Saw a couple of interesting discussions going on last week about marketing plans, and how they often can mushroom into massive unworkable documents.
Credit goes to Kelly Odell for kicking off the debate by posting a simple grid that summarises what needs to go into a marketing plan.
Like Kelly, I’ve experienced so-called templates that run to the length of a small book. They’re just too long to be useful – people (marketers and non-marketers) need to be able to get a sense of the plan quickly.
All too often people confuse the marketing plan with the project or programme plan for its delivery. The marketing plan is the guts of the marketing insight and thinking that is required. The project/programme plan is how you deliver and track the marketing plan. Merging the two causes confusion and creates plans that are too long.
Guy Kawasaki has now developed the grid further, evolving the traditional 4 P’s of marketing planning. The thinking behind this came from a post about marketing remix from Sviokla’s Context.
I’ll definitely be giving both Kelly and Guy’s versions a test run over the next few weeks, and will have a think about how to create an equally succinct delivery programme that follows all good marketing plans.
World's shortest marketing plan
About SIMON
I work as a fractional Chief Operating Officer (COO), consultant and advisor. I created the B3 framework® for company building and I also write a newsletter called Build for leaders who care about creating resilient and sustainable businesses.