawing up a budget, it is important to adhere to the true goals of the company, even if they are not spelled out in the strategy. Moreover, the strategy itself may simply not exist. This happens very often.

Talk to everyone who was responsible for preparing the strategy. Find out what the company actually plans to achieve. This may take more than one month. Unfortunately, in large organizations, even new tops are not immediately allowed into the “internal kitchen”.

In general, if you are a beginner and you need to set up an annual budget, immediately abandon the article and go get acquainted. Perhaps you'll get lucky.

This is rule number three: know exactly the company’s goals (especially if they are not declared or are very different from those included in the strategy). And you need to meet a person who can explain them clearly.

Rule 4. About clients

And so, armed with real goals and enlisting the support of experts, you sit down to create a budget. Where to begin?

The best way is to use a portrait of the client. Determine gender, age, specific behavior and habitat. Research media that is relevant to your audience. Remember who your real customers are. Don't build a b2b story where a b2c story is needed. And don’t forget about who evaluates the quality of your spending.

This is rule number four. Research your client and determine their favorite media.

Rule 5. About media channels

Study the media themselves and the cost of contacting a potential client with each specific media. If you look at the country as a whole, regardless of the specific audience, then we have TV and digital in the top. According to ACAR data (comparison of the 1st quarter of 2014 and 2015), out of all types of advertising, the non-banner component of the digital market has grown. The rest of the media slowed down and went into negative territory. This is partly explained by the crisis and increased spending during the Olympics last year. But the growth trend in online advertising is difficult to ignore in any case.

At the same time, mobile advertising is actively growing in the digital market. The share of requests from mobile devices in 2015 increased by 10% in just the first quarter compared to the previous year.

Presentation of Naked Digital Truth by Andrey Chernyshov, Vice President of Strategy at Dentsu Aegis Networks (Conference “Change Consciousness”)

Now let's go through the rest of the media. What remains? Radio, outdoor advertising, BTL communications and offline press.

How does modern marketing view the use of these media? Looks normal. Depends on the goals of your campaign, of course.

Outdoor advertising. Whether you need it or not - decide for yourself. It is believed that she has one of the cheapest contacts with a potential consumer, but it is difficult to say which of those who saw the advertisement actually responded to it.

Separate story - advertising signs and outdoor advertising near shopping and entertainment complexes. If the advertised product/service is located next to the information carrier, you can try this tool. But I increasingly consider the mass purchase of billboards and city formats in cities to be pointless.

Radio. A flexible tool for specific purposes. You can reach a business audience, especially if the station is popular in its segment. For b2c, try joint competitions, interesting formats, but direct advertising is again a big question.

BTL-advertising. This includes events, conferences, promotions and other ways to reach your audience. Many people also include souvenirs in this expense item. If your events give you contacts and subsequent profits, work with them.

Printed press? -Wave to her. Seriously. The print media market is actively declining, and in the next few years, in my opinion, only extremely specialized publications for paper lovers will remain. Well, and TV guides. You can work with them.

If we talk about the division of media channels in the budget, then everything changes very quickly.

Even five years ago, when we launched the Disney Channel on cable, we spent a fair amount of money on the outdoor campaign. And this turned out to be justified - the channel very quickly entered the top in terms of its audience. The campaign was quite targeted, but it worked perfectly. Not least due to the fact that in all cities where such an opportunity was available, the creatives featured a visual reference to the symbol of the city. It doesn’t have to be formal, the main thing is that it is known to the residents. By doing this, we immediately made it clear that the channel was our own, close and understandable. In the regions, such things are viewed extremely positively. In addition to creativity, of course, we worked very well on the geography of the placement of media, placing them at key junctions, intersections and at exits/entrances to large areas. Advertising in TV guides also worked well.

Naturally, if the launch took place now, the share of outdoor advertising in the budget would be significantly reduced, and TV guides would have to be seriously considered.

How much money should you budget for?

You can use the task-by-task method to define exactly what the company wants to achieve. The company’s goals will help us with this (see Rule 3), as well as an assessment of quantity and quality potential clients who need to be involved to achieve these goals.

The marketing budget in numbers is the combined cost of attracting one client (the number of contacts that need to be purchased for this) multiplied by the number of required attracted clients.

In fact and in experience, everything varies greatly. Somewhere marketing is formed spontaneously, somewhere a percentage of turnover is given out, somewhere on a residual basis, and somewhere on a method of justifying each expense.

In the companies where I worked, the budget was most often formed as a percentage of the company's turnover. This percentage included expenses for key marketing campaigns for a certain period. Media is usually the most expensive part of the budget. Video game companies spent significant amounts of money on events and trade shows, with relatively little investment in traditional media tools. On TV channels, the largest part of the budget was allocated to traditional media (including online communications).

There is a lot to be said about budgeting. But not within the scope of a review article. Each market has its own specifics, not to mention its organization and structure. Budget wisely, ask questions, and try to learn the basics of Excel if you haven't already.

The marketing budget depends on how much big company, what is its specialization, what niche does it occupy and what strategy has it chosen. Find out how to properly plan a marketing budget and whether you can completely abandon it.

Issues discussed in the article:

• What is a marketing budget?
• What factors influence the marketing budget.
• What items are usually included in the marketing budget.
• What methods are used to create a company's marketing budget?
• What methods exist for determining a marketing budget.
• Is marketing possible without a budget?

What is a marketing budget?

The marketing budget is understood as a marketing plan presented in kind and in cash. A marketing budget gives an idea of ​​the amount of revenue, expenses and profit. The process of budget formation is the transformation of projects included in the marketing plan into expenses with their subsequent reimbursement from the proceeds from the sale of products.

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The marketing budget allows you to highlight the main and secondary tasks and strategies in the field of marketing, make wise use of resources and effectively carry out administrative functions. The main goal of forming a marketing budget can be to determine the allocation of resources in such a way that all opportunities are used to achieve financial goals.

There are several specific features of a marketing budget:

• can be formed both for a time interval and for a specific event (individual procedure, study, promotion);
• Expenses include the company's expenses for various marketing campaigns;
• Operations of a qualitative and quantitative nature that determine the effectiveness of marketing activities are considered as income.

The formation of a marketing budget is influenced by:

• economic development of the state (distribution economy - minimal, market economy - up to 30% of sales volume);
• belonging to certain industries (the size of the marketing budget in the production of cosmetics and perfumes in some cases is 70% of sales volume, while in industries with a low level of competition (in particular, raw materials) the amount of marketing costs is much less);
• the size of the company and its position and aspirations in the market (if you do not strive to get close to the leader, then you can take advantage of its achievements in market coverage without significant costs);
• type of product produced and its novelty;
• the extent to which the company has mastered the market;
• the specifics of the enterprise development strategy and how concerned she is with her own authority;
• level of competition in the market.
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What are the features of marketing budget planning?

Drawing up a marketing budget plan is a rather complex process that lies within the responsibility of the company’s management. The marketing budget includes costs in such areas of the organization’s work as:

1. study and assessment of the state of certain market departments, which can be market-driven, medium- or long-term;
2. guaranteed preservation of high competitiveness of goods;
3. ensuring effective promotion of products;
4. implementation of information messages between the company and its customers, for which advertising is used, various methods of effectively stimulating the sale of products, participation in various marketing activities;
5. creation of a secure network for the sale of goods.

Marketing budget planning ensures successful development companies with intensive market development. With the help of a marketing budget you can realize a large number of goods and reimburse all costs related primarily to the production and analytical sphere, while at the same time receiving large profits.

