Tough Love: Three Reasons Your Marketing Plan is Gathering Dust.

I know it’s hard to hear, but no one cares about your marketing plan. Not even you. Marketing plans were actually never designed to be used. Someone in marketing, who was obviously plagued by the usual “What does marketing do?!?” challenge, decided the best way to prove their worth was in paper volume. I'm not talking media plans, those buys have to be planned meticulously. Let’s just be clear, a marketing plan is made to fail.

Plan: A  plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with timing and resources, used to achieve an objective to do something.

This is all and out not possible and here are three reasons marketing plans suck.

1.Timing and Resources

• Unless you have a crystal ball (and, btw, if you do – can ya tell me if I’m getting that client?!?), you do not know what trends are going to do exactly in today’s tech. We might think Facebook is indestructible, but so was MySpace at one time. We might think that the Apple X will give us millions of consumers dying to try our lame corporate AR tech…probably not.
• If the timing in your “plan” is more about project completion, please step over there with the pocket protector crowd. You can’t sit with us.
• Resources also will shift with trends and demand. You may have tons more resources, you may get a budget slash.
• Bottom line, this is project management work, not the bad ass marketing vision you had hoped.

2.List of steps or diagram

• Criminy on a cracker! Who tf ever followed steps to greatness? Unless you are doing the Time Warp (*again*), steps are the lamest form of market interest. And, if you need to document steps for your superiors or staff…face the facts, hun. They do not get it.

3.It is the antithesis of Inspiration and the devil to creativity.

• Let’s not confuse a marketing plan with a Vision or Goals. Your marketing plan needs one sentence, and it should inspire daily habitual action from everyone in the company – janitor to CEO. It’s organic growth spreads faster than Jiff, and everyday there is tremendous action stimulated.

A vision/crusade/goal/quest will not be defined by your boring powerpoint or your wishy-washy brand standards.

A crusade moves action, finds resources, commands a path where none existed. A plan is two pickles on a bun. And, this ain’t McDonald’s, baby. Marketing is a constant battle for attention, trust and entertainment. A tireless campaign of wit and response. A major set of brass cojones and a healthy dose of risk taking.

And, have you ever considered that by completing a marketing plan, you just made yourself entirely disposable?!? “I have your plan… I can just hire some kids to follow it.”

Hey, I want you to keep your job. I want to help you eat your competition for lunch. I want to see you dominate a market. But, I won’t let you sell yourself or your company short.

Together, we can craft a crusade that is so ding-dang awesome, The Knights Templar would drop the Grail and join you.*

*sorry, shameless promotion is what I do. Somebody's gotta do it. ;-)