Ten barriers to marketing planning

This paper serves as a wide‐ranging review of why, given the acknowledged benefits to be enjoyed by companies carrying out formalised marketing planning, most industrial companies still rely largely on forecasting and budgeting systems as their principal means of addressing the future. It identifies ten distinct and major barriers to the preparation and implementation of marketing plans. These are: Confusion between tactics and strategy. Isolating the marketing function from operations. Confusion between the marketing function and the marketing concept. Organisational barriers. Lack of in‐depth analysis. Confusion between process and output. Lack of knowledge and skills. Lack of a systematic approach to marketing planning. Failure to prioritise objectives. Hostile corporate cultures. The paper recommends ways of overcoming these barriers.