Writing a Marketing Plan: Taking the Hassle Out and Putting the Value In - Issue: 2004 Qtr 2
A few tips on developing
a marketing plan:
Focus on “quality of thought,” not “number of pages.”
Limit the timeframe of the plan — a 12–18 month window is usually enough. The further out you plan, the more can change.
Do the research and ask the tough questions first.
Developing a marketing plan can be a daunting task. After all, marketing touches virtually every department and area of a company. And trying to get your arms around all of the hundreds of details can feel like an impossible task.
Think back to when you were in school…remember when you had to write a term paper? After you selected the topic, the best way to begin was with an outline of the paper. This provided the roadmap for your research, as well as letting you see in a concise format exactly what ground you will be covering. Developing a marketing plan can follow the same process.
First, don’t feel pressured into thinking you have to write the entire plan in one sitting. The best marketing plans develop logically, over time, and with input from many sources. Here’s an example of just one “outline.” Of course, your outline should be tailored to the specific marketing objectives and issues confronting your company and brand.
1. (Why) Marketing and Brand Objectives
- Brand objectives
- Marketing objective
- How these objectives connect to corporate business goals
2. (Who) Develop a clear picture of the opportunity
- Customers
- Prospects
- Markets (sectors)
- Geography
3. (What) Identify Product and Service opportunities
- Product/Service offering (new, extensions, consolidations, etc.)
- Enhancements
- New opportunities
- New technology
- Scope of product
4. (Where) The right place at the right time – distribution, logistics and service level requirements
- Geography
- Distribution/channel partners
- Logistics
- ERP, EDI (technology issues)
- Service levels
5. (How much) Pricing for customer satisfaction and profitability
- Profitability by account/product
- Price elasticity
- Competitive analysis
- Value engineering
- Budgeting
6. (How) Sales and marketing communications strategy
- Sales organization options/development
- Marketing communications tactics, budgeting, planning, implementation
- ROI metrics
Once you have the “outline” defined, the next steps are to begin addressing issues (e.g., who are your customers/prospects; who should/could be your customers/prospects). Assigning people to help with different areas (like data mining existing information on pricing/profitability, customer industry segments, etc.) also helps spread the workload.
After you’ve strategically addressed the issues and reached consensus, you basically, have the marketing plan. All you have to do is write it. But remember, the heavy lifting is already done, so you can relax a bit. Write the plan in a form that is comfortable for both you and your organization. If PowerPoint is the accepted standard at your company, write it in PowerPoint. Choose whichever format communicates best for you. The important thing to remember is that you don’t just sit down and write a plan. You develop a plan in a collaborative environment by addressing strategic issues and answering important questions about your business.
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