 A well thought out, “living and breathing” business marketing plan is one of the keys to long-term, sustainable revenue growth.Why is writing a marketing plan the key to your long term success?
Because a marketing plan forces you to go after the markets or opportunities where you can consistently win.
A marketing plan forces you to differentiate yourself from your competition.
A marketing plan forces you to do a better job of communicating so it’s obvious to your prospects that you are better choice.
A marketing plan forces you to develop a marketing and sales system that works relentlessly to generate qualified leads and increase close sales.
A marketing plan forces your sales people to go after the right prospects with the right story and this makes them more productive.
Without a sound business marketing planning, you will lack the focus you need in your marketing and sales to grow consistently over time.
Core Marketing Strategies has developed a marketing planning methodology based on many years of hands-on experience. The methodology is a step by step process that covers the basic elements of a strategic marketing plan:
- Growth Objectives
- Market Segmentation
- Market Analysis
- Positioning Strategy
- Marketing and Sales Process
- Marketing Execution Plan
1. GROWTH OBJECTIVES
A Marketing Plan must start with the numbers – where do you want the business to be one, three and five years from now from a revenue and profit perspective.
The numbers must then be broken down by sources of revenue, because this will dictate the market, product or service mix that will generate the revenue.
The revenue targets will dictate marketing activities and priorities. The more aggressive the growth targets, the more aggressive the marketing efforts must be.
In addition, this phase of planning should include growth opportunities, impediments to growth and growth drivers.
Growth opportunities: How can existing expertise, capabilities, or intellectual property be exploited to drive new sources of revenue.
Impediments to Growth: Would would prevent you from achieving growth targets (capital, technology, processes, people) and what must be done to eliminate these obstacles.
Growth Drivers: What are the specific outcomes that drive growth; monthly leads, proposals per month, events per year, quarterly presentations, etc. These are the outcomes that must be marketed to, and tracking results in these areas provides an accurate predictor of whether growth targets will achieved.
2. MARKET SEGMENTATION
Segmentation is a critical building block in marketing strategy development. Proper segmentation ensures the right prospects are being targeted and that all market opportunities are identified so they can be exploited.
Segmentation criteria can be based on any number of factors; geography, industry, size of business, consumer preferences or income level, etc., which ever makes sense for the business.
In general terms, the more granular the segmentation the better so that marketing efforts can be designed to resonate with the target audience. Each segment may therefore require unique approaches based on prospect decision making criteria.
3. MARKET ANALYSIS
Market Analysis consists of Prospect and Competitive Analysis.
Every prospect group - as defined by market segmentation - has a unique profile with respect to how buying decisions are made. To effectively market to these segments, it’s critical to understand how, when, why and where buying decisions are made.
Whoever understands these factors the best will inevitably increase market share. At a minimum, there must be an in-depth understanding of the prospect as it relates to:
- Hot Buttons:
Hot-buttons are used to make an initial connection with prospects to compel them to pay attention. These are key frustrations or problems a typical prospect experiences when 1) using a particular product or service 2) not using any of the available products or services 3) trying to figure out which products or services to use.
- Initial Point of Contact:
Where does a typical prospect go to find information about businesses within an industry (e.g. internet, yellow pages, word of mouth/networking, trade show, associations, etc.).
- Decision Making Criteria:
What are the key attributes on which the final decision is being made?
- Decision Making Process:
What a typical prospect needs to know, see or hear to make a buying decision, and who is involved in the decision making and what influence does each participant exert.
- The Decision Making Cycle:
How long does it take to make a decision? This is typically a function of the complexity of the decision, the importance of the decision and how well educated prospects are with respect to making a decision.
The competitive environment is examined to evaluate both direct and indirect competition. Understanding competitive strengths drives opportunities for improvement, best practices and innovation. Innovation is one of the keys to differentiation and profitable, sustainable growth.
- How intense is the competition, how many competitors are there?
- Is there a dominant player in the industry?
- Is the competition concentrated or scattered?
- How do competitors market themselves? How do they position themselves?
- What are their strengths and weaknesses?
- Do they have a good reputation, do their customers think highly of them, do they have a high or low churn rate?
- Is "do nothing" an option? Why?
4. POSITIONING STRATEGY
A Positioning Strategy is how you want to be perceived in the minds of prospects versus your competition. It must clearly distinguish you from competitors, and make it obvious you are the best available choice.
It must be based on the value prospects (in a particular market segment) expect to receive from a provider relative to, and unique from competitors, as it relates to addressing specific customer decision making criteria.
A Positioning Strategy must be all about what’s important to “them” – YOUR PROSPECTS.
5. MARKETING AND SALES PROCESS
The Marketing and Sales Process is “where the rubber hits the road”. It recognizes that for a business to be successful, it must execute a connected sales and marketing plan. It identifies all the activities that must be continually executed, their frequency, and the tools that must be in place or developed to drive consistent revenue growth.
The Marketing and Sales Process is the road map for the systemization of all business development activities.
The Marketing and Sales Process addresses four core business development phases:
- Lead Generation
Defining the appropriate lead generation tactics to drive the qualified leads required to achieve the growth objectives.
- Moving Prospects Through Decision Making Cycle (Education)
Prospects require some level of education about how to make an informed decision. Those who do the best job of educating develop a value based relationship with the prospect and have a higher probability of winning the sale. Tools and delivery mechanisms must be put in place to provide the prospect with educational content through the decision making process.
- Sales Process/Closing the Sale
Identifying everything prospects will need to know or require before they make a final decision.
- Post Sales
Most businesses do not fully leverage one of their most important assets – their customer base. The post sales process defines everything that should be done - in a systemized way - to optimize the relationship with existing customers.
Once the Marketing and Sales Process has been developed, the necessary tools and technologies required to support the process must be identified.
6. MARKETING EXECUTION PLAN
The Marketing Execution Plan, sometimes referred to as a Marketing Communications Plan, is the blueprint for executing on-going marketing and sales activities in a consistent, persistent and systemized way. Consistency is what builds momentum and ultimately leads to desired results – increased leads, increased close rates, shorter sales cycles, increased margins.
There are four elements to the Marketing Execution Plan:
- Marketing Budget:
An approved twelve month budget to build all the necessary marketing tools and execute all the marketing tactics identified in the Marketing and Sales Process.
- Marketing Tool Development:
Development of all the marketing tools required to effectively execute the Marketing and Sales process.
- Marketing Communication Schedule:
A twelve month “rolling” marketing schedule, updated quarterly, of all Marketing Plan execution activities.
- Measure and Refine:
Tracking of all Marketing Activity results to ensure marketing tactics lead to the desired outcomes, and based on this insight, measuring Return on Marketing Investment, refining and optimizing tactics to achieve desired outcomes.
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