Is your Marketing Plan on a Napkin?

Jul 23, 2021

Do you have a real marketing plan or a nasty napkin substitute?

Why it’s Important:

"Companies without a marketing plan are disadvantaged, they never know where they are going, the cause of the outcome or when they arrived."

Sales Lead Management Association

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Does senior management actually think that its products are so good that they sell themselves without a marketing plan? Sooner, rather than later, this philosophy will fail and you will have competitors that will succeed by out-marketing and out-selling you.

A marketing plan is not:

Scribbles on a napkin
Last years plan
Without a Strength, Weaknesses, Threats and Opportunities analysis SWOT
A list of tactics
A budget

A real marketing plan has:

A SWOT
Goals: A desired future condition: Its criteria is “a time frame which is long range, (3 to 5 years) and expressed in qualitative or quantitative terms
Objectives: Desired results, specific in nature, limited by time (6 months to one year)
Strategies: A plan of action to achieve an objective, a statement of broad tasks or activities to achieve an objective
Tactics: Detailed programs or specific activities, methods to implement the strategy.
A marketing budget
Lead Generation projections based on quota needs

A real Marketing plan is:

Reviewed monthly
Changes as marketing conditions change

If you don’t have a marketing plan with A Goal, Objectives, Strategies and Tactics, it’s never too late. Make sure the plan has a lead generation component (spreadsheet which is campaign based) tied to the sales forecast. Assign tactics to individuals with a date for completion.