Marketing Plan Resources

Thanks for visiting.

If you're formulating a marketing plan, take a peek at the sample plan posted on the website for my U.S. textbook. It will give you an idea of how to organize a marketing plan and the kind of content included.

You can also browse the glossary of key terms on the same website.

For a listing of links to marketing plan resources all over the web, see here. You'll find news sites, marketing data sites, and many other useful sources of statistics and updated info about companies and concepts.

And finally, if you're looking for my perspective on whether competitors are stakeholders, here's one of many posts on the subject. Yes, competitors are stakeholders, in my view!

Should You Collaborate with Competitors?

Competitors are stakeholders. I've established this numerous times on my blog. As shown above, two of my original posts about this topic have attracted more than 16,000 views in 9 years.

What's been changing, in recent years, is the trend toward actively collaborating with competitors for mutual benefit. This does not mean setting prices together, which is illegal. It does mean looking for specific areas where collaboration would be advantageous for two competitors (or perhaps the entire industry).

For example, what about sharing resources with a competitor to give each something unique to market? Read how a brewer came up with a novel idea and recruited competitors to work together.

Advertising agencies are working together, in some cases, to win and service clients. Maybe an agency sees a competitor with a particular focus that can add value for part of a big project. Or maybe an agency wants to bolster its bid for work by combining forces with a specialized agency.

Are there situations when collaboration can help you be a more effective marketer?

Are Competitors Really Stakeholders? Yes!

By far the most popular posts on my marketing blog are those about competitors as stakeholders. Definition of stakeholders: "People or organizations that are affected by or that can affect an organization's performance."

So for the record, let's say it again: Competitors are definitely stakeholders. One academic paper gave six good reasons why this is so--starting with the fact that competitors' interests are not in direct opposition to the interests of a particular marketing organization. In many instances, a rival's goals and situation will be so close to yours that you absolutely must take its actions into consideration. Not to copy that rival but to anticipate and defend against competitive challenges--that's the real reason to look at competitors as stakeholders.

When a competitor introduces a new product that directly competes with your existing product, it's going to have some influence on what happens to your product. When a competitor changes a price (either up or down), that will likely change industry demand and therefore have an impact on your organization. When a competitor trumpets its sustainability initiatives, it could very well have some impact on how customers and other stakeholders compare what you're doing to what that rival is doing. More than ever, consumers care about the ethics and social responsibility of the brands they see. They also have changing preferences that competitors may detect or influence, adding to pressure on you and your industry.

A great example is Amazon vs. Walmart. Each watches the other closely, you can be sure. Walmart is playing catchup in e-commerce but doing a very credible job, even as Amazon encroaches on traditional retailing. Don't forget that this rivalry is having an impact on the rest of the retail industry, as well. The giants make moves, and even other giants must be ready to defend or deflect or initiate something new and different to influence consumer behavior.

As you scan the marketing environment, be sure that rivals are on your stakeholder list. NOT because you want to coordinate price changes--collusion is illegal in most countries--but because your strategy is necessarily influenced by the strategy and tactics of competitors. Be ready.

Dozens of Marketing Links to Click

My list of marketing links, newly updated, is a great starting point for anyone writing a marketing plan. It's in the header above, just click to check it out.

Whether you're researching the marketing environment, looking for the latest ideas in mobile and digital marketing, researching competitive trends, or analyzing the global marketing situation, you'll find authoritative sources in this list.

One of the most recently-listed links is to Issuu, a site where you can browse magazines according to topic. My link here is to business magazines.

Also, at the top of the list are three links that are the most popular, year in and year out:

• Glossary of marketing terms (from Pearson's Marketing Plan Handbook site)
• Sample marketing plan (also from Pearson's Marketing Plan Handbook site)
• Competitors are stakeholders (and why)

Competitors as Stakeholders: Top Topic in 10 Years of Blogging

Soon I will be starting my 11th year of blogging about marketing. Looking back on my first decade, I wanted to find out which topics were the most popular.

Above, the statistics show that the most visited posts (more than 6% of the total) are about whether competitors are stakeholders.

As I say in my posts, over and over, YES. Just a few months ago, I used the airline industry as an example of why competitors are stakeholders. A year ago, I used the retail industry as an example. Competitors are stakeholders.

Other popular posts are about strategy and about Nespresso, which I called "the Apple Store of Coffee."

Thank you for reading and look for more posts on these popular topics in 2016 and beyond.

Newly Updated List of Marketing Resource Links

Looking for links to marketing definitions, trends, how-to ideas, and more? Check my newly updated List of Marketing Links.

You'll find more than 80 links to information about the marketing environment, social responsibility and ethics in marketing, mobile and digital marketing, marketing strategy and techniques, marketing channels, marketing competition, customer behavior, demographic shifts, and lots more.

At the top of this list are links to my glossary of marketing terms, a sample marketing plan, and a discussion of why competitors are stakeholders. Check back often because I update this list regularly.