阿叡 你已經讀了方珀(Po Fang)教授「如何指導學生寫研究報告」一文嗎，有無好心得？如已讀過，那麼，你問自己幾個問題......

阿叡：

（信甚長，建議你列印閱讀較為方便。）
今天是星期日，我打電話給你，你沒開機。你好嗎，媽媽說你說過可能去倫敦找簡培成玩一星期，然後回學校寫專心論文。你搬到學校住宿的手續辦妥了嗎？

我在上封信上說贊同你照選定的題目方向去做論文研究，但是記得讓主題(thesis statement)範圍小點，化繁為簡，要明確、清楚。三個月時間甚短，也無法做到大題目，小而美更好。我補充一點小意見，你已經讀了方珀(Po Fang)教授「如何指導學生寫研究報告」一文嗎，有無好心得？如已讀過，那麼，你問自己幾個問題：
一、 我的論文題目方向不變，但是否稍作修正會更好？例如，談台灣製造業移轉大陸和台灣失業率的關連問題，製造業範圍太大，似可縮小為單一行業別，如高科技半導體產業，或石化產業，或製鞋產業，…；只談失業率較為負面，如從正面談台灣該行業就業結構的變動，或雙方產業消長，就業人力的需求和變動等是否意義更好？當然也不能反而弄成雜亂。再問看看是不是簡化了，有把握在三個月時間內容易去完成研究嗎？我的修正後的題目是什麼？我為何作此題目，可預期結果嗎？
二、 題旨或主題（thesis statement or main theme）為何？明確、清楚嗎？我作此主題研究的目的為何？意義好嗎？文獻資料的蒐集來源有那些？別人在此領域發表了那些重點論文或評論？我要得到什麼結果，並且是可以言之成理的好結果嗎？我的結果是有創意和意義的（當然，非是經國濟世的大文章，而是你有話要說，方法用對，程序也對，也把研究的結果說得清楚，這就是有意義了）。
三、 我清楚如何去做嗎？如何去進行論文研究和寫作？研究方法為何？研擬一初步大綱，打算如何蒐集資料？列出資料項目清單，一邊蒐集，一般修正補充，用什麼方法？實證呢，模型分析呢，或只作案例、資料、情勢數據分析及歸納（一般研究流程圖的項目不是一成不變，例如不是都要作問卷或田野調查，可能改以模型分析，或案例、情勢的分析歸納）。事前就胸有成竹規劃如何順利進行研究，資料的蒐集、分類要有條理，電腦儲存、備份都要妥當做好，等等……。（為什麼你要花一點時間寫下並修正你的Thesis Proposal？這樣你就可以清楚知道要做什麼，去蕪存菁，按照規劃時間表去做，井然有序又有效率。）
四、 時間表，訂定我的論文研究及寫作進度表，用bar chart schedule 明示未來三個月內的工作進度，有點像行事曆，何時修正完成thesis proposal, 何時見指導教授商談，何時完成初步資料蒐集，何時開始跑模型分析、歸納，何時完成初稿，何時定稿交出。
五、 其他。

以上這些問題你可層層應用5W1H的作業方法去問你自己，以找出更好答案（這是一個經典的系統作業方法，即使後來的SWOT分析和Six Sigma也離不開它；自從我在行政院經建會，後來到研考會我自己用，也請同仁作計劃及評估時要用它，執行時可斟酌修正。）在此，有兩篇有關5W1H文章，張西振：模式，常識的結構化以5W1H為例，以及Using the Five W's and One H Approach to Six Sigma http://www.isixsigma.com/library/content/c080211a.asp by Pradeep Mahalik(*在此引用一小段：5W1H (who, what, where, when, why, how) is a method of asking questions about a process or a problem taken up for improvement. Four of the W's (who, what, where, when) and the one H is used to comprehend for details, analyze inferences and judgment to get to the fundamental facts and guide statements to get to the abstraction. The last W (why) is often asked five times so that one can drill down to get to the core of a problem. 5W1H of Six Sigma explains the approach to be followed by exactly understanding and analyzing the process, project or a problem for improvement. ……)。你細讀，很容易理解，但是要練習，真正層層去問28個問題，慢慢你就會了。這樣，你就會有條理、有好方法去完成論文研究和寫作，此外，將來你一生做人處世、職場工作或從事事業都用得到，也會受益。