Expert opinion

Determining a marketing budget isn't always easy

Roman Tkachev,

project manager for promoting the MDV brand, AYAK group of companies

Quite often, entrepreneurs take spending on marketing activities lightly, as a newfangled trend, without seeing in them a means that can help expand and retain their customer base. Marketing expenses are not always perceived as an investment in attracting or retaining customers. This happens because marketers cannot present management with a coherent and high-quality development project.

One of the most important tasks in policy development further development The company's goal is to determine the size of the marketing budget. This means that the budget includes not only advertising costs, but also costs associated with studying the market situation, designing brand symbols, customer service management and other promotions.

It must be borne in mind that drawing up a marketing budget serves to clarify the company’s current position, determine the course of its development and ways to achieve its goals. The marketing budget plan is key in terms of organizing the company's efforts to generate income. Thus, the marketing budget determines all other activities of the enterprise.

What factors influence the marketing budget?

1. Time of activity of the organization.

A start-up business needs much more funds for development than one that is already confidently standing on its feet. This is why young firms need to invest the lion's share working capital into the marketing budget, often absorbing the entire turnover.

Firms that have some experience and their products are usually already familiar to customers. This allows you to create a marketing budget in the amount of 20% of the entire profit of the organization, without harming its work.

For an enterprise that has been on the market for decades, it is enough to allocate funds only to maintain its own authority and promotions that remind customers of the brand. The size of the marketing budget in this situation will fluctuate between 3-5% of working capital, which will allow the company to feel quite comfortable.

2. The scale of the organization's activities.

An example of forming a marketing budget would be a situation where a small company producing building materials operates in a small town. It operates only in its region, where prices are lower and consumer demands are not as high. The marketing costs of such an organization will be significantly less than those of a worldwide famous brands, for example Danone or Ford, which operate on all continents. The profit received in the first and second cases will also differ radically.

Advertising can also be approached in different ways, for example, take best time on a state television channel or place a small advertisement on the pages of a local print publication. The results from these approaches will vary just as much as the audience. When choosing types of advertising, it is important to understand exactly who you want to reach and what result you intend to achieve.

4. The desired effect of marketing investments.

According to statistics, advertising efforts bring results only in approximately 1% of cases. Having made the simplest calculations, you can understand that out of a hundred who received the information, only one person will contact the company. Understanding this will make it easy to calculate the amount of money that needs to be invested in an advertising campaign.

5. Level of training of marketing specialists.

When choosing a marketer, you should understand that there are “pros” who will show off with their grandiose projects, spend impressive sums, without achieving any results and blaming everyone and everything for failures. However, there are also more expensive, but at the same time much more competent specialists who can achieve high results at minimal cost. Which of these specialists to hire is up to the manager to decide.

A practitioner tells

How to Set Marketing Budget Requirements

Boris Karabanov,

Director of Methodology, Intalev Group of Companies, Moscow

Marketing budget requirements:

1. Clear boundaries.

So, you can determine the amount of marketing costs based on sales volume of 5%. This will allow you to fix the amount of marketing costs at a constant level, as well as the profitability of income.

2. Fixed amount of circulation cost.

This approach will allow you to determine whether the income received from customers justifies the costs incurred in connection with their attraction. The table below shows an example. Thus, the company employs 5 marketers in three positions. The marketing department has a plan to carry out promotions that can provide a certain amount of requests corresponding to the standard indicators for the position. The sales budget is limited to 36 million rubles, and the marketing budget is 2.5% of sales and equals 900 thousand rubles. Based on these data, the cost of calls for each position is then calculated.

Activities aimed at attracting customers are not directly recorded in the table. Only the cost of the requests themselves is indicated, including the average cost for the organization per month. If this cost is exceeded, then there is a violation of the plan associated with budget overruns. The dynamics of the violation can move in two directions: the amount of funds spent on activities may increase, or there may be an insufficient number of requests themselves. Thus, the main goal of marketing in this area can be defined as the need to increase the number of calls per 1 ruble of costs (increase the number of sales per call, increase the number of repeat sales to one client).

What items are usually included in the marketing budget?

1. The article “Direct advertising”, which includes costs associated with paying for advertising placed on television, radio, print media and external resources.
2. Article “Creation”, which includes production costs, as well as costs associated with the creation of marketing materials (advertising videos, posters, payment for the services of stars invited to participate in advertising, etc.). The following rule has been adopted: expenses on this item should not exceed 10% of the entire marketing budget.
3. The item “Supporting Materials”, which includes the costs of related materials for advertising campaigns (flyers, brochures, catalogs and guides for customers and employees, stationery with the brand logo, etc.).
4. The article “Web”, which became independent due to the active development of computer technologies and their importance for advertising. This includes costs associated with the creation and popularization of sites, their content, promotion in in social networks, payment for their services, etc.
5. The article “Trade Marketing”, which records the costs of carrying out advertising campaigns addressed to direct consumers of goods or resellers, as well as the creation commercial equipment etc.

What methods are used to create a company's marketing budget?

When calculating the marketing budget, the following methods are used:

• “bottom-up”: the budget is developed by an ordinary manager, and then sent for approval to higher-level managers;
• “bottom-up/top-down”: proposals from ordinary managers are checked and corrected by senior managers before approval;
• Top-down/bottom-up: regulatory budget limits are set by senior management, after which line-item budgets are passed on to administrators.

Methods for determining a marketing budget

1. Financing "from opportunities".

Those who worked under a clear order “from above” encountered this method. At this stage, this approach is used in companies that emphasize production rather than sales and marketing. In this regard, the marketing budget is quite small - it includes what is left after meeting production needs (the so-called residual method). The advantage of the method is that the company does not have any conflicts with the distribution of funds for marketing and production requests, due to the priority of the latter by default. The disadvantages include the chaotic allocation of different amounts to the marketing area, which does not allow planning for long periods of time. Often, in this case, there is no money left to analyze the effectiveness of marketing activities.

2. Price list method.

The price list method involves developing a marketing budget plan based on information about expected sales volumes, total costs and target profit standards. F. Kotler called this method “planning based on target profit indicators,” but in fact, the residual principle of financing also applies here. The marketing budget looks like the difference between gross profit and target profit amount. Certain doubts about the application of this method in practice are also raised by the fact that in this case marketing costs are attributed to the distribution of profits, despite the fact that at least some of them constitute the cost of production.

3. “Fixed interest” method.

This method is based on the deduction of a certain part from last year’s (at best, from the expected) sales volume. The method is completely simple to use, which is why it is often used by companies with a large number of branches to calculate the budget of each of their departments. However, experts call this method illogical, since it establishes the dependence of marketing (cause) on sales volume (effect). Positive dynamics when using this method are only possible if marketing development was successful at previous stages. Otherwise, the marketing budget will shrink and the company will reach a dead end.

Typically, this method is used as an auxiliary method when it is necessary to distribute marketing funds to specific areas of activity (for example, advertising, sales promotion, performance analysis, etc.). Among the disadvantages of the method, it can be noted that it does not allow making fundamental changes in the work of the company and is quite subjective, since the amount of the percentage is determined by the decision of management without proper argumentation.

4. Competitor matching method.

The use of this method is possible only if a number of specific conditions are met:

• there must be a competing organization similar to yours in terms of resources involved, area of ​​interest and market position;
• it is required to at least approximately calculate the size of its marketing budget, taking into account the breakdown into individual expense items, which is problematic. Thus, in order to obtain objective data on a competitor’s expenses in a particular area, it is necessary to have your own economic intelligence.

