Building Better Marketing Plans (Part Two)

So here they are: three MORE best-practices that everybody knows – but not everybody uses – for building a better marketing plan.

Choose the right goals

The goal of the marketing plan is usually to create leads or opportunities. But all leads are not equal. Spend time thinking through your goals. Which data points are most important and why?

Set up a simple report for tracking your goals. Use visuals when possible.

Be specific. Instead of a broad goal (like 150 new leads) be specific about the lead type, lead source, or lead value. Align your goals with your strategy.  For example if you are building a referral strategy, your goals will be specifically tied to referrals: How many referrals? From who? By when?

Set incremental (monthly or quarterly) goals to help you stay on track and measure progress. Be selective about what you will track. The right reports will keep you on track, without bogging you down in reports and analysis.

Budget Money AND Time

Most companies budget their dollars. But very few consider how much TIME is necessary to build out their marketing plans.

Allocating and tracking staff time 1) ensures you have enough resources to execute the plan and 2) provides an accurate accounting of the real cost of your marketing. Bungalo recommends using a tool like Harvest to track your marketing time by project and task.

Use this simple formula to calculate your total marketing investment:


(Hours x Cost) + Dollars = Total Investment

Understand and document the WHY

Every component of your marketing plan will be stronger when you have a clear understanding of WHY buyers love, like, don't like, or hate your stuff. Build surveys, interviews, reviews, testimonials, and feedback into your marketing plan to help understand what people think and how they feel about your products and service.

Invest a portion of your marketing budget in understanding the wants, needs, values and experiences of your buyers. Lost lead interviews can be especially helpful in understanding the reasons people don’t buy from you.

Go to the source – your customers – to learn about your WHY. (Do not rely on feedback from sales people and field staff.) Then use what you learn to create case studies, tell stories, position your company and document your results.