The power of a marketing plan
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always had a plan. A plan for the day, a plan for the week, for what I wanted to be when I grew up, for my perfect vacation. A couple of the basics of planning are that you have to keep your eye on short- and long-term goals, and you’ve always, always, always gotta have a Plan B! I’ve brought those basics into my approach to marketing plans.
When I work with impact brands, I find that many feel too busy to plan, pulled in too many directions to focus, or are just not sure where to start. Sometimes organizations feel that they a comprehensive document before they can deal with the marketing and communications challenge right in front of them, and I don’t think that’s the case. Begin where you are and tackle what is in front of you; the process of creating a plan is worth it. You can always build on a simple plan, or fold in a targeted approach to your larger, organization-wide planning project. The basic components of a successful marketing plan are the same, no matter the challenge you’re facing.
Key Components of a Marketing Plan
The Challenge
What’s the reason for the plan? Is it annual communications, introducing a new brand, or rolling out a membership campaign? Get clear about what you need to do.
Audiences
Who are you targeting in the plan? Remember your plan doesn’t have to cover ALL of your organization’s audiences. Everyone may not be impacted by your challenge, and that’s okay. Different people will also need different tactics and different messaging.
Objectives
What do you hope to achieve with this marketing plan and how will you judge its success? Are you energizing your audience with a rebrand? Attracting new members? Raising awareness of your website and its functionality?
Positioning
Always keep in mind the space your organization occupies in the minds of your audiences. Ask yourself, based on your positioning, would we use this tactic? Would we share these messages?
Messages
What is your organization’s stance on key concepts that your audience wants to hear about from you? What specific messages do you have to communicate about this challenge or opportunity. If you have already done some positioning and key messaging work, you should be able to build on those foundational messages for your plan.
Tactics
What are the communication vehicles or opportunities you have to reach your audiences. Start with what you know, the events and publications you already produce, then consider your social media channels and your own website. Finally, look at new tactics, vehicles that might need to be created, like direct mail pieces.
Implementation
This is where you get clear on who is doing what and when. This section is where you start delegating to your internal team (no, this isn’t all up to you!) and where you start thinking through any outside help you’ll want to contract with.
Date
Nothing in your marketing plan will happen if you don’t put a deadline on it. I find it helpful to first fill in the dates on all the things I know will happen during the plan timeline, like events, and mailings that we can message, and then look for holes or opportunities to reach out and communicate.
Costs
When you first get started with your plan, estimating costs is fine. It’s a great way to see if you’re planning far beyond your capacity. But as you refine, you’ll want to get actual estimates before you commit to a tactic.
Flexibility
This last topic isn’t a section of the plan, but rather an approach that you have to bring to any marketing plan. The challenges in your organization, in your community and in the world can change very quickly, as we know all too well. The success of your planning process will depend greatly on how nimble you and your team can be with changing tactics, messaging and timelines.