It is worth remembering that the relationship between costs and results is not linear, and a competitor may have more experience in the market and have already achieved our goals. It is also impossible to be completely sure that a competing company has chosen the optimal development strategy and is working to achieve the goals that we have assigned to it.

The main disadvantage of the method is the arrival of a moment when imitation becomes impossible, and in some cases even unprofitable for one’s own development.

5. Maximum expenditure method.

According to this method, the maximum amount of money must be spent on marketing. However, despite the obvious advantages, this method excludes ways to optimize the company’s work. There are also cases where, due to the time lag between spending funds and achieving goals, a company experienced serious financial problems, as a result of which it lost its marketing positions.

6. “Goal - task” method.

The application of this method requires that each marketing activity be aimed at solving specific business goals and correspond to the planned bonuses on the way to the set objectives. To ensure that the use of the method does not cause problems, the company's goals are clearly demarcated, divided into time periods and levels of achievability, which include market ramifications. Also, when implementing the method, the entire set of marketing tools is used. The goal-task method is best suited for short-term planning. If you use it for planning for distant time intervals, then it easily turns into a “capability” method of financing.

7. Method " marginal income».

This method involves referring to previous experience. However, it operates with more specific values ​​than sales volume - for example, the non-linear actual proportion between changes and marketing costs. A combination of different options helps to discover the ideal indicator. Investments with this method are aimed at the most profitable areas and activities. Also, when using the “margin approach” method, serious research and expert work is carried out. This method can be used simultaneously with the “goal-task” method. And it also leads to the balance of the highest cost method.

8. Method of accounting for the marketing program.

This method is based on two already known ones - “goal - task” and the “marginal income” method. We can say that the method of accounting for a marketing program is akin to a functional cost study, aimed at achieving certain goals and objectives in comparison with expenses in the context of the existence of other options for combining marketing tools (other types of marketing policies).

Which method to choose for determining your marketing budget?

Determining how to formulate a marketing budget depends on how responsibly the company approaches the analysis of the effectiveness of this type of activity. At the heart of everything is the concept of “sales reaction function,” which means a forecast of the possible volume of sales of goods at various indicators of costs for marketing activities. In this case, it is necessary to resolve the rather controversial issue of how and in what amounts it is possible to invest in marketing activities. When the “opportunity” method is used, there are often not enough funds for non-standard activities. Using the method based on percentages of profits. Sometimes we are talking about development in successful companies, while others are not destined to overcome the decline. By applying the method of matching the competitor, it becomes impossible to take a leading position compared to the competitor. Thus, the most effective methods are “goal-task” and accounting for marketing projects.

At the same time, we can talk about a pattern that influences the construction of the graph, which reflects the curve of sales volume in terms of marketing costs. If the level of expenses is low, then sales are practically unchanged, because the company’s work is not visible on the market, since the “market sensitivity threshold” has not yet been overcome. If the costs are high, then the goals will also not be achieved, because any demand has its own ceiling, which is quite difficult to approach, and also because increasing turnover will stimulate competitors to similar behavior, to which the market will stop responding.

It becomes obvious that increasing marketing costs in an unstable market situation is much more dangerous than in a situation where the market situation is stable. However, saving on marketing tools in a general crisis will lead the company to a dead end. In other words, cash injections into marketing activities create the basis for the company’s financial well-being in the future.

Expert opinion

What are the possible mistakes when creating a marketing budget?

Victor Kopchenkov,

marketing communications expert, Coffee

Creating a marketing budget is often accompanied by the fact that the person responsible for it does not take into account the relationship between the size of the budget and its effectiveness. When creating a marketing budget, the basic assumption is usually that the budget preparer can predict the relationship between the size of the budget and its effectiveness. Consider, for example, a situation where an enterprise produces a product that is sold within a few weeks. This allows us to conclude that we are talking about consumer goods. Knowing this, you can calculate the number of hits and the percentage of successful transactions when advertising reaches a specific number of organizations.

However, such hypotheses will not be confirmed in all cases. This is influenced by the specialist’s experience in certain specific conditions, as well as the presence of an information and analytical department that processes data on the effectiveness of certain marketing campaigns. This function must be performed by marketers to optimize the company’s future work.

Very often, managers believe that in order to increase work efficiency it is enough to hire a specialist, while forgetting about the specifics of their organization and the state of affairs before such an employee appears. This affects the fact that even a professional is not always able to quickly establish business processes in a specific industry in a specifically defined territory.

Analyzing the role of marketing means, identifying their importance for the company’s work and creating specific budget items together serve to determine the effectiveness of activities, which presupposes the accuracy of actions and the possibility of using the accumulated experience in the future.

Tip 1. Reduce marketing budgets.

As a rule, a decrease in marketing funds is treated as the onset of a crisis, since it is generally accepted that during a decline, spending on marketing activities is primarily reduced. However, it is possible to reduce ineffective spending items.

Sometimes, if you have several marketing directions, you may notice that some of them do not bring results. In this case, these activities should be promptly abandoned so that they do not slow down the activities of the entire organization as a whole.

Often, an organization resorts to all known methods of advertising its products, for example, on the Internet. However, quick and good results are obtained only from one or several methods. Other types of advertising require, for example, a longer period to achieve the desired effect. In this case, you need to correctly set priorities and answer the question of which tasks are paramount - short-term or long-term. Focusing on short-term goals will allow you to achieve high and immediate results from marketing activities. By setting priorities, you will be able to correctly distribute the budget and understand where you need to increase the volume of investments, and where costs can be reduced.

Tip 2: Setting the right performance indicators, taking into account many factors.

Performance indicators must be measured correctly, taking into account all existing factors. Thus, it is worth understanding that the role of sellers and buyers is played by people who depend on weather conditions, holidays, etc., while the Internet is only a tool for their interaction. To get an objective picture regarding key productivity indicators, you first need to highlight all the factors that influence your business and promotions.

Tip 3: Not just product marketing.

Traditionally, firms are interested in increasing sales volumes and quickly making profits, which entails focusing on marketing promotion of goods. However, consumers pay attention not only to products, but also to the level and quality of service, relationships between staff, promotions you run, the work of the call center, interviews, etc. Based on this, you need to understand that marketing should concern all the company’s activities in in general, and not just goods, that is, be both direct and indirect.

Tip 4. Constant analytics.

The study and evaluation of means to increase sales volume lies at the heart of the planning of each company. Based on the obtained indicators, it will be possible to regulate the use of these funds in practice. Through analysis, data can be obtained on the effectiveness of each of the tools you use. There is simply no other way to obtain such information.

Quite a lot of services have been developed for such purposes, for example, Yandex.Metrica or Google Analytics, which carry out statistical recording of data obtained from the results of a comprehensive analysis.

The mechanism of work is as follows: each marketing campaign has its own task, after setting which the indicators of this event begin to be monitored using the already mentioned means.

What will happen to a business if you give up marketing? Will this lead to decline? Will it be possible to maintain your customer base in such conditions? There are a lot of questions. By answering them, you can draw a conclusion about the importance of your marketing activities for the development of the company.

It is possible that no major changes will occur after giving up marketing. This will indicate that your work in this area was structured incorrectly. If the marketing department worked with full dedication, then the result of refusing its services will be noticeable very quickly. Analyzing the importance of marketing for your company will allow you to adjust the allocation of budget funds in the correct way.

Tip 6. New products in your market and your prospects.

