TABLE OF CONTENTS After studying this chapter, you should be ableto:
understand the role of marketing planning and its importance in the sports events industry.
identify the marketing planning process and explain its logical progression.
understand the importance of internal and external analyses and their contribution to theformulation of marketing objectives and strategies.
identify the strategic choices and the role of the marketing mix in achieving a marketposition.
understand the importance of organization, implementation and control in marketing planning.
In an industry that consists of many substitutableproducts, it is becoming increasingly difficult to provide a product that is of better value. Thecommon practice of marketing to mass audiences is not an approach that will bear rewards in suchoperating domains and so the need for marketing planning in the industry, where customers can bemore finely targeted, is becoming more critical. The focus of this chapter is on the marketingplanning process and how an event can be systematically positioned into a carefully targeted marketfor better results.
The marketing planning process can be implemented in a stepby-step progression that consistsof seven stages.
Organizational goals
Internal and externalanalyses: Including an internal marketing audit, situational analysis usingstrengths, weaknesses, external opportunities and threats (SWOT) technique to identify internalSWOT, customer and competition analyses.
Marketing goals: Thesetting of objectives for the marketing plan.
Market selection:Segmentation of potential markets and selection of target markets.
Marketing strategy: The identification of strategic thrustand the specific marketing mix required for each target...