我說得有點囉唆，你可以簡化做得簡單點。你可否將原有的thesis proposal再稍作一些必要的修改，我想你的Superviser應贊同，也可再和他一談，我想一定會更好，祝盼你從容、順利完成論文。上次方珀(Po Fang)教授「如何指導學生寫研究報告」一文，以及今天我和你的談話，希望對你有所幫助。謝謝你上次電話中告訴我的話有用，不怪我多事，其實我知道你自己就可以做好論文，我還是有點囉唆。

另有一About 5W1H，以及台灣中國大陸產業發展的互動消長的Bookmarks連結如附檔，請參考流覽。

媽媽和我最近晚餐只吃桂格麥片和水果，我們吃簡單一點，對健康有好處。你卻是要注意飲食，吃好點，以保持良好健康和體力。很有趣，這是年長和年輕的不同。

祝平安愉快。

爸字 20080525

又及，
在1948年被美國人哈羅德·D·拉斯韋爾在一篇題為《傳播在社會中的結構與功能》文章中總結為新聞的“5W”模式（也翻譯為：誰（who）?說什麼（what）?對誰（whom）說？通過什麼渠道（whichchannel）?取得什麼效果（whateffect）?），因為這個5W模式簡潔而清晰，遂成為傳播經典，在新聞傳播學中取得了不可撼動的基礎地位。 《大众传播模式论》一书这样评价：时至今日，拉斯韦尔模式仍是引导人们传播过程的一种方便的综合性方法。 《大眾傳播模式論》一書這樣評價：時至今日，拉斯韋爾模式仍是引導人們傳播過程的一種方便的綜合性方法。 虽然有许多人试图发展或者推翻这个模式，但多数情况下怕是离不开它。雖然有許多人試圖發展或者推翻這個模式，但多數情況下怕是離不開它。


張西振：模式，常識的結構化以5W1H為例

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http://manage.org.cn　2006-12-11 7:14:37 作者： 张西振来源：本站原创 http://manage.org.cn2006-12-11 7:14:37作者： 張西振來源：本站原創