Have you ever wondered what your company will be like a decade from now? The fact is that marketing involves not only operational results, but also ensuring stability in the long term. If you do not have a vision for the company's future development, then your marketing is not working at its full potential, since it also implies a predictive function

If you do not care about the prospects for your development, then you can reach a dead end, which is faced by many entrepreneurs who, without thinking about the future, strive only to achieve present goals. This approach suggests that the company does not have a strategy.

In this situation, mechanical work of the staff is carried out, but there is no talk of professional growth, as well as the development of the marketing sphere. The consumer sees what is happening with such a company, and, most likely, at some point will leave for more successful competitors.

Marketing of any company is based on the presence of a unique trade offer. Without this basis and plans for the future, the company becomes impersonal and ceases to be interesting to customers. In a rapidly evolving reality, risks increase significantly.

Tip 7. Your website is the best seller for your business.

Based on the above, one more recommendation can be made regarding the fact that if your Internet resource does not yet occupy a leading position in the sales field, then you need to make adjustments to your strategy. This pattern works for all areas except B2B, where personal contacts have priority.

For successful work, it is important that the site really works and helps increase sales. There are quite a lot of advantages of such a marketing tool. So, it is less expensive than opening a real point of sale, it becomes possible to carry out your activities around the clock, you can use all possible creative approaches, and there is no dependence on the seller.

The existing website must work with a constant improvement in its quality and functionality. In addition, it is required to constantly monitor the results of its activities. Availability of up-to-date data regarding the operation of the site will allow you to competently and productively formulate a marketing budget.

Is marketing possible without a budget?

Is it possible to create marketing without a budget and how to do it? This question most often arises among novice businessmen or in the micro-business sector, where the budget is quite small or non-existent.

Here it is worth understanding that marketing without a budget is a temporary and necessary measure due to a shortage necessary funds in the vast majority of cases. You can start developing a business without a marketing budget if you use unconventional methods and cutting-edge tools. However, in the future, creating a marketing budget is simply necessary.

In what cases is marketing without a budget used?

1. When opening a new business, when there are not enough funds.
2. When introducing a new, unparalleled type of product onto the market.
3. If you occupy a very narrow niche in the market, where there is little competition.

When is it necessary to have a marketing budget?

1. When competition in your field is very high.
2. When companies operating in your market specialize in selling goods and/or services that are similar in their properties and qualities.
3. When you work in an environment of dominant price competition.

Which tools are suitable for marketing without a budget (or with a very limited budget)?

1. Creating sales pages using free programs. For this purpose, it is optimal to contact high-quality designers, where a wide range of tools and functions have been selected, and there are also opportunities for further search promotion of the resource.
2. Independent search engine improvement of the site. This requires preliminary preparation, but allows you to save money by improving the site yourself. In conditions of low competition, such actions can lead to high results.
3. Marketing through Email. The only costs in this matter relate to the creation of a client database that will subscribe to your mailing list. For this purpose, you can use tools such as lead magnets, providing useful information exchange for subscription.
4. Content marketing will be the optimal solution for beginning entrepreneurs and those with limited funds. Creating and distributing useful and interesting content will quickly win the sympathy of consumers.
5. Promotion work on social networks. It is not difficult to master the methods of promotion, and if you do this work yourself, you can limit yourself to very small expenses.
6. Marketing in places of online communication - on forums, portals, chat rooms. This way of working requires a lot of time and creativity, but does not involve costs and can help achieve high results.
7. Another cost-effective promotion tool is viral marketing. However, it requires creativity and increased relevance.
8. Cross-marketing involves finding partners from areas of activity close to you with whom you can conduct marketing activities, as well as advertise each other’s products. This tool has existed and been working for a long time, and its highest effectiveness has been proven by time and the experience of many companies.
9. Marketing based on word of mouth, when your promotion is carried out by grateful clients. To get results from this tool, you need to constantly improve the quality of your products and/or services, customer service, and apply a creative approach, which will ensure constant interest in your company.

Information about experts

Roman Tkachev, project manager for promoting the MDV brand, AYAK group of companies. Graduated from Altai State University (specialist in international relations, orientalist) and Yanshan University (PRC) ( Chinese, international marketing). Involved in the development and implementation of a supply planning system and an accounting and analysis system commercial offers by MDV brand. Group of companies "AYAK" - founded in 1996. Distributor of world famous manufacturers of air conditioning equipment. It has about 50 regional representative offices, more than 2000 dealer companies in the Russian Federation and the CIS countries. Official website - www.jac.ru

Boris Karabanov, director for methodology of the Intalev group of companies, Moscow. GC "Intalev" Field of activity: development and implementation of enterprise management information systems. Territory: the company's offices are located in Russia (Moscow, Novosibirsk), Ukraine (Kyiv), Kazakhstan (Alma-Ata). Number of staff: over 100. Awards: winner of the “Time of Innovation 2015” award in the category “Best innovative solution for efficiency management.” Official website - www.intalev.ru

Victor Kopchenkov, Marketing Communications Expert, Coffee. Since 1993, he has been engaged in market research, strategy development and marketing consulting. Creator of the Marketing in Russia community, its moderator and editor. Founder of the Coffee communication agency. "Coffee" is an agency specializing in building communications aimed at creating and managing a client portfolio. Works mainly in the b2b sector.

Marketing budget: concept and factors

One of the difficult tasks that a company faces is creating a marketing budget.

Definition 1

A marketing budget is a marketing plan that is determined in physical and monetary terms. These are the company’s expenses for organizing product distribution, promoting the product and informing consumers.

The marketing budget reflects the projected amounts of costs, revenues and profits. The essence of budgeting is to transform all marketing projects and activities that are included in the marketing plan into expenses and then compensate them from the proceeds from the sale of goods or services.

The purpose of drawing up a marketing budget is to allocate resources in such a way that investments in achieving the marketing and financial goals of the enterprise will be minimal. But in addition to monetary investments in marketing, there are also investments of time.

The marketing budget can vary depending on a number of factors:

• operating hours of the enterprise;
• the scale of the organization's activities;
• types of advertising used;
• desired return on investment in marketing;
• marketing qualification.

The marketing budget is greatly influenced by the company's time in the market. If the company is young, a startup, then significantly larger investments are made in marketing for promotion.

A company that has been operating on the market for some time has gained some fame. Such a company has its own target audience, which trusts the company, knows its products and location. The marketing budget is approximately 20% of profits.

An enterprise that has been operating on the market for a long time allocates for marketing cash, which are aimed at maintaining the company’s image and reminding customers about themselves. The budget is 3-5% of the organization's turnover.

The marketing budget depends directly on the scale of the company's activities. A small company operating in small town, spends insignificant amounts on marketing. Large corporations, functioning not only on the internal, but also on foreign market, put colossal amounts of money into their marketing budget. At the same time, the profit is quite high, which allows you to allocate funds for marketing activities.

If the marketing budget is small, then inexpensive types of advertising are chosen. Advertising on television is considered the most effective, but requires significant investment. Therefore, expensive types of advertising are chosen by companies with high turnover.

To determine the return on investment in marketing, the advertising effect will be calculated mainly, since advertising is an element of marketing. After viewing the advertisement, a certain number of potential customers can contact the company. How many requests will be received, how much the company will spend.

An important factor is the experience and qualifications of the marketer. A competent specialist will increase company profits with a small marketing budget.

Marketing Budget Planning and Methods

When planning a marketing budget, two models are used. The first is planning based on target profit indicators. The second is planning based on profit optimization.

