Give me an A? Give me Results!!!
EverydayI talk to a handful of people about web development and marketing projects. For the most part, I get quite a few of the same questions and responses. This got me thinking about why I kept getting the same response to a particular question. When asked what our process was for taking on new clients, I always begin with discussing our strategy and planning process. What amazed me, till today, is that often times even with top rated companies when explaining our gathering requirements and strategy phase I would get objections about paying for exploration of their business and their competitors. Often times the objective was not in paying for service and results but was in discovery? What I realized today after reading an article by [[http://www.timcalkins.com|Tim Calkins]] who is a Clinical Professor of Marketing at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, is that many people have been so inundated with garbage marketing plans that no wonder they don’t want to go thru that again! There really should be two objectives towards ones’ goal for marketing. 1. Are we focused on the right things? 2. If we do these things, will we achieve our objectives? For instance, once everyone agrees that improving customer retention is a priority, it is fairly easy to think about ways to address the issue. My dad taught me a long time ago to Keep it Simple. So why do we so often make it difficult for ourselves and for our customers? So what goes into a good marketing plan that we as marketers can address for our customers so we can eliminate objectives? To begin with the role of a marketing plan is to lay out a course of action. A good plan should explain precisely what the business should do to build revenue and profits. A good marketing plan should be focused on presenting the objectives, the strategic initiatives needed to achieve the objectives, and the tactics associated with each of the initiatives. So with that being said, here are some tips to ensure a good, solid marketing strategy that makes everyone happy! 1. Cut out all the Data--- Focus on Recommendations 2. Clear strategic initiatives are essential, because a business can focus on doing only three or four things in a year 3. Clear Rationale 4. The plan has to be convincing; it has to present what should be done and, more importantly, why the plan will be a good course of action 5. Cross Functional Involvement is important--- A good marketing plan cannot be written solely by the marketing team. Indeed, if the marketing team creates and writes the marketing plan on its own, there is probably a serious problem. 6. Talk to your financial people---A good marketing plan needs to be linked to the financials of a business. Tim Calkins tells us how easy it is, “Creating a great marketing plan isn't all that complicated; a good plan simply presents the objectives for a business, the strategic initiatives, and the tactics. Nonetheless, many marketing plans contribute little. As one executive observed, "So much of marketing is common sense, but it all goes away when you write marketing plans."
