The 6 steps to build a great marketing plan
There is no perfect marketing plan; but there are lots of very average ones....
Marketing plans at their worst are:
A laundry list of tactics
A single target
OR a laundry list of targets from every department
Owned by one person
Lacking in any consumer, market or business insights
50 pages long
Wishful thinking as the answer to every business problem
While a 'perfect' marketing plan is wishful thinking, a great marketing plan is made up of a whole lot of background work before you dive into the latest media channel or start designing creative.
1. BASED ON CLEAR MARKET & CONSUMER INSIGHTS
Whether you're small or big, there is a world of data and consumer insights out there. Do your homework upfront and based your plan on real world and not 'I reckon' beliefs (or even worse - my boss' friend says we should actions...).
If you’re starting out, this could be feedback from customers at markets, Shopify data (rate of sales, repeat rates, % new customers, conversion etc)
If you’re stuck on where to look for insights and market data, then check out our blog post Retail Rookie - Useful 'go to' resources for consumer and market insights for a list of local and international data and guides.
2. HAVE A CLEAR BIG AMBITIOUS TARGET
You've got to make it aspirational and meaningful for everyone. Teeny goals get ignored quickly and replaced with new shiny things.
This should be based in some degree of reality depending on your resource, skills and market potential. Expecting to triple the total market size in 12 months with $10k marketing investment is a recipe for stress, sleepless nights and unfulfilled dreams without a miracle…
Look at what you can ambitiously do with the toolkit on hand, and then make it a bit more of a stretch.
Examples I’ve personally used are ‘Doubling our growth rate from previous year’, ‘get 7 SKUs in the top 10 ranking’ (from a base of 3-4), or hitting meaningful sales targets like $1m from a budget of $800k so ~25% over budget.
3. IDENTIFY THE TOP 2-3 JOBS TO BE DONE
There is always a laundry list of wishes and things that everyone thinks is most important. The ‘job to be done’ is the high level deliverable that you need to do in order to achieve your goals.
Examples of this could include:
Drive distribution to reduce reliance on single retailer
Reduce churn and increase regular repeat users to build a solid loyal base
Lift profitability and overall average gross margin across total portfolio
To sort out the priorities make sure you know the JTBD that deliver against your BHAG. If its something that you’re doing because you have just seen it pop up on social, or a friend recommended - then think again about how it moves the dial against your goals.
4. HAVE SIMPLE CLEAR & MEASURABLE OBJECTIVES
Everyone should know what they are without long explanation, and be able to track against them over time. Ideally there is a mix of LEAD and LAG so you can adjust course along the way if you start to head off track. Think about the 5-6 metrics (at most) that will deliver your targets. If your target isn’t ‘win through social’ then don’t set a social followers objectives.
A ‘lead’ metric is something that you do to set you up for long-term growth. Examples of this include:
Distribution: You need to be in the stores first before you can increase sales in that store.
Reduce COGS / lift margin: This is key to improving profitability as you won’t do this after you’ve sold the item.
A ‘lag’ metric is something that you track AFTER an activity.
This is where sales and market share typically come in as they tell you how an event/ activity performed in the market. Make sure you don’t rely on lag metrics only as you will be always looking back and miss the gaps going forward.
5. REGULARLY REVIEW TO ADJUST COURSE (BUT NOT THE END GOAL)
Your objectives and plans shouldn’t change every month but you SHOULD keep the eye on the prize and recognise that market circumstances can cause blips in the radar (supply issues being top of the list in recent years).
A good frequency is Quarterly to review how your plans are going in market, and where you need to course correct. Your LEAD indicators are key here. They tell you where you’re off track the quickest and where to focus on to enable you to grow your LAG metrics.
6. HAVE A CLEAR STRATEGY - what you will and WON’T do.
A clear strategy helps everyone to know what you're NOT going to do as well as what your approach to winning is - remember strategy is about the choices you make.
It can be helpful especially when you’re starting out, to write out your ‘lets not do’ list alongside your strategy so that you can keep yourself and any new team members on track. Although it can feel like you’re cutting off potential growth opportunities, the reality is that there are ALWAYS more things you ‘could’ do - and agencies & experts trying to convince you that you ‘must’ do.
= = = = =
Once you’ve got these fundamentals set, your tactics, action plans (including timing) all fall out of this. Whether thats nailing TikTok (or not), expanding instore through moving to Distributors, or choosing to sponsor a major event. It all comes AFTER you’ve decided what you are trying to achieve, the big hurdles to tackle (jobs to be done) and the measures of success.
Regardless of how big or small your business is, by following these key steps you’ll give yourself the best chance of smashing targets with clarity, confidence and consistency.