In the first scheme, marketing budget planning is carried out in several stages:

1. assessment of the total market volume for the next year (the growth rates and market volumes in the current year are compared);
2. forecasting market share next year;
3. forecast of sales volumes for the next year;
4. gross profit forecast;
5. calculation of product costs;
6. determining the price for sale to intermediaries;
7. determination of revenues for the planned year (sales volume multiplied by unit price);
8. calculation of the benchmark target profit from sales according to the expected profitability ratio;
9. marketing costs;
10. distribution of the marketing budget by elements of the marketing mix.

The second model involves profit optimization, which requires company management to clearly understand the relationship between sales volume and marketing components. The term used for this is the sales reaction function. This is a forecast of the possible sales volume within a specific time period under different conditions of spending on one element or the entire marketing mix. The assessment is carried out using statistical, expert and experimental research methods.

There are three ways to create a marketing budget:

• "bottom-up";
• "top down";
• mixed.

Note 1

The most effective method is considered to be “bottom-up”. Unlike others, it takes into account the requirements and conditions of the market. The budget in this case is drawn up by specialists who have practical experience solutions to real market problems. Next, the developed budget is approved by the immediate manager

The “top-down” method is the distribution of marketing funds based on the overall budget of the enterprise. The project calculates the budget based on projected or current sales volume. The difficulty arises in determining the percentage of sales that is invested in marketing. The company must have extensive experience in marketing.

The mixed method involves a combination of the first two methods.

Methods for determining a marketing budget

In practice, the following methods for determining the marketing budget are used:

• "capacity" or "cash" financing;
• “fixed percentage” method (percentage of last year’s sales revenue);
• method of “matching the competitor” or competitive parity (method of self-defense);
• maximum cost method;
• method based on goals and objectives;
• method of accounting for a marketing program.

The first method sets a limit on the amount a company can spend on marketing. Since the budget size is different every year, this makes it difficult to plan for the next year, etc. This method is used mainly by small and start-up companies.

The second method is based on the deduction of a certain share of last year’s or planned sales volume. This is a very simple method of determining a marketing budget, but is considered the least logical, as it makes marketing dependent on sales volume.

The competitive parity method is to set the budget size at a level that matches the costs of competitors. The company analyzes the budgets of competing enterprises. Such information can be obtained as part of marketing research (surveying representatives of competitors, observation, evaluation of advertising, advertising strategy, study of secondary information).

The maximum expenditure method involves large expenditures on marketing activities. The downside is ignoring ways to optimize costs. The consequences of using this method are possible financial difficulties.

The goals and objectives method requires a clear statement of the goals and objectives of the marketing system. This is the determination of the costs that will occur within the framework of specific marketing activities to ensure the achievement of goals. The process of formulating goals and objectives is quite labor-intensive. In addition, in the process marketing activities goals are frequently revised.

The final method is to consider the costs of achieving specific goals compared to the costs of other combinations of marketing tools. Those. is given Comparative characteristics probable costs of alternative options for implementing a marketing strategy.

• identify the main factors that influence advertising budget;
• choose a method for forming an advertising budget;
• decide on the types of advertising;
• evaluate cost effectiveness and, if necessary, reallocate costs.

Step 1. Determine the main factors on which the advertising budget depends

The goal you want to achieve

Often the goal of a marketing campaign is formulated very vaguely: “So that people know about us...” The goal can be specified (made quantifiable) by answering the following questions:

• Who should find out? Determine the target audience of products and advertising. The target audience of the product is the direct consumers of the product, the target audience advertising – those who make a purchase decision or significantly influence this decision. The more detailed description of your target audience you have, the better. If you don't have data, do research and find out who your consumer is. Namely: where, when, how often, under what circumstances, with whom and with what emotions the consumer buys and uses your products.
• What specifically should consumers know? The object of advertising is established (products, services, new items, company image, terms of cooperation, unique offer, etc.).
• What will this give you and in what time frame? It is clarified how long it will take to solve the problem and how it relates to sales volumes and profits.

To plan a budget, all goals must be quantifiable, otherwise it is impossible to evaluate achievements or allocate resources. Slogans are usually formulated: “we will advertise”, “we will hold an action”. Instead, you need to plan to achieve specific goals, such as attracting 1,000 new customers through advertising in the trade press.

A new product or service requires more intensive advertising. The costs of introducing a new company's product or service into a highly competitive market often eat into the first year's gross profit. Promoting a company, its products and services always requires large initial expenses (see Table 1).

Table 1. How marketing expenses depend on goals

Step 2. Selecting a budgeting method

Methods for determining the marketing budget are given in Table 2. The most common method is to determine the budget as a percentage of the expected (or achieved) sales volume or of the profit received. This method is quite simple and at the same time accurately reflects the main goal of tactical marketing - increasing sales. Also very popular are methods of planning “on the residual principle” and in comparison with the costs of the leader or closest competitor. All of these methods of determining marketing costs are logical and consistent, but they are best used in combination.

IN developed countries specific gravity marketing costs are about 25 percent of the cost of traditional goods and up to 70 percent in new products. Considering profitability, the basic share of marketing costs for traditional products is in the range of 10-15 percent of sales revenue. In Russia, the share of marketing costs ranges from 1 to 5 percent, that is, on average, 3 percent of revenue.

Example: a company plans to launch Russian market new brand and intends to occupy 15 percent of the market. The company's analysts estimate the market size at $2 billion.

Target sales = market size x target market share:

$2000 million x 0.15 = $300 million.

percentage of marketing costs = average percentage of the marketing budget in Russia (3 percent) x adjustment factor depending on the goal (1.6 - “implementation”).

Thus, the required percentage of marketing costs = 3% x 1.6 = 4.8%.

Amount of Marketing Spend = Percentage of Marketing Spend x Target Sales: 300 x 0.048 = $14.4 million.

IN Russian companies As a rule, a “compromise” approach to the formation of an advertising budget is used. Its essence is in preparing two budgets - desired and actual. Desired is the budget you would like to have to achieve maximum coverage of your target audience. Valid - what you can actually spend on advertising based on the calculation of the payback period of the product. By comparing these two budgets, an acceptable (compromise) option for the company is developed.

Step 3. Decide on types of advertising

The distribution of the marketing budget by main cost items depends on the industry in which your company operates, on the strategy for solving marketing problems and the type of market. Experts recommend an integrated approach, when the impact on the consumer occurs through several channels simultaneously. Ask yourself: Where is my ad most likely to be seen by the target audience? This is often where the delivery of your message to the consumer fails.

Step 4: Evaluate Cost Effectiveness

The final indicator of marketing activities is the company's turnover or sales revenue. But, for example, at the initial stages of introducing a product to the market, it is more important to achieve a certain consumer awareness and create a favorable image of the product or service. Therefore, at each individual stage, to assess the effectiveness of marketing costs, it is advisable to use different indicators depending on previously formulated (quantitatively measured) goals. The goal itself should serve as the main indicator of effectiveness: if you reached the goal, it means that you effectively planned the costs and implemented the plan, if you didn’t achieve it, adjustments are needed.

The marketing budget is one of the most difficult tasks that business leaders have to deal with. The marketing budget includes: expenses for market research (market, medium and long-term), for ensuring the competitiveness of the product, for information communication with customers (advertising, sales promotion, participation in exhibitions and fairs, etc.), for organizing product distribution And sales network. The funds for the above activities are drawn from profits, which without such expenses would be much larger in mass, however, on the other hand, without marketing expenses, it is unlikely that in modern conditions it will be possible to sell a sufficient number of units of goods to recoup the costs of research papers and everything else related to its production, not to mention making a profit. Therefore, the allocation of funds for marketing is a solution to an optimization problem with a large number of variables, the influence of which usually cannot be accurately accounted for, that is, a typical prognostic problem. The influence of variables is also, as a rule, non-linear and must itself be determined empirically. That is why in determining the marketing budget such big role traditions, the experience of top managers of the company and the analysis of marketing costs of competing firms play.

