1. HOW TO WRITE YOURMARKETINGPLAN

2. Marketing Plan - Key Points Review who you are targeting Clarify your value proposition Check your competitors Define your objectives Pick your promotional tools Execute on a quarterly rhythm Make progress each day, week, month and quarter2 3. 3 Phased Approach 4. 3 Phases in Marketing PlanningObjectivesAgileActual vs. PlannedWho - Target buyersTime-boxedObjectives deliveredWhat - Value PropositionTargetedInput to next periodWho else -CompetitorsMonitoringRoute to marketIntegrationHow - Select activitiesRepetitionWhen - Schedule4 5. 1. Preparation 6. 1. Preparation1.1 Objectives1.2 Who - Target buyers1.3 What - Value Proposition1.4 Who else -Competitors1.5 Route to market1.6 How - Select activities1.7 When - Schedule6 7. 1. Preparation 1.1 Set Objectives and Budget You need to be clear about what want you want to achieve and in what timeframeFirst, understand your current capacity what marketing activities (email, online ads, PR...) can you carry out today, what is your budget, what staff can work on this? What kind of results are you currently achieving? This is called baseliningNext, choose clear, unambiguous and measurable objectivesDo you want to generate sales leads? Increase web traffic? Acquire new partners or resellers? Increase conversion rates? Increase social media followers?Specify results (outputs) rather than activities (inputs)And then set a budget both money and people/time. 7 8. 1. Preparation 1.1 Set Objectives and Budget Make the objectives realistic and achievable based on an understanding of your current capacity rather than wishful thinking or bravadoFor example, if you want to generate 50% more sales leads from your marketing activities you need to understand what effort and cost is required to achieve that goalIf you dont have the budget and resources to meet the objectives then you will have to (a) increase your resources or (b) adjust your objectivesSet 3 or 4 high-level annual objectivesSet more detailed quarterly objectives and monthly objectivesAgree what metrics you will monitor to check on your progress against each objectiveHold yourself accountable for the objectives you setOUTPUT: A set of clearly defined, achievable objectives8 9. 1. Preparation 1.2 Who who are your target buyers You have a finite marketing budget time and money The farther you spread it the thinner it gets if you dont focus your marketing on specific targets then it will have less impact In this step, you define who you will target with your product or service Where are they (countries, languages) What industry sectors?What types of organisation? Size, location ...Any specific target companies?What are their typical roles or titles?What are their key concerns/drivers/goals?Where do they hang out online?What sources of information do they use?And dont forget to market to your existing customersOUTPUT: A clear definition of your target market sectors and the buyers within those sectors 9 10. 1. Preparation 1.3 What your Value Proposition What value does your product or service provide to customers? You should be able to communicate this in a couple of sentences. If you target different sectors you may need a different value proposition for each sector You can develop the value proposition by answering these questions What are you really good at? Why should a customer buy from you? What value does your product or service deliver? How will a customer benefit? How long does it take? What can you do better than your competitors? Can you quantify the benefits you deliver? Can you provide examples e.g. previous customers What about the obvious alternative (do nothing, manual or workaround) Is your value proposition sustainable (will it be true next year? In 3 years?) OUTPUT: A clear statement of the value you deliver10 11. 1. Preparation 1.4 Who Else your competitors Understand your 4 or 5 top competitors Learn from competitors marketing campaigns Position yourself in the mind of prospective customers by comparing yourself to the leading competitors Think about who to compare yourself with Are you in a well-defined product or service category? Who you think you compete with and who your buyers think you compete with may be different so check this out - talk to buyers to understand who they view as alternatives Pick 4 or 5 of the competitors, get as much information as you can about them and position yourself against them e.g. Were like X except our product is easier to use and produces 20% greater cost reductions Dont position yourself against competitors your target buyers wont recognise Dont rig the competition by positioning only against obviously inferior competitors Dont ridicule or badmouth your competition it looks unprofessional and doesnt convince prospective customers OUTPUT: Competitor positioning11 12. 