Knowing What You Don’t Know
In light of the dramatic changes in consumer behavior—which are fueled in large part by the explosion of social media—C-level executives are looking to their marketing leaders to identify and maximize new business opportunities. CEOs want to invest money to build brand awareness, drive sales, and increase customer lifetime value.
They are interested in social media because it enables them to find out what their customers are saying. While social media is the shiny new thing, leaders still need to plan their customer acquisition and retention campaigns with specifics. Clients in the satellite TV, wireless communications and B-to-B markets are deploying The Kern Org’s StrategyMasterPlanning and RoadMapping™ process for these critical activities. Here are some of the key elements for the successful implementation of a direct-marketing strategic planning process targeting customer acquisition and retention marketing. Leadership—Strategic marketing is a microcosm of corporate strategic planning, and an inherent component of good corporate planning is solid leadership. Senior marketing managers have to understand how to run a strategic planning session and ask the team the right questions: How do we define the marketing objectives? How does everyone define a marketing strategy? What is the difference between strategy and tactics? What is the ROI? Budgeting—Marketers should build their plans by setting a revenue goal and then identifying all the strategies and associated tactics for accomplishing the goal. Another option is to build the plan from the bottom-up. In bottom up planning, marketers specify all the tactics that are required to achieve the goal, and then budget each tactic, and then fold them into one overarching plan. Preparation—Amid the planning is preparation, which should not be undervalued. Senior marketing execs have to make sure that during the strategic planning process, team members are aware of what their roles are along the way and how, specifically, their efforts relate to the company’s agenda and goals. Strategic marketing is most effective when it is based on collaboration and give-and-take. Execution—Marketers are adapting to unprecedented change in the communications landscape by reshuffling staffs, creating new jobs, integrating new CRM software, and working with niche agencies to create customized content for online social platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. Execution is strictly based on the metrics set forth in the budgeting process. The benefits from The Kern Org’s StrategyMasterPlan and Road Mapping™ approach include better communication among team members and senior marketing execs, improved allocation of marketing budget resources, the creation of original marketing channels and programs, the ability to have new team members hit the ground running and a clear focus for the year ahead. To download a white paper on this topic, click here.
Tags: Strategic Marketing Blog, Strategic Planning
Categories: Strategic Marketing