东经控股集团总裁顾问张西振東經控股集團總裁顧問張西振
因为和侯象洋议论“会议记录的格式”问题，想起这个会议记录的常规格式实际上是“新闻五要素”--时间、地点、人物、事件、结果--的应用。因為和侯象洋議論“會議記錄的格式”問題，想起這個會議記錄的常規格式實際上是“新聞五要素”--時間、地點、人物、事件、結果--的應用。 于是百度一下“新闻五要素”，找到了一个“5W”：When何时？於是百度一下“新聞五要素”，找到了一個“5W”：When何時？ Where何地？ Where何地？ Who何人？ Who何人？ What何事？ What何事？ Why何故？ Why何故？ 碰巧这个网页上还有一个H：How怎么样？碰巧這個網頁上還有一個H：How怎麼樣？ 有了这个提示，也就在头脑中把“新闻五要素”与管理课程中的“5W1H”联系起来了--原来它们是同一个东西！有了這個提示，也就在頭腦中把“新聞五要素”與管理課程中的“5W1H”聯繫起來了--原來它們是同一個東西！
顺着这个线索“挖”下去，渐渐地与日思夜想的“模式语言管理”联系到了一起--这个例子，不就是一个“模式”的形成过程吗？順著這個線索“挖”下去，漸漸地與日思夜想的“模式語言管理”聯繫到了一起--這個例子，不就是一個“模式”的形成過程嗎？
无论一个人是否学过新闻写作，都会在头脑中存有一个朦胧的常识：如果想把一件事情向别人讲清楚，就离不开时间、地点、人物、事件、结果等几个要素。無論一個人是否學過新聞寫作，都會在頭腦中存有一個朦朧的常識：如果想把一件事情向別人講清楚，就離不開時間、地點、人物、事件、結果等幾個要素。 平常我们说话，也许不一定每个要素都用上，但要讲清楚，就不能太离谱。平常我們說話，也許不一定每個要素都用上，但要講清楚，就不能太離譜。
就是这样一个“常识”，在1948年被美国人哈罗德·D·拉斯韦尔在一篇题为《传播在社会中的结构与功能》文章中总结为新闻的“5W”模式（也翻译为：谁（who）?说什么（what）?对谁（whom）说？通过什么渠道（whichchannel）?取得什么效果（whateffect）?），因为这个5W模式简洁而清晰，遂成为传播经典，在新闻传播学中取得了不可撼动的基础地位。就是這樣一個“常識”，在1948年被美國人哈羅德·D·拉斯韋爾在一篇題為《傳播在社會中的結構與功能》文章中總結為新聞的“5W”模式（也翻譯為：誰（who）?說什麼（what）?對誰（whom）說？通過什麼渠道（whichchannel）?取得什麼效果（whateffect）?），因為這個5W模式簡潔而清晰，遂成為傳播經典，在新聞傳播學中取得了不可撼動的基礎地位。 《大众传播模式论》一书这样评价：时至今日，拉斯韦尔模式仍是引导人们传播过程的一种方便的综合性方法。 《大眾傳播模式論》一書這樣評價：時至今日，拉斯韋爾模式仍是引導人們傳播過程的一種方便的綜合性方法。 虽然有许多人试图发展或者推翻这个模式，但多数情况下怕是离不开它。雖然有許多人試圖發展或者推翻這個模式，但多數情況下怕是離不開它。
不知道在什么时候，这个新闻5W模式被引入管理课程中，成为一种通行的管理方法，或者说成为一种常规性管理工具--被称为“5W1H”工作法，并发展出丰富多彩的应用版本。不知道在什麼時候，這個新聞5W模式被引入管理課程中，成為一種通行的管理方法，或者說成為一種常規性管理工具--被稱為“5W1H”工作法，並發展出豐富多彩的應用版本。 比较通行的说法是：比較通行的說法是：
1W--What，任务的目标是什么？ 1W--What，任務的目標是什麼？
2W--Why，任务的目的是什么？ 2W--Why，任務的目的是什麼？
3W--When，任务的时间要求是什么？ 3W--When，任務的時間要求是什麼？
4W--Who，任务的参与人员有谁？ 4W--Who，任務的參與人員有誰？
5W--Where，任务执行的地点在那里？ 5W--Where，任務執行的地點在那裡？
1H--How，我清楚如何做吗？ 1H--How，我清楚如何做嗎？
工作任务的下达者要用5W1H来规范自己的指令，工作任务的接受者要用5W1H来向上司确认共识，并用5W1H来与上司探讨明确衡量完成任务的标准。工作任務的下達者要用5W1H來規範自己的指令，工作任務的接受者要用5W1H來向上司確認共識，並用5W1H來與上司探討明確衡量完成任務的標準。
还有人把5W1H发展为解决问题的工具，画出这样的一张表格（到这里变成了5W2H了，下面这张表格由张正龙提供）：還有人把5W1H發展為解決問題的工具，畫出這樣的一張表格（到這裡變成了5W2H了，下面這張表格由張正龍提供）：
也有人把5W1H应用于市场研究：谁买（who）？也有人把5W1H應用於市場研究：誰買（who）？ 为什么买(why)？為什麼買(why)？ 在何处买/使用(where)？在何處買/使用(where)？ 何时买多少(when)？何時買多少(when)？ 习惯什么品牌(what)？習慣什麼品牌(what)？ 如何买(how)？如何買(how)？ 通过5W1H描绘，可以把消费者购买行为的轮廓呈现出来。通過5W1H描繪，可以把消費者購買行為的輪廓呈現出來。
还有人将其用于求职分析：我是怎样一个人（Who）?我应该做什么工作（What）？還有人將其用於求職分析：我是怎樣一個人（Who）?我應該做什麼工作（What）？ 我为什么做这份工作（Why）?我要在怎样的环境里工作（Where）?我应该怎样去工作（how）?是不是考虑我的职业规划了（When）?我為什麼做這份工作（Why）?我要在怎樣的環境里工作（Where）?我應該怎樣去工作（how）?是不是考慮我的職業規劃了（When）?
有人用5W1H于分析企业危机公关传播（等于新闻学的直接引用）：为什么危机会出现（Why）？有人用5W1H於分析企業危機公關傳播（等於新聞學的直接引用）：為什麼危機會出現（Why）？ 针对谁传播（Who）？針對誰傳播（Who）？ 表达什么立场（What）？表達什麼立場（What）？ 何时表达立场（When）？何時表達立場（When）？ 采用何种传播渠道（Where）？採用何種傳播渠道（Where）？ 怎样进行危机公关（how）？怎樣進行危機公關（how）？
通过这一个例子我们可以看出，所谓“模式”，实际上就是把人人都知道的“常识”加以结构化，然后让大家可以方便的应用，甚至可是说是“套用”。通過這一個例子我們可以看出，所謂“模式”，實際上就是把人人都知道的“常識”加以結構化，然後讓大家可以方便的應用，甚至可是說是“套用”。 西方人，特别是美国人对这种方式方法达到入迷的程度，所以人家创造出那么多管理工具让我们来学（其实中国古人也懂得应用模式化的方法，例如《易经》64卦，不就是64个模式吗。只是我们没有很好的继承下来）。西方人，特別是美國人對這種方式方法達到入迷的程度，所以人家創造出那麼多管理工具讓我們來學（其實中國古人也懂得應用模式化的方法，例如《易經》64卦，不就是64個模式嗎。只是我們沒有很好的繼承下來）。 而一旦我们领会了这些模式、方法、工具的本意之后，就会说，这些其实我早就知道。而一旦我們領會了這些模式、方法、工具的本意之後，就會說，這些其實我早就知道。 但是，由于这些早就知道的东西没有模式化，也就不能成为“组织的能力”，需要依靠每一个员工的“悟性”来传承，这就很难保证能够传承下去，或者是否能够传承到位。但是，由於這些早就知道的東西沒有模式化，也就不能成為“組織的能力”，需要依靠每一個員工的“悟性”來傳承，這就很難保證能夠傳承下去，或者是否能夠傳承到位。 前一阵子在北京听原华为副总裁周辉讲课，听到一个华为的“1234销售公关模式”就很受启发。前一陣子在北京聽原華為副總裁周輝講課，聽到一個華為的“1234銷售公關模式”就很受啟發。 大家都知道针对政府或者国有垄断机构推销，需要一些“灰色”的推销公关手段，这些手段是一些业务能力强的销售人员“悟”出来的，也可能在公司内部口口相传，但是很少见到一个公司把它模式化。大家都知道針對政府或者國有壟斷機構推銷，需要一些“灰色”的推銷公關手段，這些手段是一些業務能力強的銷售人員“悟”出來的，也可能在公司內部口口相傳，但是很少見到一個公司把它模式化。 而华为就做到了这一点，他们把推销公关活动模式化为：1个培养--培养未来的客户领导人；2个支撑--各地在当地城市的办事处、高档私人会所；3个平台--学校、医院、体育；4个部门--……（算是秘密，就不说了）。而華為就做到了這一點，他們把推銷公關活動模式化為：1個培養--培養未來的客戶領導人；2個支撐--各地在當地城市的辦事處、高檔私人會所；3個平台--學校、醫院、體育；4個部門--……（算是秘密，就不說了）。 华为不但把这个总结为全公司共享的模式，还编成培训课程，作为各地销售办事处主任的上岗培训考核项目，这样一来，大家运用这个模式，也如同运用5W1H那样简单明了，并且还在应用中有所提高、有所创新，而这种创新则又被纳入新的培训教材中，实现了组织知识的积累和继承。華為不但把這個總結為全公司共享的模式，還編成培訓課程，作為各地銷售辦事處主任的上崗培訓考核項目，這樣一來，大家運用這個模式，也如同運用5W1H那樣簡單明了，並且還在應用中有所提高、有所創新，而這種創新則又被納入新的培訓教材中，實現了組織知識的積累和繼承。
5W1H模式还启发我们，“模式语言管理”中的“模式”要有一定程度的“空筐化”，才能被灵活应用。 5W1H模式還啟發我們，“模式語言管理”中的“模式”要有一定程度的“空筐化”，才能被靈活應用。 这是今天秋天张西振和王甲佳一起去玉环拜访天河水（天河水，本名吴福平，《与霍金对话--中国自然哲学之于新宇宙学》、《文化全面质量管理--从机械人到生态和谐人》两书作者，“○”管理方案创始人）的时候天河水教给我的。這是今天秋天張西振和王甲佳一起去玉環拜訪天河水（天河水，本名吳福平，《與霍金對話--中國自然哲學之於新宇宙學》、《文化全面質量管理--從機械人到生態和諧人》兩書作者，“○”管理方案創始人）的時候天河水教給我的。 天河水打了一个比喻：“床前明月光，疑是地上霜”这首诗就体现了“空筐化”，它描述的情景是具体的，又是适度抽象的，任何人都可以看自己的“床前明月光”，这就是“模式”的生命力所在--一个“模式”可以派生出无数的具体案例，当然必须遵守模式所限定的条件，解决模式所能解决的问题，不能不加分析的滥套模式。天河水打了一個比喻：“床前明月光，疑是地上霜”這首詩就體現了“空筐化”，它描述的情景是具體的，又是適度抽象的，任何人都可以看自己的“床前明月光”，這就是“模式”的生命力所在--一個“模式”可以派生出無數的具體案例，當然必須遵守模式所限定的條件，解決模式所能解決的問題，不能不加分析的濫套模式。
