Does Your Marketing Plan Measure Up?  A Letter to Product Managers

Dear John, or Jane,

At this time of year, you may be in the midst of Marketing plans. This is a great opportunity to think broadly and deeply about customers, question your existing strategies and work constructively with senior management.

Too often, however, Marketing plans fall short of this and become … well, anything but strategic.  Here are some types of planning exercise companies engage in.  Maybe you’ll recognize your own.

The Negotiation

To paraphrase Stephen Leacock, Marketing plans are the science of arresting the financial controller’s intelligence long enough to get money from him.  Marketing plans become a negotiation in which Marketing asks for wildly exaggerated dollars, while the Finance tries to reduce the budget to zero, or as close as possible.  Inevitably, they end up somewhere the middle – not because this makes sense, but because it is the only way they can reach agreement.

 

The Number Crunch

Remember when you were writing that tough History exam in high school?  You figured that if you wrote a whole lot, some of it had to be right.  There had to be at least a paragraph of good stuff and that would be enough to get you through.  Many Marketing groups feel the same way about Marketing plans: if you throw enough data at the executive team, somewhere in those tables all their questions will be answered.  The result, of course, is data overload and a loss of perspective on what’s really important.

 

The Corporate Planning Vampire

In large corporations, Marketing folks often spend all their time completing the forms and justifying their forecasts, to the extent that strategic thinking, the lifeblood of all planning, is drained out of the process.  As a result, plans can be vacuous, fully justified with beautiful Power Point slides, but devoid of true inspiration or passion.

 

The Last Year Syndrome

When you don’t know what to do, do the same as last year – but add 10% growth and ask for 20% more money. Many plans use last year’s performance as the starting point. We should all learn from what we have done, but too much focus on last year leads to conservative plans that are vulnerable to attack from creative competitors.

 

On the other hand, great Marketing plans have four basic characteristics: Strategic Integrity, Appropriate Goals, Rigorous Analysis and Financial Realism.  Within these four characteristics, here are 10 questions you could ask to assess your own Marketing plan.

Strategic Integrity

Strategic integrity is the idea that plans are based on a rich, deep understanding of customers and their needs.

 

1. Is there evidence in your plan that you understand customers deeply, intimately and personally?
2. Is there a strategic insight – an observation about customers that leads to a truly compelling value proposition?
3. Is there a real benefit, functional or experiential, that will significantly improve the lives of customers?
4. Is this benefit sustainably different from what competition is offering?

 

Rigorous Analysis

Great marketing plans are thorough without being overwhelming.  They provide just the right analysis, and no more, to answer critical questions that will have a bearing on the success or failure of the plan.  The measures used are reliable and valid.

 

5. Is your analysis thorough and correct?  Are you measuring the right things?
6. Is your plan internally integrated – does the analysis support the proposed strategy, goals and financial plan?

 

Appropriate Goals

Goals should be specific, measurable and achievable – but they should also provide the inspiration for the company to perform at its best.

 

7. Are your goals stated in such a way that performance can be rigorously measured? 
8. Do your goals inspire the Marketing team and the rest of the organization?

 

Financial Realism

Marketing’s reputation in some quarters as a sinkhole for corporate funds means that Marketing folks must take great pains to provide realistic projections.  Too much conservatism means missing out on opportunities, while overly aggressive plans can result in a loss of credibility over time.

 

9. Is your financial forecast a reasonable balance of optimism and pessimism?  Have you done a scenario analysis of contingencies?
10. Is there a strategic long-term perspective?  Where does the plan lead in future years?

 

If your meeting is to be effective, you will need to keep the discussion focused on strategy rather than tactics.  With some senior management teams, of course, this is the biggest challenge of all.  I wish you the best of luck.

 

Sincerely,

 

David