Software Review of:
Marketing Plan Pro 

However, there will be times as your business grows, or perhaps it is existing today, when your sales and marketing personnel will want a comprehensive detailed plan. This is where Marketing Plan Pro comes in. The program goes into greater detail in the sales and marketing areas, specifically in market analysis, expense budgeting, sales forecasting and milestones. 

Though not always the case, I often differentiate the two products as follows: looking for funding, go with Business Plan Pro. Looking to forecast and define your strategies internally and you already have a business plan, go with Marketing Plan Pro. In practice, I use the entire suite of Palo Alto Software products as they integrate and compliment each other.

Marketing Plan Pro has the same look and feel as Business Plan Pro. You use the wizard to build your initial outline. It features the same dual window concept that allows you to refer to samples to help you define and refine your own work. The steps are different as the purpose of a marketing plan is different than a general business plan.

Basic setup and installation is the same as Business Plan Pro. Space requirements are reduced to less than 25 megabytes as opposed to the 125 megabytes required for Business Plan Pro.

In Marketing Plan Pro, you describe your market and plan your strategy. The help and resources in the program are targeted for this, and they are extensive. This product is geared to one who has Internet access as the most current data and resources will be found on the Internet and not in published texts. Generally, when you are doing a marketing or sales plan, you want your demographic and other data to be current as of today and not a decade ago. Planning against what your competition did in 1998 will not be very helpful to you. Trust me.

You can forecast sales by value or units. As in Business Plan Pro, your default currency is US dollars. The symbol display can be changed using the custom number feature. Whether you are forecasting sales or budgeting expenses, the tables and charts are pre-formatted, you just input the data.

Inputting your milestones in the table provided will create your GANTT chart. It’s easy to switch back and forth between the text, tables and charts. When you’re ready to publish the plan you can do so in the program itself or export it to RTF, HTML, DOC format or direct to the web via liveplan.com  Marketing Plan Pro includes a 90-day subscription to LivePlan.com

Sample marketing plans are included in the product as well as the getting started manual. The program includes Tim Berry’s book, Hurdle, in print as well as On Target: The Book on Marketing Plans. Both texts run over 300 pages each and are also available online and continually updated and revised to keep all the information current.

Help is extensive, printed and online as well as an “ask the expert” feature that permits you to submit questions to a panel of marketing experts for assistance. You are walked through the entire process step-by-step and all tables, formulas and charts are pre-formatted for your convenience. 

Marketing Plan Pro has the same warranties and support as Business Plan Pro, 60-day money back guarantee and you can find live people on the phone and on the web! If you need to do a marketing plan, this is the product to use for your first time out. Great product, great resources, great support.

My only suggestion for the benefit of International users is to include an easier way to make global currency changes for all tables.

You can order direct from the website or at our local computer retail stores for $99.95. The website offers discounts for the entire bundle of four programs or combinations of two or more programs.

Palo Alto Software
144 E 14th St., Eugene, OR 97401
(541) 683-6162
Fax: (541) 683-6250
Customer Service: (800) 229-7526