One of the memorable — albeit crude and colorful — lines from Hunt for Red October informs the importance of having a plan: “Russians don’t take a dump, son, without a plan.” It was intentionally blunt to drive home the gravity of the situation, and I reference it here to underscore the importance of having a marketing plan.

A few years ago, I observed, “If Labor Day and Halloween represent the metaphorical beginning and middle of the marketing planning “play clock,” then the Monday after Thanksgiving is the countdown to the final seconds.”

Guess what? It’s Monday. How’s your corporate marketing plan coming along?

An Ugly Truth

Most organizations don’t have a marketing plan or marketing strategy.

(Yes, this should be very concerning to corporate leadership.)

Oh, I can hear the incredulity…

“Of course, we have a plan. We’re going to do a bunch of conferences, webinars, advertisements, blog posts, videos, press releases and other activities. Heck, none of our competitors do as much as we do – did you see our new website? Besides, if we didn’t have a plan, there’s no way Finance would have approved a 10% budget increase for next year!”

What’s worse, the so-called marketing plan is often a repeat of last year’s plan which was – you guessed it – a repeat of the previous year’s plan, and so on.

Why Plans Aren’t Really Plans

First, this scenario is what I refer to as “tactical flailing” because there’s nothing linking the marketing activities (the things you do) to the achievement of a business goal or objective. It’s the equivalent of “Ready, Fire, Aim.” It’s what Sun Tzu counsels in the statement, “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”

Second, the “rinse and repeat” approach assumes neither the organization nor the market is changing, and when exactly has that ever happened?

9 Characteristics of a Successful Marketing Plan

1. It is a written document that gets reviewed and updated throughout the year.
2. It is a framework based upon a progressive hierarchy of Objectives, Strategies and Tactics or the proverbial “Ready, Aim, Fire.”
3. It ultimately supports the achievement of the business goal (e.g., revenue).
4. It is developed in coordination with and buy-in from key functional stakeholders (e.g., sales, product, finance, executive).
5. It focuses on progressing buyers through the buyers journey to become and remain customers.
6. It prioritizes what to do and what not to do.
7. It identifies resources and timeframes required to successfully execute the marketing plan.
8. It contains measurables and timelines for reporting of results and course corrections including changing or even killing things that don’t work (or used to but are no longer relevant).
9. It establishes a vocabulary to communicate and discuss the marketing plan throughout the organization.

Planning is an Imperative

Operating without a marketing plan is risky.

At best, it’s inefficient and ineffective. At worst, you’ll find yourself trying to explain to the CEO why marketing failed to deliver results. Trust me, I’ve been there.

Here’s another perspective: Your company is not going to get funded without a business plan. Why, then, would you fund marketing without a marketing plan?

The good news is strategic marketing planning is achievable. If you’re a corporate leader, you should insist on it!