I would venture a guess that the majority of marketing plans find their way into an Excel spreadsheet that sits on the desk or computer of the company’s financial officer — and from year to year that spreadsheet doesn’t change very much. The numbers associated with each line may scooch up or down and the cumulative number may as well, but the plan items stay relatively the same. Just as likely, the total budget may go up or down by percentage points with the individual lines correspondingly so.
Static marketing plans, with immovable tactics are the result of not having a vibrant brand strategy. It’s paint by numbers. When driven by a brand strategy a marketing plan is tied to brand values not line items. That’s because the marketing objectives are tied to brand values, tethered to business winning strategies.
For a very successful billion dollar health care system, the marketing plan was built around business winning values like “better surgeons,” “superior protocols,” and “faster recovery and discharge” not brand recall, procedures logged or time-on-website.
When building a marketing plan, budget by brand values not line items.
Oh, it helps to have brand values, Codified. Explicit. And in writing.
Peace.
