Creating a Unified Marketing Platform

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Creating a Unified Marketing Platform
Nathan George, M.S., J.D. Based on a
Presentation by Dr. Kevin Lance Jones
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The Marketing Plan

• Central instrument for directing and coordinating
  the marketing effort
• How do you coordinate your marketing efforts?
• Plan ahead?
• Shoot from the hip?

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The Marketing Plan

• Marketing planning procedures and content vary
  considerably among companies
• Vary in length from under 5 pages to 50 pages
• Some organizations take it very seriously while
  others see them as a rough guide to action

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The Marketing Plan

• Marketing must be approached as both an art and
  a science constant tension between the
  formulated side of marketing and the creative
  side
• Operates at a strategic level and a tactical
  level
• Sometimes referred to as a Battle Plan

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Preparing for Battle

• In preparing for battle, I have always found
  that plans are useless but planning is
  indispensable.
• - President Dwight Eisenhower

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Preparing for Battle

• The most frequently cited shortcomings of current
  marketing plans, according to marketing
  executives are
• Lack of Realism
• Insufficient Competitive Analysis
• Short-run focus

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Contents of a Marketing Plan
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Contents of your Battle Plan

• Executive Summary Table of Contents
• Open with a brief summary of the main goals and
  recommendations
• Executive summary helps senior management to
  understand major points fast
• Table of contents that outlines the rest of the
  plan and all the supporting rationale and
  operational detail should follow the executive
  summary

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Contents of your Battle Plan

• Situational Analysis
• Presents relevant background data on sales,
  costs, the market, competitors, and the various
  forces in the macro-environment
• How is the market defined, how big is it, and how
  fast is it growing? What are the relevant trends
  affecting the market? What is the product
  offering and what are the critical issues facing
  the company?
• Pertinent historical information can be included
  to provide context
• Carry out a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses,
  opportunities, threats) analysis

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Contents of your Battle Plan

• Marketing Strategy
• Here the product manager defines the mission,
  marketing and financial objectives. They also
  define groups and needs that the product intends
  to satisfy.
• The manager then establishes the products
  competitive positioning, which is the game plan
  to do the plans objectives. This is done with
  inputs from other areas, like purchasing, sales,
  manufacturing, finance and human resources, so
  that the firm can provide proper support for
  implementation.
• The marketing strategy should be specific about
  the branding strategy and customer strategy that
  will be employed.

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Contents of your Battle Plan

• Financial Projections
• Financial projections include a sales forecast,
  an expense forecast, and a break-even analysis.
• On the revenue side, the projections show the
  forecasted sales volume by month and product
  category.
• On the expense side, the projections show the
  expected costs of marketing, broken down into
  finer categories.
• The break-even analysis shows how many units must
  be sold monthly to offset the monthly fixed costs
  and average per-unit variable costs.

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Contents of your Battle Plan

• Implementation Controls
• Tells how to monitor and adjust the plan as it is
  implemented
• Internal and external measures that assess
  progress and suggest possible changes
• Some organizations include contingency plans
  outlining steps management would take in response
  to specific environmental developments

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Contents of your Battle Plan

• See handout for a complete Marketing Plan
  Outline with notes as well as a Sample Marketing
  Plan.

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Barriers to Marketing

• Source Robert A. Sevier
• Thinking Outside the Box

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Barriers to Marketing

• Lack of Motivation to Change
• If stakeholders do not feel the need to respond
  to threats or emerging opportunities, it is
  unlikely that there will be enough consensus for
  marketing.

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Barriers to Marketing

• No Management Commitment
• If the president does not support marketing
  vocally and demonstrate this support with
  adequate staffing and budgets, it will fail.

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Barriers to Marketing

• Belief that Strategic Problems Can be Solved
  Tactically
• All the promotion in the world wont save a
  flawed or outdated management or operations style.

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Barriers to Marketing

• Failure of Managers from Different Departments to
  Work Together
• If the chief financial officer, marketing, human
  resources, and front line managers are not
  willing to share goals and resources, then the
  marketing effort will be seriously impaired.

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Barriers to Marketing

• Reluctance to See the Situation Realistically
• Marketing decisions must be founded on reliable
  information. A legitimate environmental audit,
  assessment of needs, being a learning
  organization, and perception and positioning
  studies must be undertaken.

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Barriers to Marketing

• An Inconsistent Definition of Marketing Among Key
  Players
• From the outset, planners and the company staff
  must use a common definition of marketing. This
  can and should be defined by executive management.

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Barriers to Marketing

• A Confusion Between Stakeholders and Customers
• Stakeholders staff, administrators,
  shareholders and others are people who work for
  and/or support the company.
• Customers are the people who pay the bills.
• Keep them both happy not just one.

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Evaluating the Plan

• Source Tim Berry and Doug Wilson
• On Target The Book on Marketing Plans

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Evaluating the Marketing Plan

• Questions to ask
• Is the plan simple?
• Is it easy to understand and act on?
• Does it communicate its content easily and
  practically?

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Evaluating the Marketing Plan

• Questions to ask
• Is the plan specific?
• Are its objectives concrete and measurable?
• Does it include specific actions and activities,
  each with specific dates of completion, specific
  persons responsible, and specific budgets?

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Evaluating the Marketing Plan

• Questions to ask
• Is the plan realistic?
• Are the goals, expense budgets, and milestone
  dates realistic?
• Has a frank and honest self-critique been
  conducted to raise possible concerns and
  objectives?

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Evaluating the Marketing Plan

• Questions to ask
• Is the plan complete?
• Does it include all the necessary elements?

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Tips Helpful Hints
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Tips and Helpful Hints

• Keep in mind the aspects of holistic marketing
• Relationship Marketing
• Integrated Marketing
• Internal Marketing
• Social Responsibility Marketing

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Tips and Helpful Hints

• Once its written, dont set it on the shelf to
  collect dust
• Keep it in action re-evaluate the plan every
  1-2 months.
• Make appropriate adjustments.
• Learn from trial and error.

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Tips and Helpful Hints

• Adjustments to the plan can be due to new PR
  strategies, crisis management, big events and
  changes, and more.

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Conclusion

• It pays to plan ahead. It wasnt raining when
  Noah built the arc.
• - Denis Waitley

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Sources

• Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller Marketing
  Management, 12th edition
• Tim Berry and Doug Wilson On Target The Book
  on Marketing Plans
• Robert A. Sevier Thinking Outside the Box