Marketing Plan Checklist
1. How are you positioning your product or company?
2. How are you fixing the price for you product?
3. To whom are you planning to sell your product?
4. What distribution channel(s) do you plan to use to sell your product?
5. What advertising and promotion are you planning to use to sell your product?
6. How much money do you plan to spend on advertising and promotions?
7. How can public relations help sell and promote your product or company?
8. Are your strategies consistent with your evaluation of the marketplace and your abilities?
9. Is the return on marketing investment enough to justify the risks? What are the chances of a competitor carrying out a similar strategy? In that case, what would happen?
10. Are your strategies consistent with the political environment within your company?
11. Are your strategies based on facts rather than wishful assumptions?
12. Does your overall strategy leave you critically vulnerable to a shift in market behavior? Are all your eggs in one basket?
13. Is your appraisal of the competition open-minded and honest?
14. Is your strategy ethical and legal?
15. Is your strategy's success based on your ability? What are the chances for failure?
16. Have you thoroughly examined alternate strategies? Do you have a sound, logical reason for your recommendations?

A well-formulated marketing plan may be a few short pages or considerably longer depending on the product and services involved and the market they target. An outline of may include the following:

The Marketing Plan Outline
1. Table of Contents
2. Executive Summary
3. Current Marketing Situation and Market Analysis
    a. Situation Analysis
        i. Target Market
           1. Industry Analysis
           2. Market Segment/Niche
           3. SWOT Analysis
       ii. Product Definition
           1. Life Cycle
           2. Positioning
           3. Pricing
           4. Return on Investment
           5. Brands Name and Logo
           6. Trademarks
      iii. Competitor Analysis
          1. Offerings
          2. Price
          3. Packaging
          4. Location
          5. Service and Customer Relations
          6. Promotion
          7. Distribution
      iv. Risk Analysis
          1. Business Risks: Product Liability
          2. Profit Margin
          3. Seasonal Business
          4. Complementary Industries
          5. Substitution
          6. Suppliers
          7. Customers
          8. Key People
          9. Environmental Risks: Economic, Weather, Gov't and Legal
      v. Market Research
          1. Market Performance Data
          2. Consumer Research and Feedback
          3. Databases and Permissions
          4. Field Feedback
          5. Focus Groups
          6. Information Resources
4. Customer Analysis
    a. Demographics
    b. Psychographics
    c. Geographic
    d. Biographic
    e. Techno graphics
    f. Consumer Adopters
    g. Economic Factors
    h. Influencers
5. Marketing Analysis
    a. Price Points & Discounting
    b. Target Marketing
    c. Packaging
    d. Relationship Marketing
    e. Database Marketing
    f. Sponsorship Marketing
    g. Television and Radio Advertising
    h. Specialty Marketing
     i. Lifestyle Marketing
        ii. Marketing to Seniors
       iii. Marketing to Ethnic Groups
       iv. Taking Advantage of One-time Opportunities
6. International Marketing
    a. Global Opportunities
    b. NAFTA
    c. Targeting Your Overseas Market
    d. Market Research
    e. Finding Partners
     f. Social Issues
     g. Licenses, Trademarks, and International Protection
7. Marketing Communications
    a. Objectives and Strategies
    b. Budgeting: Budgetary Spending
    c. Marginal Spending
    d. Dollar for Dollar
    e. Matching Funds
    f. Task Approach
    g. Tracking
    h. Packaging
     i. Sales Promotion
        i. Objectives
        ii. Samples
       iii. Demonstrations
       iv. Celebrity Endorsements
        v. Contests
        vi. Free Trials
       vii. Premiums
      viii. Special Pricing
       ix. Advertising
        x. Deadlines
       xi. Referrals
      xii. Feedback
   j. Sales Literature
        i. Data Sheets
       ii. Brochures
      iii. Catalogs
      iv. Rate Cards
       v. Form Letters
      vi. Budgeting
   k. Collateral Publications
       i. Pro-Active Product Literature
      ii. CD-ROMs, DVDs
     iii. Spec Sheets
     iv. Checklists
      v. FAQs
     vi. Recipes
    vii. Newsletters
   l. Advertising
      i. Media Plan
     ii. Media Mix
    iii. Scheduling
    iv. Television, Radio, Outdoor Signs & Billboards
     v. Newspapers, Inserts
    vi. Magazines
   vii. Yellow Pages
   viii. Telemarketing
     ix. Testing and Controls
   m. Direct Mail
    n. Tradeshows
    o. Customer Service
8. Internet Marketing
    a. Web Presence
    b. Promotion
    c. Direct Response tie-in
    d. Traffic Analysis
    e. Lead Generation
    f. Internet Advertising
9. Sales Planning
    a. Forecast and Budget
    b. Sales Policies
    c. Training
    d. Sales Strategies
    e. Automated Sales
    f. Sales and Distribution Channels
        i. Retail
       ii. Direct
      iii. Channel Pricing
      iv. OEM
       v. VAR
      vi. Wholesale
      vii. Door-to-Door
10. Strategies
11. Our Products and Services
12. Delivering Our Products and Services
13. Pricing
14. Marketing Communications
15. Organization and Implementation
16. Forecasts and Budgets
17. Controls