A marketing plan is a formal systematic process of developing the marketing strategy and methods for a product.

This process includes:

• Studying the market environment
• Market research
• Market segmentation
• Product design (includes any statutory requirements for the product)
• Marketing mix including:
• Product pricing
• Product placement
• Product positioning
• Product promotion
• Production
• SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
• Advertising
• Merchandising
• Financial costing
• Profit analysis
• Distribution analysis
• Sales monitoring
• Review process

The object of the plan is to provide a comprehensive methodology for profitable product sales across a market. This is in effect a business plan for a product. Major products are marketed by this method to reduce risk and to provide a thorough analysis of market issues before commitment to an expensive production process.