{"id":21,"date":"2014-08-19T07:01:26","date_gmt":"2014-08-19T07:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/principlesmktg1x2kscope\/?post_type=chapter&p=21"},"modified":"2019-06-25T12:19:52","modified_gmt":"2019-06-25T12:19:52","slug":"1-4-themes-and-organization-of-this-book","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/oakwood-principlesofmarketing\/chapter\/1-4-themes-and-organization-of-this-book\/","title":{"raw":"Overview of the Marketing Plan","rendered":"Overview of the Marketing Plan"},"content":{"raw":"
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Learning Objective<\/h3>\r\n
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  1. Understand and outline the elements of a marketing plan as a planning process.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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    Marketing\u2019s Role in the Organization<\/h2>\r\nWe previously discussed marketing as a set of activities that anyone can do. Marketing is also a functional area in companies, just like operations and accounting are. Within a company, marketing might be the title of a department, but some marketing functions, such as sales, might be handled by another department. Marketing activities do not occur separately from the rest of the company, however.\r\n\r\nAs we have explained, pricing an offering, for example, will involve a company\u2019s finance and accounting departments in addition to the marketing department. Similarly, a marketing strategy is not created solely by a firm\u2019s marketing personnel. Instead, it flows from the company\u2019s overall strategy. We\u2019ll discuss strategy much more completely throughout the course.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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    Everything Starts with Customers<\/h2>\r\nMost organizations start with an idea of how to serve customers better. Apple\u2019s engineers began working on the iPod by looking at the available technology and thinking about how customers would like to have their music more available, as well as more affordable, through downloading.\r\n\r\nMany companies think about potential markets and customers when they start. John Deere, for example, founded his company on the principle of serving customers. When admonished for making constant improvements to his products even though farmers would take whatever they could get, Deere reportedly replied, \u201cThey haven\u2019t got to take what we make and somebody else will beat us, and we will lose our trade.\u201dHe recognized that if his company failed to meet customers\u2019 needs, someone else would. The mission of the company then became the one shown in Figure 1.4 \"Mission Statement of Deere and Company\".\r\n
    \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"500\"]\"\" Source: Deere and Company, used with permission.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nHere are a few mission statements from other companies. Note that they all refer to their customers, either directly or by making references to relationships with them. Note also how these are written to inspire employees and others who interact with the company and may read the mission statement.\r\n

    IBM<\/h3>\r\nIBM will be driven by these values:\r\n