To estimate the order of magnitude of marketing expenses, you can use the profit equation:

P=SW- ,

where P is profit, S is sales volume in pieces, W- list price, O - transport, commission and other expenses for the sale of 1 unit of goods, A- costs of production of 1 unit of goods, not related to marketing, but depending on the volume of production, F- fixed production costs that are not related to marketing and do not depend on the volume of production and sales, R

If we assume that when exporting finished products the usual profit on capital invested in production, trade and marketing is 10%, this equation takes the following form

R+D = 0.91SW - .

However, the difficulty is that the sales volume S depends nonlinearly (and with some uncertainty) on R And D, although this dependence can be determined by regression analysis methods (a priori it can be stated that for each company the regression equation is strictly individual).

Since the rate of profit depends on the market share occupied by the company (with a share of less than 10%, this rate is approximately 11% for companies producing personal items, and 5% for industrial goods, with 20 - 30% of the market the rate increases, respectively, to 12 and 16% depending on the type of goods, with 40% of the market - up to 22 and 27%; and with a market share of over 40% - up to 25 and 30%, respectively) from the profit equation it follows that advertising or promotion costs should increase according to as the firm establishes itself in the market.

A.P. Durovich notes that marketing practice uses various methods determining the marketing budget. However, it is obvious that none of them is universal and perfect. Therefore, we confine ourselves to considering the most common.

The most common methods for determining a marketing budget are:

Financing "from opportunities";

Method of "fixed interest";

The method of "compliance with a competitor";

Maximum cost method;

Method based on goals and objectives;

Marketing program accounting method

Opportunity funding is carried out on the principle of “as much as you can allocate”. This method is used by firms focused on production rather than marketing. The latter usually accounts for only what remains after satisfying the demands of production as such (if anything remains). The only, but very dubious, advantage of the method is the absence of any serious conflicts with production departments due to their unconditional priority. The imperfection of the method is obvious at first glance. First of all, this is the absolute arbitrariness of allocating specific amounts, their unpredictability from year to year and, as a consequence, the impossibility of developing long-term marketing programs, planning the marketing mix and all the activities of the company.

"Fixed interest" method based on the deduction of a certain share of the previous or expected sales volume. For example, a value of 3% of last year’s sales is assumed. This method is quite simple and is often used in practice. However, it is also the least logical, since it makes the cause (marketing) dependent on the effect (sales volume). When focusing on the results of the past period, marketing development becomes possible only if it is previously successful. If there is a market failure and sales volume decreases, then the amount of deductions for marketing also falls proportionally. The firm is in a dead end.

Competitor matching method involves taking into account the practices and level of marketing costs of competing firms, adjusted for the balance of power and market share. For its implementation, a number of conditions must be present. First, you should select a competitor who is close in resources, interests and market position. Secondly, it is necessary to at least approximately determine the size of its marketing budget, which is very difficult. While a competitor's efforts in advertising and sales promotion are visible in the market and can be at least approximately ascertained, the costs of marketing research and product development are difficult to estimate.

This method of developing a marketing budget allows for the use of collective experience, but is not consistently optimal. There is no guarantee that the competitor chosen by the company to follow acts wisely enough, rationally forms its budget, and in general proceeds from those goals that we involuntarily attributed to it.

Maximum cost method suggests that as much money as possible should be spent on marketing. Despite all the apparent “progressiveness” of this approach, its weakness lies in the neglect of ways to optimize costs. Moreover, given the fairly significant time interval between the implementation of marketing expenses and the achievement of results, the use of this method can too quickly lead the company to difficult financial difficulties and, as a result, to a departure from the marketing concept.

Method based on goals and objectives requires a coherent system of clearly formulated goals and objectives. The essence of the method comes down to calculating the costs to be incurred as part of individual marketing activities to ensure the achievement of the corresponding goals. Therefore, in such cases, a revision of the goals is often required. In general, carrying out specific calculations when using this method is quite difficult and time-consuming. Maybe that's why only a few companies turn to him.

Marketing program accounting method involves careful consideration of the costs of achieving specific goals, but not in themselves, but in comparison with the costs of other possible combinations of marketing means, i.e. when implementing other “chains” of marketing strategy alternatives.

Taking into account the disadvantages inherent in each of the above methods separately, it should be noted that the most justified budget will be drawn up on the basis of an integrated approach using individual elements of all the techniques considered. This method of budget formation can be based, for example, on a focus on completing a given task, taking into account the actions of competitors and the funds that the company can allocate for marketing.

When determining the budget, it is necessary not only to determine the total costs, but also to distribute them both across the main areas of marketing activities (marketing research, product development, advertising, sales promotion, etc.) and within them.

Marketing planning

Goals and objectives of planning in marketing

The practice of domestic business shows that many firms are still operating without officially adopted plans. In most start-up companies, managers are so busy that they simply do not have time to plan. IN small companies Having accumulated some work experience, managers, intuitively feeling the need to have a plan, at the same time believe that they can do without formal planning, and therefore, it cannot be of significant importance. They don't want to take the time to prepare a written plan. They say the market is changing too quickly for the plan to be of any use, and it will end up gathering dust on a shelf. It is for these and a number of other reasons that many firms do not use formal planning. Large firms assess the importance of a marketing plan completely differently.

But formal marketing planning allows you to reap a number of benefits. In particular, M. Branch lists these benefits in the following order:

1. Planning encourages managers to think long-term.

2. It leads to better coordination of the efforts undertaken by the company.

3. It leads to the establishment of performance indicators for subsequent monitoring.

4. It forces the firm to more clearly define its objectives and policies.

5. Planning makes the firm more prepared for sudden changes.

Any planning starts with strategic planning. The strategic planning process consists of developing an enterprise program, formulating its tasks and goals, analyzing the business portfolio and long-term planning for the development of the organization. The mission statement of the enterprise must be market-oriented, realistic, motivating, and specific in the sense that it directs the company to take advantage of the most promising opportunities available.

Taking into account the above, strategic planning requires an assessment of each of the production facilities included in the enterprise in order to draw a conclusion about the advisability of their expansion, preservation, termination or use of the achievements of their activities.

To ensure a firm's growth, strategic planning requires identifying market opportunities in areas where the firm needs to have a clear competitive advantage. Such opportunities can be identified along the paths of intensive growth on the scale of modern market activity, such as deeper market penetration, expanding the boundaries of one’s market or improving the product, as well as along the paths of integration growth within the industry and along the paths of diversification growth.

“After the development of general strategic plans,” believes F. Kotler, “each production of the enterprise will have to develop its own marketing plans for goods and market brands.” The main sections of the marketing plan are: a summary of benchmarks, a statement of the current marketing situation, a list of threats and opportunities, a list of tasks and problems, a statement of marketing strategies, action programs, budgets and control procedures.

Flexible system planning eliminates the link to planning periods and can change activities quite arbitrarily as changes occur in the market and in the enterprise itself. It allows you to react flexibly to market fluctuations. The absence of a marketing plan deprives the enterprise of clear, stable goals.

