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The Most Important Thing You Can Do Now for Your Company’s Marketing

The Most Important Thing You Can Do Now for Your Company’s Marketing

It sounds simple, and yet so few of us are actually doing any strategic marketing planning at all. We’re so caught up in reading about marketing and thinking about it and listening to audiobooks and attending webinars that we’re not actually getting anything done. I’m as guilty of it as the next person when trying to promote our firm, and the problem with that approach is obvious.

In this economy, we’re all trying to do more with less and to make smart investments. Invest in yourself and your business and do this.

Below is a great kickstart: an outline for your strategic plan. If you’re a procrastinator like me, don’t commit to the whole thing right away. Just take one aspect of this each day and work on it for just 7 minutes. Don’t beat yourself up, and don’t put a deadline on it, necessarily. Just work on it. Then, most importantly, use it to inform how you DO it.

If you’d like a Word doc of this, please email me at cjmorris <at> morriscreative <dot> com.

Much success!

Chuck

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Strategic Plan Checklist

The Market

  1. Market Definition (The existing or potential need or want)
    1. Established
      1. Continuing
      2. Declining
    2. Emerging
      1. Transitory (fad)
      2. Sustainable
    3. Future
      1. Known
      2. Unknown
  2. Market Structure
    1. Size and historic growth trends
    2. Forecasted growth
    3. Product segmentation
      1. Type
      2. Brand
      3. Size
      4. Price
      5. Other
    4. Geographic segmentation
      1. Domestic, international
      2. Region
      3. Market
      4. Channel
    5. Trends: significant changes in any of the above
    6. Sales: own and competition, factory and retail purchase
      1. Dollars
      2. Units
    7. Share: (same)
      1. Dollars
      2. Units
    8. Sales per capita
    9. Sales per point of distribution
    10. Sales of products that eliminate the need for us
    11. 1Sales of products that stimulate the need for us
  3. The Customer/Consumer
    1. User/Specifier/Influencer/Purchaser profile
      1. Demographics
      2. Psychographics
      3. Lifestyle
    2. Use occasion?
      1. How/when/why needed/wanted?
      2. Duration?
      3. Breadth, frequency rate of use?
        1. Trial
        2. Repeat
    3. Usage patterns
      1. Ongoing
        1. Habits/customs
        2. Heavy vs. light
      2. Occasion-driven
        1. Seasonal
        2. Sporadic
    4. Competing ways to satisfy the need?
      1. Continuing with current options
      2. Modification of current options
      3. Substitutes
      4. Doing without
      5. New alternatives
    5. Purchase patterns
      1. Trial (trigger)
      2. Repeat
        1. Frequency
        2. Depth
      3. Contrast vs. usage
    6. Purchase dynamics
      1. Priority of need/want (importance to…)
        1. Buyer
        2. User
        3. Colleagues
        4. Management
      2. Urgency of need/want
        1. Necessity vs. discretionary purchase
        2. Remedial application/collateral dependence
        3. Anticipatory/preventive
    7. Ability to buy
      1. Impact of economy and economic trends
      2. Correlation with economic indicators
      3. Affordability:
        1. Income
        2. Budget
        3. Cash flow/availability of funds
      4. Approvals required and from whom
      5. Funding “roadblocks”
      6. Financing issues and opportunities
        1. Method of payment
        2. Minimums/inventory requirements
        3. Dating or deferred payments
        4. Installment payments
        5. Leasing
        6. Other
      7. Inherent pricing issues
        1. Cost of capital
        2. Borrowing rates
        3. Monetary rates of exchange
    8. Cognition
      1. Product awareness
        1. Aided
        2. Unaided
      2. “Considered Set” of attitudes re:
        1. Category
        2. Own brand
        3. Competing brands
        4. Associations/prior experience
        5. Perceived differences
        6. Perceived benefits offered
        7. Perceived risk
        8. Interest
      3. Brand loyalty
        1. Buying motives
        2. Price/value perceptions
    9. Trends
  4. Sales Representation
    1. Organization
      1. Direct
      2. Company
      3. Broker/rep
      4. Combination
    2. Responsibilities
      1. Coverage patterns
      2. Call frequency
    3. Compensation
    4. Personnel
      1. Training/certification
      2. Turnover
  5. The Trade
    1. Dealers/distributors
    2. Policies, terms and conditions
    3. Purchase patterns
      1. Order size
      2. Seasonal loading
    4. Margins; profitability
    5. Promotional practices
    6. Attitudes re: Category/product:
      1. Pricing/price protection
      2. Markups/margins
      3. Case packs
      4. Assortments
      5. Handling requirements
      6. Return policies
      7. Order lead-time
      8. On-time/incomplete shipment history
      9. Marketing support required
        1. – Coupons
        2. – Rebates
        3. – Trade-ins
        4. – Displays
    7. Attitudes re: Competitors
  6. Retailers
  7. Purchase patterns
    1. Policies, terms and conditions
    2. Seasonal loading
  8. Value added
    1. Selection/presentation
    2. Pricing guarantees
    3. Installation
    4. Instruction/training
    5. Service
    6. Returns
  9. Attitudes re: Category/product
    1. Turns
    2. Pricing
    3. Case packs
    4. Assortments
    5. Handling requirements
    6. Policies re returns
    7. Pricing
    8. Marketing support
  10. Attitudes re: Competitors
  11. Attitudes re: Commitment to own label/brand
  12. Attitudes re: Willingness to provide merchandising support

