ABSTRACT
Planning and strategy It should now be clear that one of the things marketing should do is to act in a way that is directional to the business, driving it in the right direction towards whatever business objectives are chosen. In this chapter we look at a number of topics-planning, research, strategy, product life-cycles and branding-that all set the scene for how books are promoted (the topic of the next chapter). We also look at pricing: with the effective demise of the Net Book Agreement (NBA) this is now a marketing variable much as in any other business, and one where the future looks nothing if not dynamic as the dust settles and new realities set in.
