Marketing Plans Made Easy - 10 Steps to a Results-Focused Plan

Your marketing director, or maybe your bank manager, has asked you to write a marketing plan. The colour drains from your face and you start to panic, right? Well it doesn’t have to be this way.

In a nutshell, marketing planning is simply taking stock and thinking logically about how you are going to achieve your objectives. Follow the 10 steps below and you will be well on your way to a marketing plan that will deliver results.

1.       Be clear on your objectives and ensure these are SMART (Strategic, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely). Your objectives may be given to you by the executive board. Or if you’re running a small business, your objectives are what you want the business to achieve. Marketing objectives are almost always financial in nature.

2.       Understand the market you are in. I mean REALLY understand it. What are the challenges, what are the threats, how do you stack up against the competition? It’s helpful to use SWOT or PEST analyses models to direct your thinking around the market situation.

3.       Understand your business offering and where it fits into the market. Are you fulfilling a niche? Do you do something no-one else is doing? Are you trying to be all things to all people? What’s your point of difference?

4.       Develop your strategy. Now at this point, let’s be clear on the difference between strategy and tactics. For example, you may decide your marketing strategy is to drive your business online because consumers are turning away from retail stores. Your tactics, in this case, would be things like; start a blog, do a series of email campaigns, or update your website. Your strategy is your approach based on your understanding of the market and your product/service offering. Note you can have a number of strategies, depending on the objectives you need to meet.

5.       Develop a tactical plan. This should be a list of activities you are going to undertake in order to deliver the results you need to meet your objectives. All these activities should meet your strategic focus. If they don’t, then they have no place in your plan.

6.       Now the financials. Work out the costs for your tactical activity and cull whatever does not fit your budget.

7.       Work out a timeline for your tactical activity. It may be useful in terms of annual budget projections to combine your timeline with your budget so you know where the peaks of expenditure will be. Accountants will love you for this.

8.       Measurement. Ensure you can measure the effectiveness of everything put into your tactical plan. This will assist your planning of future activities and will enable you to track how your plan is progressing against objectives.

9.       NEVER EVER put your marketing plan in a drawer and forget about it. Carry it around with you and refer to it often. It will keep you focused and results driven.

10.   Revise your plan if it’s not working or if the market changes. This will help your business remain nimble, flexible and adaptable to your customers’ needs.

So, next time you’re asked to write a marketing plan you can grin and say, “Sure thing, no worries!”

Want to share this knowledge with others?  Tweet, re-Blog or use Facebook using the links below.

5 Simple Tips to Keep Your Employees On-Side and Informed

Our employees are our biggest asset… blah blah blah…

How many times have we heard this? I’m sure there are no MDs or CEOs who would willingly insult their employees. But thousands are doing it every day just by sending out hapless employee communications.

Let’s face it most internal communications are organised by the marketing or communications department and often badly. ‘Not me’ you protest. I beg you, just have a look at the five pointers below and if you can’t check all of them off then there’s room for improvement.

We all know that the best way to find out what’s really going on in the company is:

a)      At the water cooler

b)      In the smoking area

c)       In the coffee area

d)      If you’re a woman, in the ladies bathrooms. (Possibly that goes for the gents too?…I invite your comments?)

So how do you harness this mire of gossip and underworld activity?

Here’s how.

1.       Nominate Communications Champions for each department. Give a real communications job to the office gossips. Filter the communication through them and keep them informed, both with the good and bad news.

2.       Not on computers? These days most people are on email. But for field based staff, technicians on the road, etc. this isn’t always possible. Ensure you have an effective and well understood system for communicating messages: SMS, noticeboard, or team briefings just for starters.

3.       No bullsh1t. This is fundamental. People will see through it and it will cause more harm than good. It’s essential to be 100% sincere in your communications. No stock standard phrases and no waffle.

4.       Love the media, but not too much. Don’t let employees find out what’s going on in the company through media reports. (Yes, this actually happens – I know. It happed to me on more than one occasion.) Ensure your employees are briefed BEFORE the media.

5.       Direct from the horse’s mouth. If it’s important (and by that I mean significant re-structures, mass redundancies, takeovers etc), let your employees hear it directly from the CEO. Call a mass meeting and talk to everyone together. And CEO’s: don’t be defensive when your staff ask questions. Answer truthfully and openly. It will do wonders for the CEO ‘street cred’ to be seen communicating directly with the staff.

Do you have anything to add to these five tips? What’s your experience? What works for your organisation? I’d LOVE to hear from you. I'd welcome your comments below.