Advertising & Promotional History

  1. (Own vs. Competition)
    1. Advertising
      1. Expenditures
        1. Total
        2. Per unit
        3. % of sales (advertising:sales ratio)
        4. Trends
        5. Spending by:
          1. Market
          2. Region
          3. Time period
          4. Specific product type/size, etc.
      2. Copy
        1. Analysis and comparison of basic appeals
          1. Claims
          2. Themes
          3. Other selling ideas
        2. Relative emphasis of ideas
        3. Mood/tone
      3. Media
        1. Analysis and comparison
          1. Media used
          2. Mix
          3. Coverage
            1. Reach
            2. Frequency
          4. Scheduling
          5. Audience selection
          6. Relative efficiency
          7. Recent changes
      4. Advertising results
        1. Testing
          1. Copy
          2. Media
          3. Spending
        2. Research
          1. Awareness
          2. Recall
          3. Attitude
  2. IPromotion
    1. Expenditures
      1. By type
        1. Trade
        2. Consumer
        3. Sales incentive
      2. By style
        1. Trade: off-invoice, bill back, free goods, etc.
        2. Consumer coupon, liquidator, etc.
      3. Item
      4. Region
      5. Season
      6. Channel
      7. Key account
    2. Results
      1. Trade
        1. Purchases
        2. Pricing
        3. Promotional support
        4. Attitude
      2. Consumer
        1. Redemptions
        2. Purchase
        3. Requests for information
        4. Attitude (price/value perception)

Key Planning Questions:

  1. The Market
    1. How big is the total business and where is it headed?
    2. Are there any interesting niches?
    3. Who are the players and what is their relative standing?
    4. What are their competitive strengths and weaknesses?
      1. Size/financial strength
      2. Assets including:
        1. Proprietary rights
        2. Brand equities
        3. Related sale leverage
    5. Who is the real competition?
      1. Direct?
      2. Indirect?
    6. Is there potential vulnerability to:
      1. Regulation?
      2. Off-shore competition?
    7. Are any critical components/ingredients in potential short supply?
    8. Does new technology pose a fundamental threat/opportunity?
  2. The End User/Consumer
    1. What do users really want?
    2. How satisfied are they now?
    3. Are they vulnerable or susceptible in some way?
    4. Are they receiving value?
    5. Is there a different or better way to meet their needs?
    6. What do they believe and how does it square with reality?
    7. How important to them is the product/service?
      1. Intrinsically, inherently, functionally
      2. Imbued, personally defining value
    8. Is lifestyle or some other phenomenon likely to change needs/demand?
    9. Who makes the purchase decision?
    10. What triggers a purchase?
    11. How much brand switching, if any, is occurring?
    12. How long is the typical initial purchase planning period?
  3. The Channel
    1. The Seller/Retailer
    2. Who distributes and/or controls exposure/availability?
    3. What are the business and operational conventions?
    4. To what degree are we captive?
    5. Are there alternatives now or as the result of applying new thinking or technology?
    6. How well is the customer actually being served?
    7. Are they loyal enough to purchase elsewhere; a point of leverage with the trade?
    8. Is there a win-win delivery that enhances customer satisfaction and trade support?
  4. Advertising
    1. How does our strategy differ from competition in terms of:
      1. Copy theme?
      2. Choice of media?
      3. Creative unit?
      4. Allocation by region, season, etc.
      5. Message delivery (reach, frequency)?
    2. How does our spending compare in terms of:
      1. Expenditure per unit?
      2. As a percent of selling price?
      3. Share of voice/total spending?
      4. By media
      5. By season
      6. By region
    3. What evidence do we have advertising objectives are being met?
  5. Client Issues
    1. Do we belong in this business; does it fit our:
      1. Vision/mission?
      2. Core competencies?
    2. Can we win?
    3. Is it an appropriate use of our resources?
    4. Are risks and returns consistent with stockholder expectations?
    5. Have we fully leveraged our assets?
    6. What’s the impact on other operations?
    7. Do we have the necessary critical mass?
    8. Should we be expanding through acquisition, licensing, etc.?
    9. Should we be harvesting?
    10. Would we be more successful in a strategic alliance?
    11. Has our product/service got a real basis to be in the market?
    12. Could we provide greater value with an acceptable return?
    13. Could we serve the customer better by changing our own operations?
    14. What’s the story behind the company; the product?
    15. Is it relevant, and, if so, how well known?

SOURCE: Second Wind