To Plan or Not to Plan…It’s Not Even a Question!
Because they usually need leads as soon as possible, companies are often tempted to launch their marketing campaigns in a hurry. But while it might seem a longer path to put together a well thought-out marketing plan, the consequences of not planning could seriously damage the marketing budget and effectiveness. The planning phase doesn’t have to take months, and in fact, a focused team can probably finalize a marketing plan in two to four weeks. The time invested upfront will be rewarded through the implementation and launch of all future marketing campaigns.
Here are a few guidelines for putting a marketing plan together and the elements that a marketing team should take in consideration when developing this helpful tool.
Your Goals: What are you trying to achieve with your marketing? What are your sales projections, projected growth for the specific product or service? Are you trying to penetrate new markets? Gain market shares? Try to define your goals very clearly, so you can fully adapt your marketing strategy to these goals.
Your Product/Service: It is very important to have a very precise description of your product/service. A good exercise is to create an “elevator” speech for the product/service by working on a 25-50 words positioning statement. Think about what your best customers will say or what you would like them to say about this product/service. Make sure to list both the features and the corresponding benefits. Features “belong” to the product/service. They’re independent of any potential customer. Benefits are what the potential customer will gain by using the product or service; they are what the consumer experiences, and are usually a more powerful selling tool.
Your Market: You should analyze in depth the industry in which you compete and gather as much research information as possible (both quantitative and qualitative) on the market conditions, trends, etc. Study also your competition and describe each of your competitors, their competitive strengths and weaknesses and how you plan to be different and compete with them.
Your Target Market(s): Define your target market(s) and prioritize them in relation to their ability to achieve your goals. Ask yourself, which markets have the highest revenue and profit potential? For each target market, define a customer profile using demographic, sociographic and psychographic variables . For each of your target markets, develop a market penetration strategy.
Sales Model: Describe how your company will sell the product/service, i.e. the different steps of the sales process, and which specific tools will be needed to support the sales process (Letters, brochures, follow-up actionsm etc. Defining a time line is also importantm how long will it take from identifying a prospoect to the actual sale?. Aligning your sales model to your product offer is critical to success.
Your Marketing Mix: Develop a mix of marketing activities to generate a positive response in your target market(s). You can achieve that by blending the marketing mix variables in an optimal manner. The mix can include branding, messaging, packaging, distribution channels, advertising, sales promotions, public relations, sponsorship, social networking, etc. Activities should also be organized in a calendar. Along with the obvious 4 Ps (Price, Place, Promotion, Product), you should consider adding People and Process. People are, from my point of view, the most important element of any product or service experience. Don’t forget to set meaningful KPI (Key Performance Indicators) to allow the measurement of the effectiveness of your activities, so you can adapt them along the way if necessary.
Your Marketing Budget: Develop an itemized, monthly budget based on the elements of your marketing mix.
Only after you’ve researched, developed, and digested this essential information, you are ready to begin the implementation of a marketing campaign, which will build brand equity and bring the qualified sales leads you need.
But creating an effective and efficient marketing strategy is not always easy. This is where a consultant or a coach can come handy. They can take the entire task over, or just create and/or review the marketing mix and the tactics to make sure that three critical requirements are not overlooked: consistency, frequency and variety.
About the author
French-born and bred, Huguette Marsicano has an eclectic background in international business that spans over twenty years. Huguette’s career has taken her around the world- developing marketing strategies in France, launching magazines for Russian and Middle Eastern audiences, collaborating with executive management teams throughout Europe and the United States. Her experience in international markets ranges from projects for multinational companies such as Kellogg to non-profit organizations such as Unicef and The Humane Society.
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