6 Steps to Create an Exceptional Marketing Plan

There was a huge banner at IBM (‘Big Blue’) during their industry hay day in the 1980s.

It read ‘NOTHING HAPPENS UNTIL SOMEBODY SELLS SOMETHING’. Meaning…all

the left-brain talent (programmers, coders, accountants, attorneys…) in the world is

useless unless you have committed sales team procuring customers and clients.

The same is true with a Marketing Plan. In 2021, business leaders (and/or Non-Profit

leaders and Educational leaders) need to understand how to craft, refine, execute and

monitor their Marketing Plan in order to a) support sales efforts; b) amplify and extend

brand awareness and message; c) attract and inspire intended audiences with a Call to

Action.

An exceptional Marketing Plan provides an organization with the focus and direction to

pursue growth opportunities.

There are six essential steps you need to build an effective strategic Marketing Plan:

Step 1: Determine your Marketing Philosophy

Companies that are successfully building brand awareness, driving more leads and

securing new business as a result of their marketing efforts all share a common

philosophy — they view marketing as an investment, not an expense. Once you have

determined that marketing is vital to your company’s growth plan, the next step is to

define mission-critical and measurable goals.

Step 2: Determine Goals and Objectives

To help you determine the right goals, spend meaningful time with your team (and/or

Marketing Consultant) evaluating your platform, growth, processes, audience demand

and current position in the market space. After making your list of marketing goals,

prioritize the list and then select the top three to five, focusing on the ones that will most

significantly move your business forward.

Make sure the goals you set are measurable. See SMART goals. Setting SMART goals

with the team aligns priorities/actions and brings accountability around the full plan.

Step 3: Set Marketing Strategies

Many companies skip strategy development in favor of tactics, but tactics without

strategy are about as effective as a ship without a rudder. If your goals dictate where you

want the company to be, the strategy is the route (journey) of how to get there. For

example, sample strategies could be:

 Increase Applicants

 Increase overall sales volume

 Increase profits

 Decrease waste/inefficiencies

 Increase Membership

 Increase Web Traffic

 Increase Brand Awareness

Step 4: Determining Tactics

Strategies establish a broad outline of how you want to achieve your goals/objectives,

and tactics are the specific actions or activities that need to be properly executed in

order to achieve them.

If a goal is to increase and enhance your company’s brand awareness, a sound strategy

would be to increase the number of brand touches among potential customers. Tactics

for implementing that strategy could represent podcasts, blogging, e-news, webinars,

tutorial e-book…targeting your audience.

Step 5: Determine your Marketing Budget

Your marketing budget should be directed by your company’s goals and objectives for

the future, by how fast you want to grow, and by how ready you are to grow it. But your

marketing budget can’t be solely focused on just dollars. It also must consider time,

talent and resources. Before you submit your budget, you must also determine how

many manpower hours will be required to manage and execute the plan.

Step 6: Monitor, Adjust and Re-Direct

Your Marketing Plan should be ‘manipulatable’ based on audience response, market

dynamics and industry changes (like legislation or price sensitivities). Bring your team

in to review data/performance and compare results (intended outcomes) with your

current Marketing Plan. Make ‘tweaks’ in your plan for the next month, quarter,

year…based on feedback and deliverables. Consider rewarding team for a job well done

(achieving goals) and/or incenting sales reps who use the marketing tools successfully to

meet objectives.

Put all six of these steps in place and enjoy market successes. When team members are

aligned and included (SMART goals communication, expectation setting, performance

and execution evaluation, frequent meetings to review results…), your Marketing Plan is

‘alive’ and can be celebrated, ‘tweaked’ or used as a basis for next year’s strategy. Buy-in

and participation from your full team will likely determine success.

Seeking expert involvement from seasoned professionals?

Contact Craig Clemons at craig@clemons-associates.com or one of our rock star associates like Aaron Galindo at aaron@clemons-associates.com for more details. Clemons & Associates is on standby to help you with brand identity, campaigns, social media and/or strategic plans/projects.