When the leaves start to fall off the trees, it is time to begin developing marketing plans for the coming year. I think I have spent every October during the last thirty years, creating a marketing plan for the coming year to help sell brownies, meat snacks, sunflower seeds, toys, soft drinks, software, engineered foam, wine corks and dozens of other goods and services.
Since I’m a big fan of planning and simplicity, I following a streamlined approach that helps me achieve significant goals.
Marketing Planning
- Alignment with the Business. You can’t create a marketing plan without understanding the company’s strategic initiatives for the coming year. Start with a business plan that outlines measurable goals like revenues, margins and other specific objectives. Then, align the marketing plans to support and achieve those activities. My favorite approach is to listen to each initiative or business team leader tell you what success will look like in December of the coming year.
What are their top 3 priorities? Pull out of this conversation the most critical goals for the following fiscal year. If they want to grow the number of distributors selling your product, be specific. Is that 5 or 25 more distributors? Get clear on the top 3 challenges or problems they want to solve.
- Write a Brief. A brief should be a short recitation and interpretation of that conversation outlining how the marketing activities will support those goals outlined by the business leaders. It can be a few pages, and it becomes a written roadmap and plan of the coming journey.
- If building awareness for a new product launch is critical, then search for a metric or KPI that you and the business team agree on measures success.
- “In a pre/post survey awareness will go from 5% to 20% of our existing customer base”.
- If generating leads for a new product launch is critical, define it with a number that everyone says would be a success.
- “We will create 25 MQL (marketing qualified leads) every month starting in April.
- If building awareness for a new product launch is critical, then search for a metric or KPI that you and the business team agree on measures success.
- Create a Spreadsheet. The spreadsheet should outline the budget spending that puts numbers to the activities in brief and aligns with the business plans and goals. It can help if you have each area aligned with an initiative. That way, you know what percentage of the marketing spending is supporting each business initiative. By combining the brief and the spreadsheet together, you have a marketing roadmap to support the business’ goals.
Marketing has to align with the business strategies and initiatives. Think of each strategic initiative as a vehicle. No fuel, no forward motion.
Marketing is the fuel to help you achieve your goals. Alignment allows you to agree on the destination. The plan gives you a road map.
Marketing plans need to focus and be flexible to be effective. But most of all, they fuel your momentum to create success.
Fill er’ up?
Need help creating your 2019 marketing plans? Searching for inventive ways to put fuel in your marketing tank? I can help you fuel up. You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free, and we can explore if working together makes sense. Try my new chat feature on my site if you have a quick question.
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