Strategic plan The enterprise determines what kind of production it will be engaged in and sets out the tasks of these productions. Now each of them will have to develop their own detailed plans. If production includes several product groups, several products, brands and markets, a separate plan must be developed for each of these positions. That is why we are faced with production plans, product plans, brand plans and market plans. All these plans are collected into one - the “marketing plan”.

Strategic planning must satisfy specific needs and marketing, and other functional areas. This is not always easy, as the goals and needs of different functional units differ.

The orientation of the different functional areas is as follows:

1. Marketing - attracting and retaining a loyal group of consumers through a unique combination of product, sales, promotion and price.

2. Production- making full use of production capabilities, reducing relative production costs and maximizing quality control.

3. Finance - operating within established budgets, focusing on profitable products, controlling credit, and minimizing borrowing costs to the company.

4. Accounting - standardization of reporting, careful detailing of costs, standardization of transactions.

5. Technical Services - development and adherence to specific specifications, limiting the number of models and options, focusing on improving quality.

6. Supply- purchase of materials in large homogeneous batches low prices and maintaining small inventories.

7. Legal services- ensuring the security of the strategy from the government, competitors, distribution channel participants and consumers.

Top management must ensure that each functional unit is willing to balance viewpoints in the joint decision-making process and participate in this process. Friction between services is inevitable, but it can be reduced by openly discussing differences and encouraging contacts between separate departments; look for people who bring together technical and marketing knowledge; create cross-functional working groups, committees and management development programs; develop the goals of each department, taking into account the tasks of other services (for example, evaluate the heads of marketing departments not by exceeding sales targets, but by the accuracy of forecasts). This is quite reasonable. Suffice it to say that in the practice of foreign companies, deviations in the accuracy of the forecast in one direction or another by more than 5 - 10% indicate the unprofessionalism of the marketer.

Strategic planning is the management process of achieving and maintaining a stable balance of the organization's goals, capabilities and resources and new market opportunities.

The environment within which marketing occurs includes factors controlled by top management and factors controlled by marketing. In order to coordinate them and create a basis for decision-making, it is useful to use a consistent strategic planning process. From a marketing perspective, a strategic plan specifies what marketing actions a firm should take, why they are necessary, who is responsible for implementing them, where they will be taken, and how they will be completed. They also determine the firm's current position, future orientation, and resource allocation.

Strategic planning in marketing has a number of specific features:

1. The strategic plan is built on the basis of strategic business units with mandatory condition their interactions. It relies on data from marketing information systems, marketing research, sales departments, and accounting.

2. Uses specific analysis, performance analysis and planned resource allocation models, as well as the organization's ability to develop, maintain and defend its market position. The marketing plan considers both the short-term and long-term consequences of decisions.

3. Integrates environmental analysis and contingency plans to facilitate the process of adapting to emerging changes.

Strategic planning in marketing allows you to solve a number of problems: determine directions for the company’s activities, which will allow it to better understand the structure of marketing research, the processes of studying consumers, product planning, its promotion and sales, as well as price planning; provide each division in the company with clear goals that are linked to the overall objectives of the company; stimulate the coordination of efforts of various functional units; allows a company to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses from the point of view of competitors, opportunities and threats in environment; define alternative actions or combinations of actions that the organization can take; forms the organizational basis for the allocation of resources; demonstrates the importance of applying procedures for assessing the activities of local divisions of the company in their interrelation.

Planning in marketing solves the following main tasks:

1. Defines the goals, basic principles and criteria for evaluating the planning process itself (for example, differentiation of food products depending on selected market segments, comprehensive planning of a market strategy, determining the volume and timing of financing depending on marketing goals).

2. Sets the structure and reserves of plans, their mutual connection (for example, links plans for the sale of manufactured food products in individual market segments, implements a comprehensive market strategy, sales and production activities regional offices and branches).

3. Establishes initial data for planning (state and prospects for market development, existing and future needs of end users of products food enterprise, forecast of changes in the commodity structure of markets).

4. Defines general organization planning process and framework (level of competence and responsibility of managers, rights and responsibilities of organizational and structural divisions of the enterprise).

Structure and types of marketing plans

Modern business plans of domestic firms, designed primarily for customers and fairly intense competition, must be well substantiated and realistic. All functional divisions of the company participate in the development of the program and plans.

A marketing program is a system of interrelated activities that determine the actions of an enterprise for a given period of time across all marketing blocks. The marketing program contains the main indicators:

1) dates for the start and completion of work on new products,

2) testing of prototypes,

3) organization serial production,

4) determination of the volume and nomenclature of production,

5) volumes of optimal product inventories in warehouses,

6) determining the dynamics and sales volumes of each group of goods in specific markets, including sales-related activities,

7) determination of dynamics and price levels (domestic and export),

8) calculations of financial costs for each program event,

9) determination of the main indicators of the production and economic activity of the enterprise (profit margin, rate of return, cost, etc.).

Modern concept marketing, as interpreted by a number of leading marketers (F. Kotler, J. Evans, etc.) links “consumer sovereignty” with the “new business philosophy”, while relying on evidence base to create a relatively ideal match of the produced product range with the structure of public demand. But in fact, the marketing philosophy of business is the search for the optimal combination of all factors of market success, or rather, carrying out a comprehensive scientific research market aimed at increasing the competitiveness of the company in order to obtain higher profits.

Indicators of market research in the marketing system require planning and programming at the intersection of production and consumption, but in practice, the stochasticity of demand requires an active and adequate response in the sphere of production in close interaction with trade. One of the principles of marketing states that “prices changing during inflationary processes require constant re-education of the company’s consumer.” Therefore, we can conclude that marketing programs are a means of improving the production and marketing activities of individual firms, but they cannot actively influence the emergence and elimination of crisis phenomena in the economy. Marketing programs are formed on the basis of comprehensive market research, identification of customer requests, marketing strategies and tactics and are the basis that ensures the interaction of the commercial and sales services of the enterprise with scientific, technical, design and production departments, based on the interrelated functions of marketing.

Marketing functions are an interconnected set of actions, including:

1) analysis of internal and external environment in which the enterprise operates;

2) market analysis;

3) consumer analysis;

4) study of competitors and competition;

5) study of the product;

6) planning the production of goods based on marketing research;

7) planning of product distribution, sales and services;

8) demand formation and sales promotion;

9) formation and implementation pricing policy;
development and implementation of marketing programs;

10) Information Support marketing;

11) marketing management (planning, implementation and control of marketing activities with assessment of risk, profit, efficiency).

The marketing strategy consists in the formation and implementation of the goals and objectives of the manufacturer and exporter for each individual (segment) market and each product for a certain period of time (long-term, medium daily) to carry out production and commercial activities in full accordance with the market situation and the capabilities of the enterprise. The marketing strategy is developed on the basis of research and forecasting of the commodity market, the study of goods, buyers, competitors and other elements of the market economy. Depending on the adopted strategy, the activities of marketing programs are formed. They can be focused on:

Maximum effect, regardless of the degree of risk,

Minimum risk without expecting a big effect,

Various combinations of these two approaches.
Marketing managers perceive themselves more as professional managers and only then as narrow specialists. The participation of senior management in the development of marketing plans is constantly expanding. Planning is turning into a continuous process aimed at keeping the company's actions in line with rapidly changing market conditions.