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Using the Five W's and One H Approach to Six Sigma
http://www.isixsigma.com/library/content/c080211a.asp
by Pradeep Mahalik
5W1H (who, what, where, when, why, how) is a method of asking questions about a process or a problem taken up for improvement. Four of the W's (who, what, where, when) and the one H is used to comprehend for details, analyze inferences and judgment to get to the fundamental facts and guide statements to get to the abstraction. The last W (why) is often asked five times so that one can drill down to get to the core of a problem.
5W1H of Six Sigma explains the approach to be followed by exactly understanding and analyzing the process, project or a problem for improvement. Here is an outline of the 5W1H approach for Six Sigma:
What Is Six Sigma – a Concept
The "what" in Six Sigma is a concept, a subject whose basic goal is to focus on the basic steps and analysis. Six Sigma also is a level of quality applied to variations in any process. Sigma, the Greek letter " " is the symbol in statistics used for standard deviation, a measure of variation in the distribution of values. Six sigma ( ) equates to 3.4 defects per million opportunities, providing a stretch goal of near perfection in business products or services.
In the Six Sigma methodology, anything that dissatisfies the customer is a defect, and so understanding the customer and customer requirements is the most important issue in establishing a Six Sigma culture. Six Sigma is a problem-solving management methodology that can be applied to any type of business process to identify and eliminate the root causes of defects, ultimately improving the key business processes and saving cost for the organization. In this regard, the main goal of Six Sigma is that any quality improvements in an organization need to be economically viable.
Six Sigma, as a management philosophy, allows an organization to apply a disciplined, data-driven approach that continuously brings improvement in business process performance by reducing the variability in each business process. Six Sigma creates a culture in an organization aimed at learning to build processes that delivers the business output with flawless quality. Six Sigma also focuses on measuring and controlling the variation at each stage of business process. That sometimes creates a mistaken notion that Six Sigma is a set of statistical tools and a mere strategy for their use. The reality is Six Sigma is a blending of the wisdom of an organization with a methodology and an extensive toolkit to improve both the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization in meeting its the customer requirements.
Why Six Sigma – an Objective
How to achieve the goals is accomplished in "why" context. The goal of Six Sigma is to help people in their attempt to improve business processes to deliver defect-free products and services. Six Sigma requires practitioners to consider both the "voice of the customer" and the "voice of the process," it reduces the gap between the two voices. That leads to more satisfied customers, and that is what makes the Six Sigma initiative a profitable business proposition. Not only does the Six Sigma organization save costs, but it also has great opportunity to increase sales.
Six Sigma focuses on long and sustained success for every improvement projects, improving each and every process in the organization. That gives organizations a way to continue improving year after year and even provides a system that rewards "out of the box" thinking, which can accelerate the rate of improvement.
Since it is a data-driven approach to problem solving, Six Sigma builds robustness in daily management. This starts a set of chain reaction in strategic, tactical and operational improvements, which compels the organization to set a stretch target for every business performance and set goals for everyone in the organization.
Figure 1: 5W1H Interrelationships

