Successful Marketing Starts With a Plan

SETTING SOME PRIORITIES

As I get back in the saddle each year after our RMDA convention I am always bursting with ideas and am completely re-energized. Then, it's time to figure out how to turn all of that into money.

This year I have returned to my desk with a few top priorities. Among them are getting our dashboard finished, hiring a new restaurant rep and re-writing our marketing plan.

Each year I update our marketing plan (which includes an advertising plan) and create a timeline and target dates for some of the specifics. Most small businesses do not have a marketing plan or for that matter know how to write one. So, I'd like to take a jab at an overview of this and share some links.

WHY A MARKETING PLAN?

If someone came up to me on the street and asked this question (which, by the way, would be a very weird thing, don't you think) I would answer, "because writing it forces me to think and to organize ideas."

The organize part is especially important to me. By nature I am not organized at all. I do, however, like most entrepreneurs, have a spinning brain. Ideas pop in and out all day. Sometimes I talk about them, sometimes I write them down, sometimes I spring into action on something so juicy that I just can't contain myself. The thing is, that's probably not a great way to run a business.

Putting the big picture marketing stuff in writing, collaborating with others, and laying out the plan and writing it all in such a way that CHANGING that plan if needed is easy, is a great exercise and an important step in propelling my business.

THE STRUCTURE I USE

While there are many templates available online to help you get started, over time the structure of your written plan may evolve and improve to better suit your company and represent what you can actually execute. I am sure that the marketing plan for Nabisco is a bit more complex than the one for Deliverynow.com, but here are the general elements I cover and the structure I have developed:

1. Mission Statement: this describes what I want this marketing plan to achieve in terms of brand identity,  sector growth (corporate, residential, hotel and pharma), and overall growth.

2. Sector Strategies: for each sector I list at least three bullet points that each represent a strategy to build that sector followed by detail for how we execute this strategy and a timeline by quarter. For example: Residential -- a) Build brand through social media...(and then list specifics), b) leverage database through email and direct mail (followed by specific deployment ideas -- both new and proven), c) Increase community involvement, ie. sponsorship of local events, local sports, etc.(followed by some specific opportunities). The timeline and goals for each quarter are spelled out with each sector strategy.

3. Advertising/Media Buys: this section is truly an advertising plan that outlines any print or mass media buys that we have scheduled or want to schedule. For each item in this list I cover message and creative bullet points plus target budgeting.

4. Budget Summary: Here is where, through lists and a spreadsheet, we lay out as much detail as possible of what we expect the execution of our marketing and advertising plan to cost. For our business this will include the costs of all e-marketing, print and media, direct mail, sponsorships and direct sales.

5. Marketing Calendar: this is exactly what you think it is. By seeing what's ahead, in a clear and easy to understand manner, we can manage the daily tasks that make timely execution of each element happen.

Number Crunching and Adaptation 

No good marketer lacks good analytics. Over the course of the year as our marketing strategies unfold there are things that are working and things that aren't. There are ROI's that we expected because we are doing something that used to return huge value that somehow is not returning the same results.

Tracking customer acquisition, sales movement in each sector and geographic drill downs for all of the above, is integral to understanding what works. The trick is knowing when to cut your losses and move OUT of a strategy that isn't working and potentially re-allocating resources to what IS working!

Big companies have lots of money to experiment with. We don't. If we are doing five things to build residential sales and two aren't working, then it won't be long before we are just doing three things or working on two new ideas.

Similarly, every once in awhile we sometimes stumble on something that works way better than our wildest dreams. Don't be afraid to switch gears on the fly and boost the program that's working!

This is also true of Big Business Marketing -- plans change. Having a monthly and quarterly marketing report is part of our process and reality will drive the changes we need to make. 

Below are a couple of links to articles written by better minds than mine. Check them out!


http://www.inc.com/encyclopedia/competitive-analysis.html

http://www.inc.com/guides/writing-marketing-plan.html