DO YOU HAVE A MARKETING PLAN OR MARKETING MESS?
DO YOU HAVE A MARKETING PLAN OR MARKETING MESS?
Your marketing plan determines how your customers, users or clients see you relative to your competition. It also details where your business comes from, your product or service benefits, your pricing strategies and the best ways to reach your target audiences. A well-designed marketing plan will provide a timeline of tactical objectives, coordinated with other internal and external events (product launches, changing legal environments, etc.) that help the firm reach its overall objectives. If it’s a good plan, it should also clearly outline your budget and how those precious marketing dollars will be allocated.
Any solid marketing plan needs to include a few key elements:
Situation Analysis
Start with a review of where your organization is right now. These are things you likely already know, but putting them front and center in your plan serves a couple of purposes. First, it gives you a benchmark of where you are. Second, it lets you build a plan that addresses the basic organization and environmental realties you face.
•Company Mission and Vision, What are the key values and goals of your organization?
•Product or Service Review, Describe your basic products and services
•Customer/User Drivers, What factors affect the environment in which you operate?
•Core Competencies, What do you do well? What do your customers/users rely on you for?
•Competitive Review, Who are your key competitors? How is the competitive landscape changing?
Measurable Objectives or Outcomes
You have to know what you want to come up with strategies and tactics that will get you there. Basic, but many people don’t think through a set of realistic objectives.
List of measurable objectives
Example: To increase attendance by 15% at 2006 conference as compared to 2005 conference.
Audiences
Make a list of your key audiences. These should be the groups that represent the bulk of your business through the year. You’ll also want to include some information about how each audience thinks and feels. The goal here is to really know the people you are talking to.
List of audiences, those groups you need to reach; your list should also represent their mindsets, hopes and fears
Messages
What are you trying to say? You want to identify two or three key messages and hammer them home. You can’t tell everyone everything about your organization. Select a few critical points and put them down on paper.
Listing of key facts, behaviors, issues we want to get across.
Examples: Our annual conference provides great learning opportunities; networking at the conference provides the chance to build business.
Channels and Tools
How will you send your message to your target audiences? Channels are groups/people through whom and places where you will distribute your message; tools are the materials you employ.
List of the channels and tools that you plan to employ
Examples:
Channels: News media, opinion leaders, conference
Tools: Website, media kit, advertising
Strategy
Strategies are broad approaches to communicating that are linked to your objectives. These are the big-picture approaches you take to communication and positioning your organization. You should look at each objective and come up with the strategies you need to accomplish it.
Example:
Communicate to all previous conference attendees
Increase press coverage in a specific market
Implement a new advertising campaign
Tactics
The tactics are the specific tasks and activities needed to accomplish your strategies. These should be very specific.
Example:
Obtain mailing list
Create mailer in form of postcard
Make arrangements with mailing house
Timeline by Tactic
Prioritize your tactics, and then develop deadlines for each one. You’ll also want to note which staff members or outside resources will be used to complete the tactics.
Example:
Develop ideas for postcards by January 1 – Marketing director
Print cards by February 15 – Franklin Printing
Mail cards by March 1 – Mailing Services
Evaluation
Your evaluation methods may be formal, like a research study or survey. It might also be something more informal, like reports on sales increases, feedback from customers or input from staff. The most important idea here is to do some kind of measurement so you know if your strategies are working.
Example:
Increase in registrations over last year at four months before conference
Number of hits on web site increased since re-launch
Number of calls from potential customers after new advertising campaign begins
Budget
The marketing budget shouldn’t be whatever is left over at the end of the month or quarter. And it shouldn’t be unlimited, either. Go back through your strategies and tactics and assign some general budget amounts to each one. Is the number you come up with realistic? If not, go back and review your tactics and determine where you can make changes. You need to allocate money to achieve your key objectives. If you spend too much on one strategy, you won’t have enough to accomplish the others.
Still Skeptical About Planning?
You may be getting short-term results with a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach. But there is a downside. This kind of makeshift marketing often does nothing to further the strategic goals of the company and frequently fails to look to the future. And that is a very dangerous place to be. Even a little planning can help you decrease your marketing risk and improve your results.