Who Is Involved in Six Sigma – People Involvement
Six Sigma eventually involves every one in the organization, starting from the top management to the operator/staff level. It requires a companywide understanding of the processes, a commitment toward achieving the set goals and an involvement in projects that accompany those goals. Since Six Sigma is for the total business process, it involves everyone in the organization.
The top levels of management appoint Sponsors, who are members of the leadership team who are responsible for selecting Six Sigma projects and are ultimately accountable for project results. Just under the Sponsors are Champions, who typically have day-to-day responsibility for the business process being improved and their role is to ensure the Six Sigma project team has the resources required to successfully execute the project. Next are the Master Black Belts, who teach and mentor the Black Belts, who have been trained to manage Six Sigma projects and serve as leaders of project teams consisting of Green Belts and other employees. Green Belts are core project team members, and even serve as team leaders on smaller projects. And the other members of project teams are regular employees.
In well-functioning Six Sigma deployments, everyone in the organization is involved in reducing defects, reducing cycle times and increasing customer satisfaction.
Where to Apply Six Sigma – Business Process Location
Six Sigma is applied to all business processes. To start with, it can be applied to key business processes which have the highest visible impact on the customers and shareholders. All business processes impacting customer satisfaction and profit growth of the organization need to undergo Six Sigma methodology implementation.
Figure 2: Toward Key Business Processes

