Monday, September 22, 2008
Every year (usually in fall), we are faced with the onerous task of writing our business plan for the upcoming year. It creeps up after those lazy summer days, and each year we swear it comes more quickly than the year before. Never the less, that time is here now. We typically spend several weeks hemming and hawing over finding the time to write the plan, secretly wondering whether it makes any difference.
If you don't relate to this at all and have your business and marketing plans completed by September 1, then kudos - but this is certainly the scenario my company and many others go through, so I thought it would be nice to share, just in case.
A critical component of your annual business plan is the marketing plan. And sadly, the marketing plan often gets the last bit of oomph remaining for the project, and the last dribbles of budget, too. Why is this? Well, marketing is the fun stuff. The fluff. The "extra." Therefore to many executives, it's gratuitous. They give marketing attention when there's "time", when revenues are up, and there's cushion in the budget.
The wave of "rebranding" that occurred over the last several years is arguably the product of surplus revenues during prosperous economic times. And as a result of the Re-Branding Wave, many companies have come to see branding as the be-all-end-all to marketing. Thus, with currently stagnating revenue growth, they are pulling in the reins saying, "We need to increase revenues and bring in some more accounts - then we will think about revamping the website and our logo."
This statement completely ignores the purpose of marketing, which is to generate leads. Branding is very important - but so are the integrated methods we use to drive sales, including public relations, advertising, direct mail, email, and others.
Waiting for money to throw at a new logo also places a huge burden on said future logo and website. When the company comes to a place where it decides it is ready to invest in those items, what will it expect in return? There are really only two expected results from marketing that encompasses this type of rebranding effort, which, if we call a spade a spade, is really just redesigning:
I am sure if your company engaged in this type of rebranding you didn't write down numbers 1 and 2 as your goals. But if you are honest with yourself, one of those probably hits home. New logos and new websites have their place, and one of these years, those items will surely be a part of a true rebranding effort at your company. But picking on logos and websites aside, even a properly executed rebrand can't generate leads on its own.
Thus, we need to change the notion that marketing exists solely for its own benefit. In doing so, we should require marketing activities to:
In short, make marketing accountable. Design your marketing program to be in sync with the company's goals, and to support the sales effort, and you will see results - not just expenses.
So where do we go from here?
Now we go back to the fall season, and writing the business plan. That's right. I said business plan, because if marketing is no longer a stepchild, it should be included with, or at least somehow appended to, your business plan.
When you state your revenue goals and other company goals in the beginning of the business plan, you will also ensure that your marketing is also working to achieve those goals. In developing the marketing portion of your plan, be sure you know who your target market is, and why they are going to buy your product. If you don't have a clear response to that, don't move on. Start there and get clarity. And contact me for more articles or other assistance.
Once you are sure you understand who to target and why they are buying from you, do some research and figure out what methods and tactics you could employ that satisfy these criteria:
Develop your marketing plan as if you had no budget (but be reasonable). Write out a draft plan that includes all of your tactics, why they will work, and how you will track them. Include costs.
Your next step is to have a heart to heart with the finance department. Their job is to get you to spend as little as possible. Your job is to justify the expenses and commit to them. Remember: We don't want to go back to being "those fluffy, good time marketing people." Be prepared to trim (or slash, depending on how far you ran with the wishful marketing plan). But also be prepared to fight for what you think will really work - and know you will be held accountable, which is no problem since your tactics are measureable. Right?
Your last step is the most important. Organize an all hands meeting to go over the marketing plan. Help everyone understand what is in the plan for the year, and why certain things aren't. Get buy-in - especially from the sales department, because they have to close the sale on the leads you bring. Help them understand how they can leverage their activities off of your plan. Be open to their feedback, and be willing to modify things if needed.
When your plan it written, approved, and sold in-house, you're not done. Now you have to implement it and do the things you said you would. To help yourself, keep the plan on your desk all year. Mark it up with comments and ideas for next year. Don't change it mid-year, but measure and track like you said you would, and stick with it. When you do this, the process next year will be that much easier - and more effective, too.
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