The names of marketing plans usually vary: "Business Plan", "Marketing Plan", sometimes - "Operating Plan". Most marketing plans are designed for one year (sometimes for several years). Plans vary in length - they contain 10 - 50 pages. Some companies take their plans very seriously, while others see them as a guide to action. According to marketing managers, the most common shortcomings of marketing plans are their lack of realism, insufficient analysis of competition and focus on short-term results. For businesses operating in the consumer market, the most important guidelines when developing marketing plans are:

Consumer needs and demands;

Positioning of food products and companies (enterprises) in the market;

Price for foodstuffs, including from competing organizations;

The set of qualitative properties of the company’s products and other competing organizations;

Service pre-sale and during sale.

At each product level (production, trademark) a marketing plan must be developed. The marketing plan is one of the most essential outputs of the marketing process.

Marketing plans are classified according to the following criteria:

1. By duration:

Short-term (one year);

Medium-term (from two to five years);

Long-term (from five to ten or fifteen years).

Many firms rely on a combination of these plans.

Short- and medium-term plans are more detailed and

operational than long-term. For example, a one-year plan may set out precise marketing goals and strategies for each product offered by the firm, while a fifteen-year plan may be limited to forecasting the external environment for that period and identifying the long-term needs of the organization.

2. By volume:

Separate marketing plans for each of the main products of the enterprise (used most often by manufacturers of consumer goods);

A single integrated marketing plan (most often used by firms operating in the service sector;

General business plan (usually used by manufacturers of industrial products).

3. According to development methods:

From the bottom up - budgets, forecasts, timelines and marketing strategies are established based on information from salespeople, product managers, and advertising departments. Plans developed from below are realistic because they are based on operational information and have a good effect on the psychological climate (since employees participating in the planning process are responsible for its implementation). However, it may be difficult to coordinate and integrate plans developed from below into a single integrated plan.
and reconciling different assumptions about the same problem, for example, conflicting estimates of the impact of advertising on the sales of a new product;

From top to bottom - the above difficulties do not arise in the development of this plan, when the planned activities are centrally managed and controlled. In this case, you can use complex alternatives regarding competition and provide a single direction of marketing activities. Nevertheless, the involvement of lower-level managers in the planning process decreases and the psychological climate may worsen. These two approaches are combined if top management sets common goals and directions, and employees involved in sales, advertising, goods, develop plans for the implementation of the tasks.

Marketing Plans usually consist of several sections, which are presented in Table 5.

The summary and outline of the plan should provide a summary of the main objectives and recommendations that the plan will address. A summary of benchmarks helps top management quickly understand the main focus of the plan. The summary should be followed by a table of contents for the plan.

Table 5.- Approximate content of a marketing plan by main sections

The Market Situation section, as the first major section of the plan, describes the nature of the target market and the firm's position in that market. The planner describes the market in terms of size, major segments, customer needs, and specific environmental factors, provides an overview of major food products, lists competitors, and identifies the distribution channel. It is important to reflect the product's market position, pricing, gross and net profit for each major product over the past few years.

Level of competition - reflects the company's main competitors in the market. The section provides a description of competitors' production volumes, goals, real and fundamental market segments, the quality level of market service, used marketing strategy and other indicators necessary to understand their intentions and strategies.

Product distribution - the section provides data and characteristics of each distribution channel used. Macro-environment of the firm - this subsection describes the general trends in the business environment - demographic, legal, social, cultural, which in one way or another affect the prospects for production.

The Opportunities and Challenges section aims to get executives to look ahead and imagine the dangers and opportunities that may arise before the sale of goods. The purpose of all this is to force management to anticipate important events, which can greatly affect the company. Managers should list as many hazards and opportunities as they can imagine.

A hazard is a complication arising from an unfavorable trend or a specific event that, in the absence of targeted marketing efforts, on which a particular firm can achieve competitive advantage. The marketer must evaluate the likelihood of each hazard and each opportunity occurring and their consequences for the firm. In addition, the product group manager must determine the strengths and weaknesses of their products.

For example, the strengths of products: the company's brand (trademark) is well known, it has a good reputation; intermediaries selling the company's products are highly professional. Weak sides products: the quality of the company's product is not much better than that of competing firms or lower; there is no clear positioning, unlike other firms, the advertising company is not distinguished by a creative approach; products cost more than competitors' products, but the higher price is not supported by a tangible difference in quality.

The section “List of tasks and problems” explains that, having studied the dangers and opportunities associated with the product, the manager is able to set tasks and outline the range of problems that arise. Objectives should be formulated in the form of goals that the company seeks to achieve during the period of the plan. For example, a company's marketer set the goal of achieving a 15% market share and a 20% profitability of sales before paying taxes on invested capital. But in fact, the company’s current share is only 10%. As a result of the situational analysis, the question needs to be addressed: how can market share be increased? The alternatives are different: price, sales service, after-sales service, packaging, quality, discounts, etc. Based on an analysis of the specific market situation prevailing at a given time, a marketer can come to the conclusion that it is necessary to consider all the main problems associated with options for increasing real market segment.

The “Marketing Strategy” section outlines a broad approach to solving the tasks. A marketing strategy is a rational, logical construction of real actions, guided by which an enterprise expects to solve its marketing problems. It includes specific strategies for target markets, marketing mix and marketing spend.

IN classic version The marketing strategy is presented in the form of table 6.

The target markets are characterized as follows:

Table 6.- Marketing strategy of the company (in relation to food and non-food products)

The marketing strategy must accurately name the market segments on which the firm will focus its main efforts. These segments differ from each other in terms of preferences, responses and profitability. For each of the selected target segments, you need to develop a separate marketing strategy. In presenting the marketing mix, the manager should outline specific strategies for such elements of the marketing mix as new foods, field sales, advertising, food promotion, pricing, and distribution. Each strategy needs to be justified in terms of how it takes into account the risks, opportunities and key challenges outlined in the previous sections of the plan.

When determining the level of marketing costs, the manager must simultaneously accurately indicate the size of the marketing budget necessary to implement all previously outlined strategies. The manager knows that a higher budget will likely result in higher sales, but he needs to develop a budget that will provide the highest profitability.

The next part of developing a marketing strategy is the action program. Marketing strategies need to be translated into concrete action programs that answer questions such as:

1) what will be done;

2) when this will be done;

3) who will do it;

4) how much it will cost.

After developing the action program, the planned profits and losses are determined.

An action plan developed in this sequence and according to the listed sections allows the marketer to develop an appropriate company budget, which is, in fact, a forecast of profits and losses.

In the “Receipts” column, a forecast is given regarding the number and average price - net of commodity units that will be sold. The “Expenses” column indicates the costs of production, distribution and marketing. Their difference gives the amount of expected profit.

At the next stage, the company's management reviews the proposed budget and makes a decision to approve or change the budget. Once approved, the budget serves as the basis for purchasing materials, developing production schedules, planning needs for labor force and carrying out marketing activities. At the same time, a section of the plan is approved - “Control”, which sets out the procedure for monitoring the progress of activities and establishes the persons monitoring implementation.

In practice, the goals of the plan and the allocated allocations are painted for specific time periods (month or quarter). This allows the management of the company to evaluate the results achieved within each individual period of time, and for any nomenclature group of products to identify structures (responsible) that failed to achieve their targets.

The managers of these proceedings will need to provide explanations and indicate what measures they are going to take to correct the situation.

Implementation control annual plans is to continually monitor ongoing marketing efforts and results to ensure that sales and profits are achieved for the year. The main means of control are the study of sales opportunities, analysis of the relationship between marketing and sales costs, and observation of customer behavior.

Important in the system of strategic planning is the analysis of the positions of enterprises in the competitive struggle, the determination of the necessary to improve the position of enterprises, acting by improving the product (like taste, nutritional value, appearance), choosing the most effective strategies.