Marketing Goals and Objectives

This section of the marketing plan outlines major company goals, marketing, and financial objectives. All objectives should be carefully quantified, where possible, especially in terms of an achievable time or date. Objectives should be reasonable and attainable.

Major company goals could include both short- and long-term goals. For example:

• company definition (e.g., "to be a manufacturer of 100 percent all-natural snack food products")
• market definition (e.g., "to attain leadership in dollar market share and volume for the healthy, all-natural snacks segment of the salty snacks category")
• technology (e.g., "to become known in the industry as the leading developer of new vegetable protein products")

Financial objectives are generally described in quantitative terms for at least three years in the future:

• gross sales (increase)
• cost-of-goods (decrease)
• gross margin (increase)
• net income (increase)
• return on investment
• return on income

Businesses seeking outside funding and capital should provide a minimum of five years of projected income statements, although these are usually located in the financial section of the business plan rather than the marketing section.

Marketing objectives are quantitative translations of the company's financial objectives, in marketing terms. For example:

• sales dollars
• sales units
• market share
• distribution levels/channel
• advertising awareness
• key account distribution