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Description

Marketing Manager: Building the Plan, Balancing the Mix and Driving Performance

Move from a series of disconnected marketing activities to an arbitrated annual plan you can defend before the executive committee

  • 5 days — 35 h
  • In-person or virtual
  • Intermediate
  • Up to 6 participants

The marketing manager is caught between immediate sales requests and the expectation of medium-term results. The annual plan is sometimes little more than a list of activities carried over from one year to the next, whose contribution nobody can measure and which the sales team considers disconnected from the field.

This 35-hour programme is designed for professionals already in post: strategic diagnosis, segmentation and positioning, building the plan and its budget, balancing the marketing mix, coordinating with sales, then managing performance and leading the team. Each participant leaves with the framework of their own marketing plan.

Learning objectives

  • Conduct a strategic diagnosis of your market and your offering
  • Define a defensible segmentation and positioning
  • Build a costed annual marketing plan with a clear timeline
  • Balance the components of the mix according to the objectives set
  • Drive marketing performance and lead your team

What makes this programme different

The diagnosis and the plan are built on the participant's own market
Budget decisions are defended before a simulated committee
Tensions with the sales force are addressed through cases brought to the session

Programme

1Strategic Diagnosis

Looking at your market without illusions

  • Analyse market and competitive dynamics
  • Assess the performance of the existing offering
  • Identify weak signals from the field and the customer service team
  • Summarise the diagnosis as a ranked set of priorities

2Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning

Choosing where you compete and why

  • Build segments the teams can actually work with
  • Select priority targets and explicitly rule others out
  • Formulate a differentiating and sustainable positioning
  • Check the consistency between positioning and supporting evidence

3Marketing Plan and Budget

Turning strategy into dated commitments

  • Set marketing objectives linked to sales objectives
  • Select activities and phase them across the year
  • Build the budget and state its underlying assumptions
  • Identify risks and fall-back plans

4Balancing the Mix and Coordinating with Sales

Making the plan work in the field

  • Balance product, pricing, distribution and communication decisions
  • Prepare the tools the sales force expects
  • Set up regular exchange routines with the sales team
  • Handle off-plan requests without losing direction

5Performance Management and Team Leadership

Tracking results and developing people

  • Select the indicators used to track the plan
  • Build monthly reporting that senior management can read at a glance
  • Allocate responsibilities and set individual objectives
  • Run a review meeting with a team member who is struggling

Who is it for

Marketing managers, group product managers and marketing executives in post who are responsible for building and defending an annual plan.

Prerequisites

Hold a marketing role and have a working knowledge of operational marketing.

Dates & locations

36 scheduled dates between November 2026 and December 2027. Seats are confirmed in the order enquiries are received.

November 2026

December 2026

January 2027

March 2027

April 2027

May 2027

June 2027

September 2027

October 2027

November 2027

December 2027

None of these dates suit you? We open additional sessions on request, and any programme can be run privately for your team.

Practical details

Before the programme
Online positioning questionnaire. Your development objectives are shared with the trainer, who tailors the practical case studies to your context.
Teaching methods
Theoretical input, workshops and practical case studies. Digital course materials and method sheets provided.
Assessment
Multiple-choice tests and role-play exercises. Assessment of learning at the start and end of the programme, with immediate and 60-day follow-up evaluations.
After the programme
One year of access to the e-learning platform. Self-assessment of the skills acquired and a 30-day follow-up session with your trainer.
How to register
Registration online or on the basis of a quotation.
Lead time
11 working days after confirmation of registration.
Accessibility
Accessible to people of determination. Contact our accessibility coordinator to design a suitable solution: contact@mpf-academy.ae
Start dates
Rolling intake: in addition to the scheduled sessions, this programme can start on request.