Running An Efficient Ship 🚢

Your annual 🗓 marketing plan reveals where you are now and where you want to be in a year.

It is the all-important, overarching benchmark for your marketing goals for the next 12 months. It is your roadmap 🗺 that identifies priorities, what initiatives from last year you should shed, and both short and long-term expectations, as well as the plan B’s and plan C’s you can depend upon if plan A goes awry. Most importantly, it helps to keep your organisation’s marketing team united 🤝 by a critical shared vision.

Let us face it. It is impossible to run an efficient ship 🛳 without an effective plan or to see things clearly. While you should definitely have your content marketing strategy mapped out, and planning out your digital marketing is also smart, it is the eagle-eyed 🦅 view the annual marketing plan provides that will help your team stay on course.

Here are 9 useful tips on how to create an annual marketing plan that will set your organisation up for a great marketing ROI (Return On Investment) over the next year. Identify your end objectives, and start working towards that plan to achieve them.

1️⃣ Start with market research

Market research is one of the biggest obstacles to creating a worthwhile annual marketing plan. It is a lot of work - it is the foundation of your entire plan. If you do not spend enough energy at this step, the rest of your plan may lack depth, and your decisions for your marketing mix and strategy may lack direction ➡️.

Hence, put your back into the research to ensure that you understand the pain points 📍, motivators, goals, and concerns of your current target market - as they are right now. These factors will continuously change, so keep doing your research.

2️⃣ Assess your market situation

Next, situational analysis. This part of your plan contains the current state of the market overall for your products or services, who your competitors are, and where your brand stands within the market. You also want to outline your organisation’s strengths 💪 and weaknesses, and look at your unique value proposition - has it been working for your marketing or does it need an upgrade ⬆️?

All of these factors are always changing, which is another reason putting together an annual marketing plan is vital ❗️ - general changes to the market, competitors getting a little too close for comfort to your competitive edge, and a change in your organisation’s market share. When you know where you stand, it is a lot easier to create practical goal priorities. For instance, those lead generation and customer acquisition goals that were always important should probably take a back seat 💺 to customer retention if you are dominating the market for your service this year.

3️⃣ Set your marketing goals

You already need to have your business goals 🥅 or know where you want to go - defined before beginning on your marketing plan. Then, it is easier to map the route to get there. Use this stage to evaluate your goals against the latest marketplace realities.

Are you playing catch-up or trying to truly innovate in a particular area. Also, remember that it is more than just business goals (sales, leads, conversion), you also need to create a plan for your people: what skills does today’s market demand and how can you help bring your people up to speed 💨?

With a nice thick layer of market research 🧐 and situational analysis, your plan is ready for the goal priorities. Which marketing objectives will matter the most over the next 12 months? You should focus on no more than three to five goals.

4️⃣ Know where you have failed

Look at last year’s plan and use metrics and reporting to identify which bets produced winners 🏆 and which bets you lost. Also, look at the assumptions you used going into last year. Have they changed? Double-down on the best tactics. Remember to prune away the losing tactics, techniques and processes, and shift people to where they are needed most.

One of the biggest mistakes of a poor marketing plan is forgetting to determine what you will stop 🛑 doing as you think long and hard about the new things you need to do. Another common mistake is inadequately staffing new areas because you are afraid of moving people from the old to the new challenges. Take note: even those who fear change will appreciate it in the long run!

5️⃣ Establish your marketing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

One of the benefits of creating an annual marketing plan is that it gives you the opportunity to review 👀 and refine the current parameters and assumptions you are using. Are you still using the same key 🔑 performance indicators you had in place from years ago?

Throw them out! Focusing your attention in the wrong areas or diffusing your energy with too many numbers is one of the surest ways to not hit your prime target - revenue growth. When creating your annual plan, your priority KPIs may change a bit as you reach certain benchmarks and move on to other parts of your strategy because you are looking at a relatively long period of time ⏰.

6️⃣ Model the appropriate marketing mix

Some people are scared 😱 of marketing mix models. They say they are too quantifiable and do not accurately reflect the reality of the future market reaction. However, they are a great place to start with a scientific approach to the question, such as “how much should I spend on each marketing tactic?”.

You can always adjust based on new information or other observations, like benchmark data, to make that may not be reflected 🪞 in your data. Pick a metric that is right 👍 for you and your organisation. Then, take all the inputs you have received, analyse those against historical performance, and model towards the most efficient way to achieve that end goal: higher 📈 return on marketing spend.

An effective marketing strategy focused on one goal will have a halo 😇 effect on other marketing metrics. For example, effective demand generation with high quality content that meets customer needs will produce awareness 👀 and will drive consideration of your product. You may need to supplement your programs with these types of tactics depending on your corporate goals. However, focusing on one primary objective will still produce secondary benefits.

7️⃣ Build your strategies

Now, for the meat and potatoes. This is the fun part for a lot of marketers. It is where you take each of your three to five goals, decide which strategy to use to reach that goal, and then make a list 📝 of the tactics you are going to use.

Once you have identified the needs of your buyers, you may find that you are spending too much time, money 💰, and resources promoting your products and selling, instead of telling stories 📖 about your people, your brand and helping your buyers with their jobs. This is not about being altruistic - it is about creating trust and value that will arise back to your business.

8️⃣ Take the “always on” approach

More, better, cheaper! Who does not want that? This is a basic and fundamental concept of effective marketing that is often overlooked or undervalued. Our customers do not decide to start searching 🔍 for solutions to their problems because we decided to run a campaign. Demand is “always on” 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So, why should not your marketing?

We need an “always on” demand strategy that utilises an effective inbound marketing approach: optimised website, consistent paid search activity, drip nurture programs, and marketing automation. The cost of going in and out of the marketplace with time-bound campaigns often cannot compare to an effective ✅ “always on” campaign.

9️⃣ Stick to the plan

It makes everyone’s job a lot easier when you have a solid, detailed marketing plan, priorities, next steps 🦶, and processes that are clear. However, your annual marketing plan should not be set in stone.

Think of it as a roadmap - it guides you in a constantly changing landscape. As you continually keep an eye on market research and your KPIs, you need to evolve your marketing plan mid-year to ensure the strategies and tactics you use are driving 🛻 the results your marketing should see.

---

Once you have completed this process, you will be ready to present a strategic annual marketing plan that will drive a higher return on marketing spend. Do you need a hand to create an annual marketing plan that will set your organisation up for a great marketing ROI over the next year? Talk to us by sliding into our direct messages or giving us a call 📞🤩😎!

Reference:

Brenner, M. 2018, May 29. You’re Only as Strong as Your Annual Marketing Plan. Marketing Insider Group.