DO YOU HAVE A MARKETING PLAN OR MARKETING MESS - To learn more about this author, visit Katie Sternberg's Website.
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What’s in a Plan
Your marketing plan determines how your customers, users or clients see you relative to your competition. It also details where your business comes from, your product or service benefits, your pricing strategies and the best ways to reach your target audiences. A well-designed marketing plan will provide a timeline of tactical objectives, coordinated with other internal and external events (product launches, changing legal environments, etc.) that help the firm reach its overall objectives. If it’s a good plan, it should also clearly outline your budget and how those precious marketing dollars will be allocated.
Any solid marketing plan needs to include a few key elements:
Situation Analysis
Start with a review of where your organization is right now. These are things you likely already know, but putting them front and center in your plan serves a couple of purposes. First, it gives you a benchmark of where you are. Second, it lets you build a plan that addresses the basic organization and environmental realties you face.
•Company Mission and Vision, What are the key values and goals of your organization?
•Product or Service Review, Describe your basic products and services
•Customer/User Drivers, What factors affect the environment in which you operate?
•Core Competencies, What do you do well? What do your customers/users rely on you for?
•Competitive Review, Who are your key competitors? How is the competitive landscape changing?
Measurable Objectives or Outcomes
You have to know what you want to come up with strategies and tactics that will get you there. Basic, but many people don’t think through a set of realistic objectives.
List of measurable objectives
Example: To increase attendance by 15% at 2006 conference as compared to 2005 conference.
Audiences
Make a list of your key audiences. These should be the groups that represent the bulk of your business through the year. You’ll also want to include some information about how each audience thinks and feels. The goal here is to really know the people you are talking to.
List of audiences, those groups you need to reach; your list should also represent their mindsets, hopes and fears
Messages
What are you trying to say? You want to identify two or three key messages and hammer them home. You can’t tell everyone everything about your organization. Select a few critical points and put them down on paper.
Listing of key facts, behaviors, issues we want to get across.
Examples: Our annual conference provides great learning opportunities; networking at the conference provides the chance to build business.
Channels and Tools
How will you send your message to your target audiences? Channels are groups/people through whom and places where you will distribute your message; tools are the materials you employ.
List of the channels and tools that you plan to employ
Examples:
Channels: News media, opinion leaders, conference
Tools: Website, media kit, advertising
Strategy
Strategies are broad approaches to communicating that are linked to your objectives. These are the big-picture approaches you take to communication and positioning your organization. You should look at each objective and come up with the strategies you need to accomplish it.
Example:
Communicate to all previous conference attendees
Increase press coverage in a specific market
Implement a new advertising campaign
Tactics
The tactics are the specific tasks and activities needed to accomplish your strategies. These should be very specific.
Example:
Obtain mailing list
Create mailer in form of postcard
Make arrangements with mailing house
Timeline by Tactic
Prioritize your tactics, and then develop deadlines for each one. You’ll also want to note which staff members or outside resources will be used to complete the tactics.
Example:
Develop ideas for postcards by January 1 – Marketing director
Print cards by February 15 – Franklin Printing
Mail cards by March 1 – Mailing Services
Evaluation
Your evaluation methods may be formal, like a research study or survey. It might also be something more informal, like reports on sales increases, feedback from customers or input from staff. The most important idea here is to do some kind of measurement so you know if your strategies are working.
Example:
Increase in registrations over last year at four months before conference
Number of hits on web site increased since re-launch
Number of calls from potential customers after new advertising campaign begins
Budget
The marketing budget shouldn’t be whatever is left over at the end of the month or quarter. And it shouldn’t be unlimited, either. Go back through your strategies and tactics and assign some general budget amounts to each one. Is the number you come up with realistic? If not, go back and review your tactics and determine where you can make changes. You need to allocate money to achieve your key objectives. If you spend too much on one strategy, you won’t have enough to accomplish the others.
Still Skeptical About Planning?
You may be getting short-term results with a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach. But there is a downside. This kind of makeshift marketing often does nothing to further the strategic goals of the company and frequently fails to look to the future. And that is a very dangerous place to be. Even a little planning can help you decrease your marketing risk and improve your results.
DO YOU HAVE A MARKETING PLAN OR MARKETING MESS - To learn more about this author, visit Katie Sternberg's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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