Developing a marketing plan (internal)
Internal 6 credits Marketing aims Marketing situation Marketing strategy Marketing plan Māori business conceptsThe largest internal in the subject at 6 credits. The standard names four parts, in order: aims (mission statement + corporate objectives), situation (marketing audit, SWOT, assumptions), strategy (marketing objectives, SMART goals, forecasting, contingency plans), and plan (budget + a detailed action plan for implementation and monitoring). Achieved states business knowledge and Māori business concept(s) where relevant; Merit includes them; Excellence integrates them.
1 Reading the notation
The plan's four named parts, and the state/include/integrate ladder.📖 Terms the schedule grades you on
5 terms- Marketing aims
- Mission statement + corporate objectives — the broader business goals the plan must serve.
- Market situation
- Marketing audit + SWOT analysis + marketing assumptions.
- Marketing strategy
- Marketing objectives + SMART goals + forecasting + contingency plans.
- Marketing plan
- Marketing budget + a detailed action plan for implementation and future monitoring.
- State / include / integrate
- Achieved STATES business knowledge and Māori business concepts. Merit INCLUDES them. Excellence INTEGRATES them into the reasoning.
2 Marketing aims
The plan exists to serve goals the whole business has already set.What to state
- The MISSION STATEMENT — the business's overall purpose.
- The CORPORATE OBJECTIVES the marketing plan is expected to support.
- A visible link back to these two whenever you justify a later decision.
3 The market situation
Audit → SWOT → assumptions — Achieved/Merit explain it, Excellence evaluates it.The three required elements
- MARKETING AUDIT: a systematic review of current marketing activity and the environment.
- SWOT ANALYSIS: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, with real evidence behind each.
- MARKETING ASSUMPTIONS: what you are taking as given about the future, stated explicitly.
4 Marketing strategy
Objectives, SMART goals, forecasting AND contingency plans — all four, not just the first two. ✕Objectives with no forecast or contingency plan
SMART objectives alone are only half of what "strategy" means in this standard. A strategy also needs a stated FORECAST of expected results and a CONTINGENCY PLAN for at least one named risk — omitting either is missing a required element, not just a nice-to-have.5 The marketing plan itself
Budget plus a detailed, dated action plan — including how it will be monitored going forward.What the action plan needs
- A BUDGET broken down by activity.
- WHO is responsible for each action, and BY WHEN.
- How and when progress against the SMART objectives will be MONITORED — not only at the very end.
6 The marketing mix, segmentation and pricing
The tools that fill out the strategy and plan sections. Exam-style A positioning statement that drives a consistent mix Build the mix from the target and positioning, not the other way round. TARGET: urban professionals aged 25–40 who buy organic groceries weekly and value provenance over price (demographic + psychographic + behavioural). POSITIONING: the everyday organic brand with a traceable NZ farm story, for people who want to know where their food comes from without paying supermarket-import prices. PRICE: competitive/market pricing, not penetration — a low entry price would undercut the "worth paying a little more for" positioning. PLACE: farmers' markets and specialty grocers first, matching where this target already shops. PROMOTION: provenance storytelling (farm content, traceability codes) rather than discount-led advertising, which would contradict the positioning. ✓ Every mix element traces back to the SAME target and positioning — that internal consistency is what a marker checks for across the whole plan.7 Māori business concepts in the plan
One concept, genuinely shaping a real decision — not four, named in passing. ✕A Māori business concept mentioned once and never used again
The standard grades STATING (Achieved) through to INTEGRATING (Excellence). A concept named in an introduction and never referred to again cannot integrate — pick one concept, connect it to a specific decision (a sourcing choice, a positioning statement, a promotion approach), and refer back to it when you justify that decision.Practice
Recall it first, then use it — testing yourself builds the memory, where rereading the notes above only feels easier.
Recall and application shuffled together — you have to work out what each item wants before you can answer it, which is the part the exam actually tests. Both kinds feed the same spacing schedule, so anything you miss comes back sooner.
Say the answer out loud before flipping — that attempt is where the learning happens, even when you get it wrong.
Exam-style only. Instant feedback, shuffled each attempt, best score saved on this device.