Marketing Plans & Why You May Not Need One

At first glance, a marketing plan seems to be a no-brainer. Every text book, every do-it-yourself marketing program, every marketing "expert" will tell you: You’ve got to have one.

But do you?

A marketing plan – for all its virtues – is actually a double-edged sword. Done right, marketing planning will help you define your goals and your target customers; and the plan will provide a roadmap for getting from where you are now to where you want to be. The key phrase in that previous sentence is "done right".

Creating a marketing plan – especially the first one – is time consuming. It often requires at least a moderate amount of research and it always requires a substantial amount of thinking.

Thinking, in particular, is something busy business owners often have trouble finding time to do. They’d rather be taking action. And the marketing plan often becomes a huge obstacle standing between the owner and the action.

In most small and even mid-sized companies the reality is that this planning never gets done. Discussions with business owners point to the fact that it’s just too much – too much time, too much expertise required, too much distraction from activities that directly increase revenue.

Even when a marketing plan does get completed, it often doesn’t get followed. So what was the point?

An annual marketing plan can also lead you down the wrong path – unless you realize it must be dynamic. If you’d created an annual plan at the beginning of 2008 and executed it to the letter – without adjusting for economic changes – you’d probably be in big trouble now.

But this article is not for those who are successful at marketing planning. This article is for company leaders who haven’t gotten around to creating a marketing plan – or who have created one that sits on a shelf.

Is the lack of a marketing plan keeping you from moving forward with your marketing? Then stop worrying about the plan and try this:

Figure out the single most important thing you need to accomplish with your marketing this year. It shouldn’t be too hard to do. Most business owners want more leads. In a down economy, you may also need to cut costs, but you want to do it without lowering marketing effectiveness.

Focus single-mindedly on this objective and you’ll protect yourself from being distracted by marketing programs and tactics that you think you should be using. (For example, social media is very hot right now, but its ability to quickly drive leads for business-to-business firms is still in doubt).

You can achieve tremendous success just by asking yourself these questions:

• What do you need to accomplish most?
  
• How are you going to do it?
  
• Who is going to be in charge?
  
• How much are you willing or able to invest in the program?
  
• When do you want it launched?
  
• How will you evaluate its success?
  

If you don’t have all the answers yourself, that’s good. You’ll be forced to seek expert help whether from the inside (internal staff) or the outside (outsourcing).

Involving the experts is not a bad thing. Neglecting to launch a marketing program because you don’t have a plan is.


© 2009 Tatum Marketing Inc.