Marketing plans: 10 TIPS TO MAKE IT HAPPEN

Communication World, Oct-Nov, 2000 by Linda Pophal

Trying to sell a product or service without a plan is like planning a vacation without a map. You may eventually get where you wanted to go, but it will take longer and cost more than it should.

While the development of a marketing plan can be a time-consuming, intense and expensive process, it doesn't have to be. Even the smallest company with the most modest budget can develop a plan that provides sufficient information and direction to maximize marketing efforts.

Following is a 10-step process to developing a marketing plan that will provide you with the direction you need.

(1) Have a champion from as high in the organization as possible --preferably your CEO.

The organization, not the marketing department, owns the marketing plan. CEO support for your efforts will help to minimize resistance, second-guessing and negativity as you move through the process. In addition, your CEO can help to manage the expectations of employees, board members and other stakeholders and limit the potential for negative feedback by supporting the plan and its resulting messages and tactics.

If your CEO doesn't have a strong background in marketing, it pays to spend time with him or her to provide some basic information about how the process works. Focus specifically on meeting the needs of your target audience and not necessarily your internal stakeholders. Your messages need to be consistent with your corporate mission and philosophy, but it doesn't really matter if your organization "likes" the advertisements and other materials that you develop -- what matters is how those materials are received by your target audience(s).

(2) Involve a broad cross-section of people from the organization in the process.

Imagine developing a wonderful plan to promote a product and then discovering that you don't have the capacity to produce that product in sufficient quantity to meet demand. It happens. The development of a marketing plan should involve people from all areas of the organization, including administration and operations, and as many opinion leaders as possible. Not only is their input and wisdom valuable to the process, but also their involvement provides you with a group of "ambassadors" who can help to support the direction you take -- in essence, a way to "share the credit and the blame."

Don't hesitate to include potential detractors in this group. They can sometimes be the most powerful allies once they become educated about the process and begin to understand how and why certain decisions are made.

(3) Select a skilled facilitator to lead the process.

You will need someone to facilitate your planning sessions. It is not critical that the facilitator have a marketing background (as long as you do), but it is critical that the facilitator be skilled in managing group dynamics and facilitating discussions among numerous participants who often have conflicting opinions and goals. You may be able to fill this role yourself. If not, consider whether there are others in the organization who have strong facilitation skills and would be willing to participate in the process. Or you may choose to outsource this role -- or perhaps the development of the entire plan -- to an experienced consultant.

(4) Use an organized approach to planning

A number of critical elements can help to drive the development of your plan. Your facilitator should lead the group in discussions about your target market; your competition; the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats faced by the organization; and, ultimately, the development of goals, objectives, strategies and tactics. Much of this information is readily available within your organization, but it needs to be gathered, organized and shared. People can be assigned to specific areas and charged with gathering and assembling this data "offline" (outside the regularly scheduled meetings).

Information about your target market. The more you know about your target marker, the better able you will be to develop marketing materials and messages that are appropriate and persuasive. You may already have a great deal of information available about your market through research that has been done previously. In addition, information is available through a wide variety of secondary sources. Start by gathering information that is already available and then determine whether you will need to supplement it with new research.

Information about your competition. What do you know about your competitors? Who are they? How do they differentiate their competing products and services? What messages do they distribute? What "position" do they have in the marketplace? Competitive information can be obtained firsthand (through your own experiences with the competition) as well as through publicly available information. Your own employees may also be a surprising source of information about the competition - particularly if your competition is local and employees have friends and relatives who work for the competition.