When to Apply Six Sigma
As long as an organization has a strong desire to improve the business performance by identifying each and every key business processes for improvement, the starting point of Six Sigma does not matter. Organizations can implement Six Sigma:
When they find out that the customer satisfaction level is eroding.
When they want to retain a leadership position through quality in the market.
When there is a clear indication of losing market share due to quality.
When their processes have not changed for a long time.
When the quality of a product is largely dependent on human inspection skills instead of being built-in to the production process.
When they think their processes have all reached an improvement plateau.
When they are required to improve performance in all areas of their business process.
When they decide they want to survive and grow in today's competitive market.
How to Apply Six Sigma – methodology Followed
Depending upon the requirement of the organization and the type of organization different strategies are followed for Six Sigma implementation.
The three main strategies followed in Six Sigma are:
Process Management: An ongoing cross-functional ownership and measurement of core support processes.
Process Improvement: Focused on problem solving, aimed at eliminating the vital few root causes. It is most common to use the DMAIC roadmap:
Define - Select customer's critical-to-quality characteristics (CTQs). Define the process improvement goals that are consistent with customer demands and enterprise strategy.
Measure - Create a measurement system and validate the system. Measure the current process and collect relevant data for future comparison.
Analyze - Identify the sources of variation from the performance objectives. Analyze to verify relationship and causality of factors. Determine what the relationship is and attempt to ensure that all factors have been considered using one or more of the tools in the Six Sigma toolkit.
Improve - Discover process relationships and establish new and improved procedures. Improve or optimize the process based upon the analysis.
Control - Sustain the gain by implementing process controls. Control to ensure that any variances are corrected before they result in defects. Set up pilot runs to establish process capability, transition to production and thereafter continuously measure the process and institute control mechanisms.
Process Design/Redesign: The creation of a new process to achieve exponential improvement and/or meet the changing demands of customers, technology and competition. It must handle totally dysfunctional processes and reengineer them. It is also known as Design for Six Sigma (DFSS). DMADV is the most common roadmap followed for DFSS:
Define - Define the goals of the design activity that are consistent with customer demands and enterprise strategy.
Measure - Measure and identify CTQs, product capabilities, production process capability and risk assessments.
Analyze - Analyze to develop and design alternatives, create high-level design and evaluate design capability to select the best design.
Design - Design details, optimize the design, and plan for design verification. This phase may require simulations.
Verify - Verify the design, set up pilot runs, implement production process and handover to process owners.
The structure of 5W1H of Six Sigma can help organizations to consider all aspects of the Six Sigma situation in detail and hence can be implemented when analyzing a business process for improvement opportunities. The interrelationships also guide Six Sigma practitioners to take systematic error-free steps to complete the Six Sigma project successfully on-time and everytime.
About the Author: Pradeep Mahalik is a Six Sigma Black Belt with more than 10 years of experience in quality assurance and reliability engineering. He has a master's degree in quality and reliability engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur, India, and an MBA in operations management. Mr. Mahalik is based at Vadodara, India. He can be reached at pradeep.mahalik@gmail.com.

