An important note to the reader from the authors
STOP
Producing an effective marketing plan that will give your organization competitive advantage is not easy. It takes knowledge, skills, intellect, creativity and, above all, time.
Everything you need to succeed is in this book, but you must be prepared to devote time to it. It is most definitely not a quick read!
FAST TRACK
However, for those who need a fast track to producing a marketing plan, Chapter 14 will help you. Be careful, however:
A little learning is a dangerous thing. Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring.
(Alexander Pope)
INTERMEDIATE TRACK
For those interested principally in how to tie all marketing initiative together in a strategic marketing plan, it is possible to omit Chapters 7–11, as these contain a level of detail on specific area of the marketing mix. Again, however, be careful and only omit these chapters if you feel that you already know enough about promotion, pricing, sales, channels, CRM and customer service to be able to outline appropriate strategies in your strategic marketing plan. Also, particularly in Chapters 7, 10 and 11 there are some crucially important state-of-the-art developments in digital marketing described in some detail, each of which is substantially changing the face of marketing.
An important test to help you decide which track you need
It is important that you complete the questionnaire which follows before you start Chapter 1. This test was developed by the authors for the ...
