Marketing plans work if and only if you stick to the plan. Weeks and months go into a plan to make sure the strategy makes sense, is financially feasible and can last for the entire year. Some items in your plan will work better than others, but everything in that plan should be there for a reason. There are no magic beans in this business, but deviating from the plan to make media purchases based on gut feelings will cripple the plan and can significantly maim your brand, business and bottom line.
Below are five major no-nos when it comes to executing a marketing plan.
1. Ignore Executions You Start
If your marketing plan sets forth an email newsletter, social media page or any marketing execution that requires maintenance – you must maintain it. Traditionally, email and social media marketing are extremely inexpensive. The trade off is that they require a lot of labor to keep afloat. Ignoring customers who opt-in to listen to your message isn’t just rude, it’s detrimental to brand health.
2. Advertise for Advertising’s Sake
Remember, your marketing plan pairs your product with your audience. Sometimes marketing tactics don’t mean investing in traditional advertising. You may go to a marketing firm looking for slick proofs and catchy slogans, but the ultimate purpose of an agency is to help businesses communicate the right message through the right medium. For example, in 2009 Absolute Marketing Group developed a marketing plan for a small, business-to-business start up. The plan featured items such as direct letters, follow up calls and strategic relationship building with executives, non-profits and government agencies. For such a tight niche, mass media or even traditional print quantities would not have been effective.
3. Pull From Your Marketing Budget
Entrepreneurs have guts. They know opening a business comes with unexpected twists and turns, market fluctuations and changes in costs. Sometimes when cash gets tight or a wrench gets lodged in the system, the knee-jerk reaction is to pull from the marketing budget. This is a huge mistake. Marketing dollars, whether in terms of promotional costs or advertising dollars, are your direct link to sales. Even the best salespeople need collateral materials, presentation materials or solid research. If exceptionally tough times require you to pull from the plan, condense your buys or cut the promotional offer completely. For example, if your plan calls for you to run 100 spots of TV over four weeks, run 80 spots over two. You may not get as much frequency, but you’ll saturate the market. If you can’t condense, cut. For example, if a coupon was going to give $1 off, don’t give $.50 off. An offer that hampers the likelihood of redemption wastes money when you consider it takes the same amount to design and print. What’s more, a weak promotion won’t get used.
4. Get the Branding Bug
This falls into the category of advertising for advertising’s sake, but with a twist. The excitement and pride that comes with owning your own business leads many to jump on the bandwagon and put the logo on everything. Specialty marketing is a great medium. But just like any other medium, it needs the right place and time to be effective. Ten thousand company pens or hats for every employee may seem like must haves for the first year of production. But the cost spent on those items should be weighted against all the other media options.
5. Panic
This is easier said than done. But one of the nicest things about a marketing plan is that it sets up a core position for your company. That’s not to say you can’t be flexible and evolve with the market, but you can always reference your plan to rediscover what makes your company unique and why you belong to compete in the market. Companies that have a clear niche and stick to what they know tend to do better than companies that try to be everything to everyone or constantly change who they are and how they present themselves to the community. Plan, execute and evaluate with a good foundation and you can succeed.