Suggested Marketing Communications Plan Format (SOSTAC Model)
Executive Summary* – Presents a brief overview of the proposed plan. The marketing communications plan should open with a brief summary of the plan’s main goals and recommendations. It should wet the appetite of those who may read it! E.g. senior management, or colleagues who will implement your proposal. It should assist them to grasp (within one minute) the overall plan’s thrust/direction. It is similar to an abstract written for an essay or academic paper or final year project. This should not be more than one A4 page!
Acknowledgements* – (This is a useful exercise for your final year/placement project. So why not develop this good practice now?). You can thank God, mummy, dad,” significant others”, tutors, marketing communications company, of course the lovely library staff!. Don’t forget friends who helped you when the “chips were low” or anyone who inspired you! Please no Oscar speeches! Check with the client and organisation re: relevance.
Table of contents*, Glossary of terms, Table of Illustrations – This should follow the executive summary. It should identify where one can find the information (with page numbers and appropriate sections) contained in the plan. You should also have a table of illustrations and abbreviations. We expect you to have appendices and a bibliography.
Note – This is not part of the page count and these sections should be numbered using roman numerals.
Introduction – You should introduce your campaign and the marketing challenge and incorporate it into the situational analysis below. Past students have chosen different ways to do this. So look at past assignments and chose the most appropriate one.
Situational Analysis (Current marketing situation) – This section presents relevant background data on the market, competitors, distribution, and the macro-environment. Your source of information should be Athens Database including (Mintel, Keynotes, Euromonitor, Emerald), FT.com, Economic Intelligence Unit, Industry specific sources for example, FIA, Automobile Association, sponsors websites & publications, ABTA, WTTC (World Travel & Tourism Council), Academic journals, books and articles about the industry, empirical research, including your own).
Opportunity and issue analysis – After summarising the current marketing situation, you should proceed to identify the major opportunities and threats, strengths and weaknesses, and the issues facing the product line or your idea or campaign.
Objectives – Once you have summarised the issues, you should decide on the plan’s CSMART marketing communication objectives. You should ensure that you have covered these objectives in the plan. People would want to know the USPs and the brand promise being communicated.
Marketing Communications Strategy – You should outline (briefly) the broad marketing strategy or game plan to accomplish the plan’s objectives. In developing the strategy you should carry out the necessary primary and secondary research. You should state your strategies, first as the traditional 4 P’s and then add you are moving to the 4 Cs (Refer to articles by Fill C, Duncan T and Lauterborn, B). Please also refer to the 7Ps.
| 1 | Product strategy | Customer | |
| 2 | Pricing strategy | Cost | |
| 3 | Place (Distribution) strategy | Convenience | |
| 4 Promotion strategy | Communication | ||
Creative Strategy – This is the “pitch” describing the vision, the emotional touch point and/or inspiration that underpins the creative aspect of the campaign. It should be cross-referenced to the media pack and the rest of the report. It should make sense to non-media/creative people and a door way on how it will be implemented. It should win the client and target audience over, whilst offering options to various approaches.
Tactics & Action Programs – The marketing communications plan must specify the broad marketing programs for achieving the business objectives. Each marketing strategy element must be elaborated to plan! We need only proposed costs of the communication element of the campaign. This should be cross-referenced to the tactics and action programme. To help answer questions: What needs to be done? Why it should be done? Where will it be done?
(product placement)? When will it be done? Who will do it? How much will it cost? The tactics should relate to the elements of communication mix. The action programme should be in the form of a Gantt chart and or calendar form. All items should be linked to your overall strategies and budget. We need to see how you arrived at the costings!
Budget – This should outline the total budget for the campaign on the credit side. On the debit side you should indicate where the costs for the various promotions would be spent. Please note this is not a marketing
Controls – The last section of the marketing communications plan outlines the controls for monitoring the plan. Senior management can review the effectiveness of their strategies/tactics during the campaign. The control section will include contingency plans. A contingency plan outlines the steps management would take in response to specific adverse developments, such as negative responses or an advert being “pulled” by media networks, etc. price wars or strikes. A diagram would be useful to summarise your thoughts.
note – You should adapt the marketing communications plan to suit your individual circumstances and needs. A marketing communications plan should fit into a marketing plan, which in turn fits into a business plan. Marketing communications plan is usually used for specific campaigns. You need to know what goes into a marketing plan before you develop a marketing communications plan. Please do not forget the relevant appendices – for example, references, bibliography and relevant supporting data.
