One would ask - is it necessary to prepare marketing plan for a product that is not yet developed? The answer is definitely yes. In modern market practice or strategy, we do not wait until a product has been physically developed before we can actually formulate the plan to be used in successfully marketing the product. Those who wait until a product has been developed before the outline the strategies to be used in its marketing are more likely to meet with failure.
Formulating marketing strategy for a product yet to be developed physically implies that we are beginning to focus on the variables which will help to market the product. It also means that the marketer is making effort to understand the behaviour of the target market and how he or she can best market the new product by taking cognizance of competitors brands.
It is therefore required that those creating a new product after each product concept have been successfully developed and tested should go into formulating tentative marketing plan which will give the focus on what is required in effectively marketing the products to consumers.
The marketing plan at this stage is said to be preliminary or tentative because it will still undergo some refinement and modifications as new information and data come to light and as the new product is still passing through the remaining stages in its evolutionary process.
The preliminary marketing plan consists of three :
1. The first part describes the target market size, structure, and behaviour, the planned product positioning and the sales, market share, and profit goals sort in the first few years.
2. The second part outlines or gives us the planned price, distribution strategy, and marketing budget for the first year.
3. The third part of the marketing strategy plan describes the long run sales and profit goals and marketing mix strategy over the time.
