The promise of completing a marketing plan in one day (as per the title) is what sold me on this book. Aside from the title there are no further references on how to complete the 4 part/21 chapter plan within a single day, for the simple reason that it can't be done. In fact, this author published an almost identical book the previous year with the title "The Successful Marketing Plan : A Disciplined and Comprehensive Approach".
Having said that, I don't regret buying the book. I don't have a formal background in marketing, and needed an introduction to the subject. This book provides a conceptual framework and worksheet templates which are both extremely helpful. It also imparts the valuable lesson that a good marketing plan takes several weeks of writing and research to complete.
Each chapter has both explanations and worksheets (for preparing the Marketing Plan). The connection between the two was not always clear, which was my one complaint about the book. I ended up copying section titles from the explanation parts onto the worksheets.
I particularly liked chapter 4, creating sales goals for the marketing program. The methodology is based on a combination of the projected cost of the campaign, the sales history of the product, and the size of the market. I felt this was a well thought out quantitative method for projecting sales.
I gave the book 4 out of 5 stars because of the misleading title. Yet I bought the book and am happy with it. I had to wonder if the authors intended the misleading title to be the final lesson in marketing.