Business Article - What Makes a Good Marketing Plan
Whether a marketing plan is one section of a larger business plan, or it stands on its own as a company’s guiding document, its importance cannot be overestimated. A new business requires a thorough and assertive marketing plan in order to attract investors, and an established business requires such a plan in order to respond to the changing needs of the marketplace. A good marketing plan can help a company begin strong and stay that way through the many changes it encounters.
It takes very little research to discern the presence of bad marketing plans making their way to investors, banks, and venture capitalists. These plans, and the businesses they represent, are usually rejected by those with the needed funds, and therefore take their companies along with them to their early graves. A good plan, however, can be identified both by what it does and by what it does not do.
Some analysts warn against marketing plans that are too simplistic; for example, a plan that takes advantage of new cultural phenomena such as social networking sites (i.e., MySpace and Facebook), or places too heavy an emphasis on building a complex website, but neglects other resources. On-line media are an important piece of any marketing strategy, but are seldom sufficient on their own. By the same token, no company should invest all its marketing budget in print media, either. A listing in the Yellow Pages, newspaper ads and direct marketing are important, but those media claim a decreasing share of the advertising market, and cannot be assumed to be as effective as in the past. Again, these are all single-stream ideas which oversimplify the complexities of contemporary marketing ad the diversity of every demographic and psychographic segment. A bad marketing plan is simplistic, while a good marketing plan is diverse and reaches out to different levels and segments of its audience. It selects several of these streams and uses them in complementary and effective ways to reach the maximum percentage of the target population.
Another danger, in contrast to the overly simplistic approach, is seen in the very common tendency to make a marketing plan too complicated. These plans are lengthy and involve seemingly endless analysis of every aspect of the industry. They are full of facts, but often far too general to give any real information to investors. When investors review plans such as these, they are often confused and unimpressed, and a confused and unimpressed investor is unlikely to invest.
Rather than focusing generally on the industry or other non-marketing related aspects of the business, a good marketing plan should be short and to the point. Investors have neither the time nor the inclination to read more words than required, but they do require the information a marketing plan is to present. All relevant analysis should be included, but only the analysis that bears directly upon the company and its marketing strategy. In addition, instead of focusing on extensive analysis, the marketing plan should take the relevant analysis and use it to identify opportunities and marketing strategies. A strong claim on a timely opportunity, with specific ideas to back it up, will go further to impress an investor than deep analysis of irrelevant topics.
The relevant analysis should then be used to define specific actions that will be undertaken by the marketing department. In a good marketing plan, details are laid out, along with their projected cost in money and time. Overblown analysis with no specifics does not assist an investor in envisioning how his money can be made to work for the company, and hence, for him. A good marketing plan must present a detailed and insightful application of the relevant analysis required.
Another mistake that is often made is presenting marketing plans with insufficient understanding of the competition, and the company’s standing in relation to that competition. While analysis of the whole industry is not helpful within the document, a marketing plan should demonstrate that the management has thorough knowledge not only of their product, but of the industry as well. This is also true for those who are first to market with a product; others have the same product in development, and a good marketing plan will take that into account. It is imperative for a company to know who else is seeking a share of the market, and how those competitors plan to accomplish that. A good marketing plan knows the competition, and knows its competitive advantages. A good marketing plan makes clear why the company it represents is the better choice.
Another error often seen in bad marketing plans is an insufficient understanding of the target audience. Many plans do not take the trouble to look deeply into the lives and circumstances of the people they would sell their product to, and therefore miss important opportunities. A good marketing plan also understands its target audience. It demonstrates a deeper knowledge of the segment of the population to whom the product might appeal, in that it discerns the need being felt and knows how to reveal that need so that the company may then satisfy it. It also demonstrates the company’s understanding of people, in that it has insight into psychological states that might recommend its product to segments not immediately obvious. In other words, there are people who don’t know that they need this product, but a good marketing plan will reveal that need as well as meeting it.
Even if a marketing department produces a good marketing plan, it can only be as good as the use that is made of it. A good plan turns into a bad one if it is not used consistently. The whole department should check the plan regularly, and judge individual ideas and choices against the larger plan. In this way, the plan becomes motivating, helping a department or staff to work together to achieve a specific goal. This achievement is measurable as it works through the systematic presentation and accomplishment of the plan’s composite parts. If a plan is not used consistently, as well as updated frequently to stay abreast of new developments in the industry or technology, the marketing strategy will be unfocused, ineffective, and unachieved. Consistency is, perhaps, the single most important virtue in making a marketing plan a good one. It has even been said that a bad plan consistently followed is better than a good plan that is followed inconsistently.
An important piece of research to do when writing one’s marketing plan is to discover where others have failed and why. Venture capitalists, for example, only approve two to three percent of the plans that they consider. It is important not only to understand what does get approved, but what mistakes are made by those who do not get approved. Chances are those mistakes are ones discussed above, the very things that make a bad marketing plan. It is likely, however, that different investors are put off by different things; people can be expected to have different priorities and preferences. It is worthwhile for a marketing department or a manager to learn what prompts a rejection from those investors, and seek to avoid those mistakes. Simple networking can be invaluable to this effort to learn from the mistakes of others; few techniques are as effective as the direct question in gaining information.
Related to the above principle is the caution never to let amateurs write a marketing plan. Marketing requires knowledge and skills that when done well, that is, professionally, can guide a company into success. Some business analysts recommend that a company’s management or marketing department sit at the computer and write the plan themselves. In this way, they are familiar with every aspect of the plan and they can seek input from every department or participant for the final form and execution of it. In addition, it allows those responsible for communicating the company’s worth to influence the tone and presentation of the marketing done in their name.
This influence should be a priority for a marketing plan, because one important quality that makes a good marketing plan is less tangible, and less easily defined. It has been called insight, imagination, or creativity. Others identify it as the author’s entrepreneurial character or spirit. It is not enough for a marketing plan to be technically correct, or to have sufficient analysis or information. Those things are necessary, but merely save a plan from being a bad one. A truly good marketing plan will reflect the character of the management team, or the individual whose vision is being marketed. It will reveal the passion and drive that led a businessman or woman, or a managerial team, to reach the level of commitment to their product, service, and customer which requires a marketing plan in the first place. A good marketing plan reveals the human side of the business—not simply the ability to generate capital, but the desire to be of service.