Think SMART when writing your plan!

Writing a marketing plan is not about getting out as many information as you can. Quite the opposite, you should consider only the important, relevant information to use in your document. After all, writing a marketing plan is all about thinking SMART! And by SMART, of course I mean intelligently, but in a structured way by setting up objectives and goals that can be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-Bound. So, let’s have a closer look at this structure to set out our marketing plan’s meaningful objectives:

Specific: What is it exactly that you want to achieve? Make sure you are concrete, action-oriented, focused and well defined in your objectives. To help you set up your specific objectives think of WHAT you are going to do; WHY is it important; WHO is going to do what; WHEN do you want this to be completed and HOW are you going to do it? You do not need to answer all these questions in one objective, but you need that overall, your total objectives do.

• “I would like to increase my company sales” – This is NOT a specific objective.
• “To increase company sales by 20% by the end of the year” – This IS a specific objective.

Measurable: Whatever your objective, you need to be able to measure when it was completed and how well it was completed. Only by quantifying your objective you will be able to understand how well it actually performed, if and how you need to improve it. After all, as it’s often stated “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it!”

In the example above, by adding the percentage of sales aimed at, this will provide you with a measurable target. If, in the mid of the year you realise that the company is still too far away from achieving the aimed objective, you can re-establish it to a more realistic one or, if the company is selling on target, by the end of the year it will be easy to measure whether the 20% increase in sales has actually been achieved or even got a surplus.

Achievable: Your objectives must challenge you and your company, however they cannot be too challenging or too far in time as this will lead to yours and your staff’s de-motivation. These should be attainable and action oriented.

Setting your company the objective of opening 15 branches in 7 different countries within 10 years time will be too far in time and too vague to actually motivate you, so this is not considered as an achievable objective.

Realistic: objectives might be achievable but not realistic if you don’t have the resources to get there in the specified time frame. You must carefully consider that you have all the resources such as people, skills and money in place that will be able to make you reach your aims realistically.

If you are a new business and set the objective of having a £1,000,000 turnover by the end of the year, this might be an achievable objective if you have an extremely innovative product that everyone will want. However, as a new business you might not have the people or the money necessary to make the investment to achieve such ambitious objective, therefore it won't be realistic.

Time-bound: Associate each objective to a time limit as this will prompt for action to actually achieve the purposed objective by the specified time. Setting yourself a deadline will create the important sense of urgency and will make it possible to actually measure the success of the objective.

The successful establishment of key objectives taking in consideration the SMART rules, will set the basis of your marketing plan and all its marketing actions to be equally specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound. Exactly what we are looking for in a GOOD marketing plan!

The 80:20 rule (or the Pareto Principle)

You might have come across the 80:20 rule or policy (also known as the Pareto Principle) before, but do you really understand what it is all about? Basically it states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.
It emerged when an Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto verified that 80% of his country’s wealth was owned by 20% of the population. A few years later, the business management thinker Joseph Juran realised this principle could be applied to a broad set of work from the science of management to the every-day life.

• Project managers know that 20% of their work consumes 80% of their time and resources;
• Business managers know that 80% of their sales will come from 20% of their clients;
• Advertisers know that 80% of the enquiries will be generated by 20% of the advertising mediums;
  
• You know that 20% of your weekly activities represent 80% of your happiness;
  
• You spend 80% of your salary on 20% of things (such as rent, utility bills and transportation);
  

There are numerous situations where this rule can be applied, and even though it might not always be true, it is likely that it will still be a minority of actions that produce the majority of results. The way how the Pareto principle can be beneficial to a marketer is that it reminds you to focus on the 20% of activities that really matter and that will make the difference as they will produce 80% of your results. So if you will not have time to do everything you had planned to do, make sure you do not put aside any of the important 20% work that really matters. Work smart, not hard!

How can the 80:20 rule apply to a marketing plan?

It is crucial for a marketing plan to achieve the maximum impact; therefore it must be clear, concise and simple. It needs to concentrate on the 20% really relevant research and information to obtain 80% of its efficiency and consequently 80% of the business profits.