Adaptable, durable: building a winning marketing plan

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/07/2023 (834 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Every leading company has a nearly impenetrable marketing plan. It is the nexus of specific analytical steps, a sprinkling of creativity and the discipline of execution. Assembling these elements together is easy on paper but requires diligence in practice. In the past six months, I have described the developmental components that culminate with the creation of your winning marketing plan.

Beginning with a diagnosis of your customers’ needs, competitive landscape and your company capabilities, we can now progress into setting objectives and creating the strategies to achieve them. Then you can develop the implementation tactics that bring the strategies to life.

Your objectives are the specific, quantifiable and measurable targets that you set. Achieving a specific market share is a simple, yet important, example. Your target can be a percentage of the market or a number of customers to achieve. Your strategies are descriptive and explain how these measurable objectives will be met. One of the most important strategic questions for you to answer is whether you are building the market by increasing awareness with potential customers or if you are going to win customers from your competitors. In both cases, you must seek to increase the number of people that know about you.

Leading companies know that their winning marketing plans provide clarity to their customers on how their product or service provides value to them. If customers don’t understand what your product or service does to make their lives better, easier, or less costly, they will look for an alternative.

Ensure your plan has the following “able-ities” synchronized to allow you to achieve a profitable outcome.

• Make your plan deployable — This means the foundational work analyzing your customer and competition, combined with your company capabilities, must be deployable in the market. Your strategies must be based on the fact that your customers want your product because it serves a need or solves a problem for them. Your pricing must be right for your customers in order to be profitable for you. And your promotional elements create the awareness and interest to scratch the proverbial customer itch that is the need for your product.

• Make your plan adaptable — Nobody can predict the future. You can only manage what you can control and build in your best analysis of the success factors and drivers based on the current environment. This means that your strategies may need to be modified based on changing market conditions and/or how well you are achieving your results.

• Make your plan durable — In the face of competition, you know that your customer has options to your product. You must be able to implement a consistent plan of action that demonstrates how you consistently provide superior value for your customers over your competitors.

• Make your plan reasonable — Focus on three to five specific things and do them very well. Do not try and do too much and then not deliver the specific value that your customer expects. Ensure your plan is doable. You should not expect your employees and partners to perform tasks with unreasonable expectations. Today’s supply chain issues magnify the impacts that continue to cause challenges in most industries. Refrain from over promising, knowing you have a likelihood of not delivering because of material shortages or excessive delays.

You must be “able” to develop and implement your marketing plan with all these elements. If you miss any of these pieces, your plan is not impenetrable. Remember that your customer’s journey with your company has various physical points of contact and creates various levels of emotional attachment or detachment with you depending on how well your support and solution serves their needs at all these contact points.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? It is if you perform the steps in the right order with the appropriate level of curiosity and consistency. Remember that your competitors are doing the same work to create their own marketing strategy, so you must also be diligent in monitoring your results. Your progress towards achieving your objectives will determine the level of adaptability you must exercise in your strategies. Don’t change too soon because sometimes traction from your efforts takes a bit more time. You must also be aware enough to note when you should adapt due to customer changes or competitive tactics that do not allow your offering to be the one selected by your customers.

Your ultimate goal is superior profitability. This is the final element in your winning marketing plan. Profitability allows you to invest in people and innovation to better serve your customers in the future.

Tim’s bits: When you search “marketing plan” in Google you will receive about 4.3 billion results. The formats may vary; however, the core elements are always present. Your winning marketing plan creates a deep understanding of what your customer values and ensures you are delivering on your customers’ expectations on a consistent basis. Your winning marketing plan is now the cornerstone of your corporate winning game plan.

Tim Kist is a Certified Management Consultant, authorized by law, and a Fellow of the Institute of Certified Management Consultants of Manitoba.

tim@tk3consulting.ca