1. Preparation 1.5 Route-to-market Your route-to-market is a description of the path you choose to promote and sell your product to your end customers You can picture your route-to-market as a diagram with you on the left and your potential customers on the right In this step you evaluate the most effective route for your business this could be direct sales by a sales team, online sales, a reseller partner, a retailer or some other route Select the best route(s) based on effectiveness, cost and potential for growth OUTPUT: Preferred route-to-marketReseller / partner Online salesYour CompanyDirect sales team Other routeTarget Customers12 13. 1. Preparation 1.6 How Select promotional activities At this stage you know what you are selling, who you are selling to and who you are competing against. Now select the promotional tools for your marketing campaigns These can include but are not limited to: 1. Your website 2. Search engine optimization (SEO) 3. Online pay-per-click (PPC) advertising 4. Social media marketing 5. Email marketing 6. PR 7. Seminars 8. Online display and banner advertising 9. Direct mail 10. Press advertising 11. Tradeshows We recommend focusing on digital marketing (your website, PPC, email, social media etc.) because people now start most purchase processes with an online search13 14. 1. Preparation 1.6 How Select promotional activities Website Revise your website to ensure it appeals to the customers you are trying to target (Who) and clearly articulates your value proposition (What) Have prominent calls to action to encourage visitor registrations or salesPRPay-per-click (PPC) ads can drive traffic and online awareness in a short timeframe Test some PPC ads and bring any traffic to specifically designed landing pages on your sitePay-per-click Keep up a regular stream of news releases new contracts, new customers, new products Target the media your customers read fish where the fish are Email Marketing Use email to interact with visitors who register on your site, establishing a regular rhythm of communication Deliver value and useful information with every email special offers, downloads, white papers, industry analysis Stay in touch with your existing customers with an email newsletter 14 15. 1. Preparation 1.6 How Select promotional activities Use a blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube to promote your business Generate content that is valuable and interesting to your target buyers Use social networks to share the content and bring people back to your website to learn moreSeminars Invite-only business breakfasts and lunchtime seminars are really effective Success depends on topic, speaker and venue, a good invite list and good organisationOnline Display Advertising Test display ads on websites and properties where your target audiences visit Have a compelling offer and clear call to action Bring any resulting traffic to specific areas on your siteSEO helps ensure you come top of the search results for your chosen terms and phrases SEO should be a key element of your marketing plan Decide if you can DIY or if you need professional help then allocate resources to SEOSocial MediaSearch Engine Optimization 15 16. 1. Preparation 1.6 How Select promotional activitiesDirect MailPress Advertising Experiment with Direct Mail in combination with online marketing E.g. a hardcopy invite sent out in parallel to an email invite for a seminar or eventIn our opinion it is less targeted, less measurable and less effective than online promotion However, it can be worth testing for particular businesses and products Consider testing ads in very focused press e.g. an industry trade magazine Include a clear call to action in all your press ads e.g. Contact us now for X% discount Tradeshows Tradeshow effectiveness varies a lot depending on the industry, product category and particular tradeshow Can also be expensive before committing try to compare cost/benefit with your other marketing activities Choose your shows carefully then work hard to produce results, using your website and email to promote your presence and following up with leads within 24 hours of the show 16 17. 2. Execution 18. 2. ExecutionAgileTime-boxedTargetedMonitoringIntegrationRepetition18 19. 