Marketing 101: Plan or Fail

Marketing. The very thought of what marketing means inspires strong reactions. You love it, or you hate it. There also are many fables about marketing: It’s costly, it’s hard to understand, it doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t work, it keeps changing, even I can do without it.

You may find yourself repeating that last statement. Fortunately or unfortunately, if you want to increase your sales, grow, and prosper, then you need to be marketing your company. And to market properly, you need to create and stick to a marketing plan.

A great quote on planning comes from Benjamin Franklin, who said, “If you fail to plan, then you are planning to fail.” Motivational greats like Zig Ziglar, Mary Kay Ash, and others who motivate sales teams to do great things have echoed that quote.

It Doesn’t Have to be Painful

Creating a marketing plan doesn’t have to be difficult or complicated, but in order to be effective and achieve results, it has to be committed to paper, then executed regularly, consistently, and authentically.

It doesn’t matter how big your company is, the kind of product or service you sell, or whether or not you have someone on your team with marketing experience, you can create and execute a simple annual marketing plan. There are some simple steps to follow, however.

First, it often helps to get into the marketing frame of mind.

For people who work in the manufacturing industry, this can sometimes be hard. Marketing is an always-changing blend of art and science–meaning there are many shades of gray, and no hard-and-fast rules.

Manufacturers generally don’t like working within these parameters, because they typically achieve success using exact sciences like physics, chemistry, and math.

To help yourself think like a marketer, use the “30,000-foot view.” From this view you can see your business, the economy, outside forces like competitors, your future, and your unique position in the market. From there the view is a little more spacious, a bit more freeing. Now you are ready to begin by following five simple steps.

Step 1: Look at Your Business Plan.

Most companies should have a business plan that charts where it plans to grow, expected sales, and what it wants to spend money on in the coming year. Some companies do this based on the calendar year-end, and some based on their fiscal year-end. Whichever way your company does it, you want to begin your marketing plan discussions about three months before the start of your new year.

Step 2: Gather Your Team.

If you have a staff marketing person, he or she can lead this process. But if you don’t, don’t sweat it.

A marketing plan really requires two kinds of people: organized people who like to create schedules (and keep others committed to the schedule) and creative thinkers. It’s important to involve sales, business development, the executive team (especially if they are the decision-makers), and anyone in your organization that is digitally savvy. Then plan a meeting.

And, no, 30 minutes will not do it. Give it a full afternoon or even a day. At this meeting it’s best to put away cell phones and don’t allow interruptions. Make sure you have clean white boards and those great big pads of paper on easels. On the table have pads of paper, pens, highlighters, whatever it takes to get the team talking and doing. And don’t forget the food, water, and coffee.

Step 3: Get Creative.

To get the creative juices flowing, start by asking these questions:

• Who are we as a company, and what unique, authentic product or service do we bring to the market? This is your brand and your value – it’s what guides the “flavor” of all your marketing efforts.

• Who is our customer, and how do they find us? Not everybody is your customer, and unless your company is a start-up, your team should be able to accurately pinpoint the age, position, education, industry, and geographic location of your customers. Write this profile down. This is the group at which you want to direct your marketing efforts.

• What do our marketing efforts look like now? This includes your website, advertising, tradeshow attendance, social media, blogging, mailers (both paper and e-mail), association memberships, customer relationship management (CRM), lead cultivation, and community outreach.

• Who are our competitors, and what marketing are they doing? Examining the competitors’ strategy can help spark ideas, but don’t base your plan solely on what others are doing.

• What is our current marketing situation? If brochures are old and obsolete, they need updating. If your customers are heavily involved in digital media, you may need to start a Twitter or Facebook account.

• What marketing do we want to do? Corporate videos are popular. It’s also a good idea to get your team involved in writing blogs for your website. Let everyone’s opinions be heard and written down; quite often the best insights come from the people you least expect to have this knowledge.

Step 4: Determine Your Budget.

This is important, because how can you determine your ROI if you haven’t set an actual figure?

If you are just getting started in marketing, set the marketing budge at 1 to 5 percent of your annual sales. This is just for regular, run-of-the-mill marketing activities. If you are planning to attend a large tradeshow, redesign your website, or hire an outside marketing agency for a rebranding exercise, then your budget will likely need to increase.

Step 5: Create a Schedule and Assign Tasks.

The simplest way to do this is to create a spreadsheet divided into the months of the year. Each month should have an activity and a dollar amount associated with it. Monthly activities should include website and social media updates (weekly is best), e-newsletters, and blogs.

Quarterly activities can include advertising (remembering that most magazines need this well before printing) and paper mailers.

Following this, plot your big events, like tradeshows or writing a white paper. Assign specific people to each task and save the file in a location where everyone can see it.

Finally, and here is the big one, look at the plan and check off your tasks every week. That’s it – marketing plan done.

A word of caution though: Don’t expect overnight results.

Marketing is a long and layered process, and if you are the kind of person that expects immediate results, you will need to show some patience. But don’t give up. Make a commitment to completing every task in your marketing plan for a full year, and you will be well on your way to building brand awareness, customer engagement, leads, and then sales.