Devising an Export Marketing Plan for your Organisation

Every organisation engaged in researching potential markets will eventually use the information it gleans from its research in devising an export marketing plan. This process is specific to each company as it requires a good understanding of both the international environment of the markets being targeted and the company’s ability to attract sales in these markets.

In order to achieve export success, you will need to be market driven.

What it Means to be Market Driven

Being market driven means understanding the needs of your customers, determining the size of the market for your products and identifying any competing suppliers of your product in each of your target markets.

Once you have this information, you will be able to determine whether or not your product meets each potential target market’s needs. You may have to adapt your product or change its packaging in some way. Labelling might have to appear in another language and you may need to provide some form of after sales service in each market.

Having determined your product strategy, your next tasks will be to develop optimal pricing, promotion and distribution strategies for each potential market, devise an action plan with timelines for achieving each required action, and prepare a budget.

Key Questions in Developing your Export Marketing Plan

In order to give your export marketing plan the direction it needs to ensure your company’s export success, answers to the following questions should be answered:

1. Where would you like to be? – What are your export goals, vision, mission and objectives? At the end of the day, your export marketing plan needs a clear direction, which starts with specific and attainable goals.
   
2. Where are you now? – Provide a full assessment of your company’s capabilities in terms of export readiness. These should cover your company’s production capacity, efficiency, and even its communication capabilities.
   
3. How are you going to achieve your export vision and goals? The answers to this question will be found in your marketing strategy, action plan, and the roles and responsibilities of those involved.
   

In this article we explored the export marketing plan, what it means to be market driven and the key questions you will need to answer to begin developing your plan. To help you further with formulating an export marketing plan, Trade Forward Southern Africa, in collaboration with the International Trade Institute of Southern Africa (ITRISA), has created a comprehensive online training course that provides invaluable training on international marketing to all those contemplating embarking on an export drive. Click the links below to sign up for free and get started.

To sign up to the School of Export CLICK HERE.

If you already have a profile, CLICK HERE to login to begin the module.