2. Execution Time-boxed break your overall annual plan into quarters; execute quarter by quarter and adjust your plan as requiredExecute daily, weekly, monthly make progress each dayTake the actions identified in the previous (e.g. for Content marketing, Social Media etc.)Write down these actions as user stories see next pageCluster user stories into themes if that makes senseAllocate an indication of effort to each user story H, M or LAllocate an indication of value H, M, LSort by value and effort highest value, least effort firstSort again by MosCoW Must, Should and WouldPick top user stories for execution this quarter and put them in BacklogAll other stories go into IceboxSketch out rough schedule using graphical quarterly plan (see next pages) 19 20. 2. Execution Identify user stories, cluster into themes Preparation Draft Buyer personas IT Security Draft Buyer personas eLearning Draft Buyer personas Network ManagerContentContent AuditContent Gap List Content production schedule Create mobile infographicCreate eCommerce video Create case studySocial Identify influencers Legal & Prof Services Optimize social media profiles Reach out to influencersSet up weekly post Identify tools schedule to automate posting & monitoringEmail Build email list Build email listDesign Newsletter Capture emails from Blog subscription20 21. 2. Execution Schedule your actions using a simple graphical calendar Wk1 1Wk2Wk3Wk4Wk5Wk6Wk7Wk8Wk 9Wk10Wk11Wk 12Activity 12Activity 23Activity 34Activity 45Activity 56Activity 67 8Activity 7 Activity 89Activity 910 Activity 1021 21 22. 2. Execution Additional Notes On ExecutionIntegration dont execute an activity in isolation integrate your promotional actions to create multi-touch campaigns so your target audiences are more likely to become aware of you from multiple sources; for example coordinate email campaigns in parallel with social media, pay-per-click ads and PRConsistency and repetition its a marathon not a sprint, so ensure you have regular waves of promotional activities targeting your audiencesTargeting keep your marketing activities focused on your target customers; reduce/avoid generalised brand building if you cant accurately measure the results22 23. 3. Review 24. 3. ReviewActual vs. PlannedObjectives deliveredInput to next period24 25. 3. Review Monitoring and reporting Hold yourself accountable for your objectives track your progress Have weekly, monthly and quarterly checkpoints where you assess progress against your objectives what is working, what isnt working; what you should do more of, what you should reduce Measuring Pick your key objectives and identify some simple measurements to track your progress Examples include web traffic, number of leads generated, lead sources, click-throughrates, email response rates, ranking for selected keywords Automate the tracking of metrics Use tools like Google analytics to graphically monitor progress Input into next planning period What conclusions can you draw from the period just completed? How does this affect the objectives you pick for the new period?25 26. About Motarme 27. About Motarme Motarme is an easy-to-use Marketing Automation system. Motarme is specifically designed to help business-to-business (B2B) companies in the technology, engineering and industrial sectors generate sales leads online. The system automates lead capture, lead scoring, landing page creation, email lead nurturing and reporting. In addition to our web-based Marketing Automation product we provide consulting, web marketing and lead generation services. Our customers include Siemens, Mergon Group, SF Engineering and mid-size and early stage technology companies. Web: www.Motarme.com. 28. About MotarmeMotarme delivered real, measurable results in a short timeframe sales and contacts from our target audience at Tier 1 companies.Caolan Bushell Business Development Manager Mergon GroupGenerating leads online is now a central part of our sales strategy.Barry Rooney Chief Operations Officer Siemens ITSS We have seen for ourselves how a solid strategy has helped to drive traffic to our site and generate sales leads.Joe Lynch General Manager IMEC Technologies 29. ExecutionPreparationOur Approach1Who to target Ideal Customer Profile (Personas)2What is a Lead? - Definition3What Are We Selling Value Proposition4Outbound Tactics5Process CaptureProfileInbound TacticsScoreNurtureSales Ready 30. The RoI of Marketing AutomationMarketing Automation can convert an additional 20% to 30% of Leads to Revenue Forrester ResearchReduces cost per lead by up to 80% (average single lead cost c.US$100) Forrester Research, MarketingSherpa11% reduction in dropped leads combined with 1% improvement in conversion ratio = 136% increase in Gross Profit - CSO Insights+ + 20% - 30% 80% 80% 136% 136% 31. Thank YouMotarme Marketing Automation T: +353 1 969 5029 M: +353 86 383 8981 W: www.motarme.com Twitter: @motarme