The Launch Doctor - Email Newsletter

Hello fellow launchers, and welcome to this month’s edition of The Launch Pad Newsletter.

This edition answers the age-old question, What good are marketing plans, anyway?
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Feedback and questions are welcome. Send to: ckitcho@launchdoctor.com (note: This Opt-In email newsletter is sent monthly. If at any time you wish to Opt-Out from the distribution list, reply to this email requesting removal. Your name will be removed immediately.)
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The Launch Pad
August 2003

Marketing Plans for the Reading-Averse

Well, we’re more than halfway through summer…have you read any good marketing plans lately? No, really. How many of you out there have actually read a marketing plan from cover to cover? I’ll bet that there are really very few of you who have. And after some poor little marketing intern has poured countless hours of research into it, too, only to have it languish on someone’s desk. Marketing plans have had a bad rap for a long time, and no one is really sure why. So, we’re just going to have to fix this situation. We’re going to have to learn how to create marketing plans that people will read and really use.

Why do companies need marketing plans? The initial genius who invented marketing plans developed them to serve as a reference for what the marketing department was supposed to be doing for a product on its way to market, and also to help justify their jobs. Then, marketing plans somehow got into the hands of very technically oriented people or engineers, who took great delight in adding lots of detail, with sections like “Section 4.2.1.2: Messages to be Used When Selling our Product to Left-handed People”. No wonder most people wouldn’t get past page 4. You really, really, really don’t need that much detail. And marketing plans are not supposed to be a beautifully written work of literature. They are merely meant to be good thinking tools to help figure out what you’re going to do when and why.

You Think, Therefore You Can Market
A good way to develop a marketing plan is to sit down with a basic outline or template and fill in the blanks. To do that, you need your team of people around you (unless you’re an individual, in which case you’ll have to play all the roles; it will just tucker you out). Start with the section on “Customer Problem”. THINK about what you know about the customer so far. Jot down a few notes; they don’t even have to be complete sentences, just make a list. Then move on to the “Market Trends”. Look at what you know based on data you’ve gathered; THINK about what the trends are showing you in terms of timing and demand. And then you move on to the “Market Size” section, and the “Competitive Analysis” section. Before you know it, you have thought through all the major elements of the market environment for your product and you have a much better idea of the big picture into which you will be launching the product. Now you have thought through the entire plan and it’s in your head, and the heads of your team. The next step is to document it.

The K.I.S.S. Rule
The K.I.S.S. Rule means: Keep It Simple, Stupid (instead of: Keep It Stupid, Simple). That rule is essential for marketing plans. So, when you are ready to turn your collection of lists and notes into an intelligible document, keep this rule in mind. Don’t use two sentences if one will do. Use bulleted lists or diagrams or tables whenever possible. Arrange sections in a logical order. Know what is required in terms of the minimum information necessary for the decision-makers, and don’t add extra stuff. As you’re compiling the plan, imagine that the reader will only have 30 minutes to grasp the key points of the plan. What are the most important bits of information you need to get across?

Why Did We Ever Decide to Develop Twelve Datasheets?
Once you and your team have thought through all the sections of the plan, and filled in all the gaps (because you might need to go and get more information), you are ready to turn this into some sort of document. The first thing you need to do is to put a date on the version that you are writing. Using the header/footer feature of your word processing software, add the calendar date to the document. That way, you will have a snapshot in time of the thinking process you went through and why you made those decisions on that date. Each time you update the plan, create a different file. That way, you will have a record of the marketing plan updates that were made, so that you can go back and find out when and why you decided to do those twelve datasheets.

Coercing People to Read
The main reason that marketing plans aren’t popular reading material is because most people who need to read them are way too busy and important and stressed out, and their brains are in the background yelling, “Just get to the point!!” That’s why you’ve got to keep plans simple and right on target in terms of selecting WHAT goes in the plan. Most marketing plans have a section right up front called “Product Description”. Most decision-makers who read these plans just need to be reminded which product it is, and they don’t need a two-page detailed specification of the product. Just a picture or diagram or one sentence will do. (Yes, it still is true that a picture is worth a thousand words.) If you can put more charts and diagrams in the plan, it’s a lot easier for people to grasp quickly. The text can then be used to explain one or two major points about the chart or diagram. Market size can be portrayed in a graph, with an explanatory caption. Market trends can also be represented by a graph, or can be in the form of a quote from some published source. Competitive analysis should be in a matrix chart, with the differentiators highlighted in a color. The marketing materials and promotional programs can be in a list or shown on a timeline. You get the idea. The best way to get people to read the plans is to give them LESS to read. It’s as simple as that.

Quick and Quirky Example
You are the marketing director for Electronic Security Products, “ESP”, which is diversifying into some new markets. You’ve just completed a marathon session to compile the rough draft of a marketing plan for a new line of products called “Buzz Off”, which are electronic bug zappers. The idea came from a group of your engineers who were bored one day and discovered that the company’s basic sensor technology could actually be used to kill (or at least detain) insects. One thing led to another, a prototype mosquito zapper was built and tested, and now it will be launched as the first in the Buzz Off product line.

ESP’s annual sales conference begins in two days, and the company just last week hired a new VP of sales, who is flying in from Amsterdam on his way to Denver for the conference. The CEO wants you to meet the new VP at Chicago O’Hare Airport tomorrow to brief him on the new marketing plan for the Buzz Off line. (The CEO was so excited about the new product that he decided to announce it to the entire sales force at the conference.) The good news is that ESP is headquartered in Chicago, so you don’t have to travel far for the meeting with the new VP of Sales. The bad news is, you have no presentable plan to show him.

You call your meager staff of 3 together to see what you can come up with that can be explained in only 45 minutes, because that’s all the connection time that the VP has between flights. You assign people sections of the plan, and agree to regroup in two hours. Here is what your team came up with:

-your graphic designer created a cover sheet depicting a gigantic mosquito hovering over a photo of O’Hare airport, with a lightning bolt aimed at the mosquito. This will serve as the product description for the Mosquito Zapper.
-your market researcher developed a PowerPoint graph illustrating the market size for three vertical markets
-your marketing communications manager compiled a list of all the marketing programs that were planned, but it is way too long and the dates have not yet been determined for any of them
-you have looked at the immense competitive matrix and decided that it was way too detailed to present

With only two hours left to complete the plan, you decide to hand off the competitive matrix to the market researcher and have her prioritize the list of competitors and group them in terms of major threat and then create a PowerPoint slide that summarizes the information. Meanwhile, you spend the rest of the time going through the marketing programs with the marketing communications manager, identifying those that would be of greatest interest to the sales force and those that would happen first. You compile a list of programs and a timeline to take to the meeting.

The next day, the VP of Sales is late due to customs processing, and your meeting is reduced to 20 minutes. You begin with the bright and colorful cover, and he immediately understands the product. You then point to the market size chart to identify the target segment and explain why you chose it. You tell him that there are lots of competitors, but those listed on the new slide are the primary ones to worry about. You show him a copy of the programs timeline and point out the key events that he needs to address at the conference. You hand him the copies (along with a backup CD) and tell him that you will be emailing him the next version of the completed marketing plan. He’s got the major information, he understands it, and he’s on his way, ready to save the world from mosquitoes. The End.

(NOTE: More information on streamlined marketing plans can be found in Chapter 14 of my book, “From Idea to Launch at Internet Speed”. Caution: you WILL have to read.)

May all of your marketing plans be best-sellers!

Catherine Kitcho
The Launch Doctor