Another financial year rolls over and another year of activity and money to spend begins.
Knowing exactly how you are going to spend the money and on what, requires planning and thinking through your objectives for the year ahead.
Here’s another super-speed marketing plan format to help you along the path to marketing your rear off …
The Question and Answer Style Marketing Plan
Answering a list of fundamental questions can yield an effective super-hero marketing plan.
The answers to these questions will provide the basis for effective marketing strategies and tactics to be put in place to implement the plan.
Some possible questions are:
1. What are trying to say?
This is defined as your brand positioning statement.
2. Who are you trying to talk to?
This is the fundamentals of understand your customer, their needs, wants and motivations; bring them to life. Only then can you target them with pin-point accuracy.
3. Why are you different?
This is you brand differentiation, USP or unique message and is critical for your success.
4. How should you tell what you need to say?
This is your brand pyramid, or the essence of your brand. It is here that consistency matters most – in positioning and maintaining the idea of your brand in the mind of your audience.
5. What problem or pain are you fixing for your audience?
What is in it for them? What issue are you resolving for them? What pain are you taking away? Your marketing should convey the answers to these questions clearly.
6. How do you show that you do what you say?
This is your go-to-market plans. Your plans should encompass every aspect of your business, covering the essential product, price, placement and promotion (with the optional recent addition of the 5th P, being people).
7. Where and when should you say all this for the maximum impact and reception?
Knowing and understanding your customer will give strong indicators of how best to say it (the language) and where best (the medium) to talk to them. There is no point in broadcasting to a group that are not listening, nor receptive to your marketing.
The fundamentals of all marketing plans (regardless of the style) are to know who you want to talk to, and understand how they seek and receive product or service information.
By knowing that, you’re already halfway to interacting with them, with the possibility of building a relationship.
Do you know any other great super-hero style marketing plan formats?
Photo via stock.xchng user pani