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How to write an effective marketing plan
http://www.bytestart.co.uk/content/businessplans/30_1/effective-marketing-plan.shtml

A marketing plan is a core component of any business plan. It relates specifically to the marketing of a particular product or service and it describes:
· An overall marketing objective
· A broad marketing strategy
· The tactical detail related to specific marketing activities
· The various costs associated with these activities
· Those tasked with delivering these activities by name
The starting point for any marketing plan is an analysis of the strategic context, as a typical objective for most plans is promoting a good or service as effectively as possible. An assessment of the company, its environment and its customers helps to ensure that the author of the plan obtains a holistic view of the wider context.
In turn, this helps them to focus their energies and resources accordingly. This is particularly important given that most marketing managers will be subject to that all-too-familiar constraint—limited resources (invariably financial). In effect, a marketing plan is produced to ensure that limited resources are allocated to activities that are likely to bring the maximum return.
Tools to Use in Your Marketing Plan
An assessment of the context will include analysis of both internal and external factors. There are a number of frameworks and tools designed to assist you with this:
· A SWOT analysis forces you to consider internal Strengths and Weaknesses alongside external Opportunities and Threats.
· Porter’s Five Forces is a framework designed to assist you in considering the broader competitive and environmental context.
It is also vital that you have a thorough understanding of your customers; look to whether segments exist within your broad customer group that can be profitably served utilizing specific and targeted marketing activities.
Show Your Strategy, Costs and Expected Returns in Your Marketing Plan
Following an analysis of broader conditions, a marketing strategy can then be put in place. This strategy needs to include financials so that all activities can be assessed in the context of their cost as a portion of the overall marketing budget. Regardless of the product or service, the objectives tend to be similar for most managers; create awareness, stimulate interest in the offering, and ultimately (profitably) convert this awareness into sales. All these factors are intertwined and, hence, the importance of effective market planning.
Using a local restaurant as an example, their marketing activities are going to be predominantly concentrated within a two to three mile radius of their restaurant, as this area is where the vast majority of their customers are likely to come from.
Tactically, there is no point in such a restaurant advertising on TV (even locally) as the cost would be prohibitive in the context of their business model. They are limited in terms of capacity (number of seats) and their average cost per head so that, even if they created huge awareness and interest via TV advertising, the resultant revenues would still be unlikely to cover the cost of the specific marketing activity. On the other hand, stuffing leaflets through local letterboxes is extremely targeted and comes at low relative cost, which explains the sheer volume of fast-food flyers most of us get on a daily basis.
The reader of the marketing plan should clearly be able to relate to the marketing initiatives in terms of the message, the target audience and the means to accessing this audience. A good marketing plan will detail specifics, i.e., a number of marketing activities, their respective costs, and the expected return on investment.
Measuring Your Marketing ROI
Measuring return on marketing has historically been one of the greatest challenges the industry has faced. The advent of PPC (pay-per-click) advertising via the Internet has finally resulted in managers being able to track sales resulting from specific campaigns and adverts. However, this is just one means of advertising, and calculating effective ROI (return on investment) figures for other forms, such as billboards and TV, remains as elusive as ever.
In summary, a marketing plan should enable marketing managers to document their assessment of the opportunity in terms of effective allocation of limited resources. While most managers would love the luxury of a seven-figure marketing budget to spend on every conceivable advertising medium, the reality is that most need to market effectively on a pittance.
A marketing plan assesses the most efficient means to attract potential customers and ultimately convert them to sales. Without a plan, a business is essentially rudderless and marketing activities are more likely to be reactive and, hence, considerably less effective.
About The AuthorAlan Gleeson is the Managing Director of Palo Alto Software Ltd, creators of Business Plan Pro 2007. He holds an MBA from Oxford University and is a graduate of University College, Cork, Ireland.
Posted May 21, 2007
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