Marketing Planning & Strategy

A Practical Introduction

The book is sophisticated, challenging and contemporaneously relevant. It systematically integrates empirical generalizations, research methodology, as well as concepts involving consumer motivation into the market planning process. The text logically progresses from there into innovative marketing strategy formulation for real-world problems. Pedagogical aids inspire instructional creativity and effectiveness, and provide an excellent platform for lectures, discussion and assignments.

Marketing Strategy and Planning is a very well-written textbook which combines a complex mix of academic excellence and practitioner relevance. It blends the traditional formal planning approach with an underpinning of empirical generalizations. The book approaches the subject in a very accessible way, using contemporary case studies. The style and approach is attractive from both an academic and a practitioner point of view.

If constructing a marketing plan was easy, then there would be no need for any of the many books available to help the marketing manager/business owner. The problem with most of the existing texts, especially those aimed at practitioners, is that they tend to comprise rhetorical checkboxes limited to just description. John Dawes demonstrates that it is possible to go beyond the mundane and has produced a volume which delivers on the claim ‘to project a view of open-mindedness, coupled with a healthy dose of scepticism’. It is refreshing to see critical evaluation of sacred cows such as Segmentation; Porter’s competitive Advantage; Net Promoter Score and Marketing Return on Investment, and their limits in the planning process.

The book successfully translates some of the most important ‘big marketing’ principles to the SME environment, such as chapter 16 on empirical generalisations and the discussion of key metrics in Chapter 11.

As Dawes says “A marketing plan has to be written as if the writer is taking responsibility for it” and part of this responsibility extends to the presentation of data covered specifically in Chapter 12. This book will be used by University teachers, students, business owners, business advisors and marketers; it should (unsurprisingly), reach a very wide audience.

Professor John Dawes, of the world-leading and myth-busting Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, does it again! Another example of his thoughtful and insightful work that's based on scientific principles of being evidence-based and independently replicated in varied contexts. Prof. Dawes offers a refreshing take on the subject, packed with solid insight from the Institute and elsewhere, that makes his work supremely relevant to today's marketers. Based on decades of experience and reflection, terabytes of real data from the world's leading brands and a fearless willingness to slay some of Marketing's dragons (or sacred cows?) based on reasoning and data, this book on strategy and planning belongs on every marketer's bookshelf, right beside How Brands Grow (parts 1 & 2) and Building Distinctive Brand Assets.

Planning is difficult, especially about the future. While planning is a fundamental function of management, many marketers are reluctant to plan because they see it as a stifling, bureaucratic process and activity, often hemmed in by business school lessons from the past, no longer relevant today. John Dawes’ book on writing the marketing plan is a simple one in the very best sense of the word: “easily understood or done; presenting no difficulty; plain, basic, or uncomplicated in form, nature, or design; without much decoration or ornamentation.” It is exactly what today’s marketing practitioner needs to be guided through a simple but robust planning process that will result in good implementable marketing plans. While academically and theoretically rigorous, it also avoids an overemphasis on archaic strategic marketing thinking from the past. John Dawes cuts through the clutter, and provides simple but hardy guidelines to marketing planners and management students alike. By following these the reader will be able to craft a marketing plan that will fit the requirements of today’s marketplace. Not perfectly... but remember, there is no such thing as perfection when it comes to planning.

Having been associated with John Dawes for more than 30 years ago, I know that he is well placed to write what I believe will become one of the leading strategy textbooks of our times. Indeed, John’s success as both a renowned academic and highly credentialed practitioner comes through strongly in both his writing style and the structure and content of his book. 

Practical Marketing Strategy and Planning offers several advancements that I’m sure will appeal to both educators and practitioners. 

First and foremost, refreshingly, it adopts an evidence-based approach drawn from John’s extensive experience consulting to many organisations, ranging from some of the most successful multinationals right through to small businesses, and hence the guidance provided can be broadly applied to various contexts. 

Secondly, whilst the book follows the expected conventions of strategy development incorporating internal analysis / environment analysis, and SWOT, all guiding strategic development, it is also underpinned with a narrative drawn from the Ehrenberg school of empirical generalisations, informing the strategic process, and thus adding further rigour to the guidance throughout the book.

Thirdly, there is a practical underpinning that makes the book readily comprehendible and able to be applied, and also includes support for those not as conversant in the business vernacular. A case study on small business is woven throughout the book, creating an opportunity for associated assessment to be developed, and a step by step guiding template provides further scaffolding for the learner.

As a leader of learning innovation, I find these elements are what sets the book apart from others, and in an era of increasingly complex business models, highly competitive markets, and ever evolving technologies, such support will be critical for all audiences. Practical Marketing Strategy and Planning is certainly a valuable and timely contribution.