Reasons for Marketing Plan Failure

Top 10 Reasons for Marketing Plan Failure

·          No Written Marketing Plan. Blinding glimpse of the obvious on this one — if you don’t take the time to create a marketing plan, your marketing will stink in 2012

·          Goals Are Poorly Defined. Every good plan starts with goal definition. If you don’t define the goals for the plan, there’s no point in preparing a marketing plan. Make sure marketing goals are aligned with the business plan and with key business objectives.

·          Unattainable Goals. Nothing is worse than working a plan where the goals are not even possible. Set realistic marketing goals that can be achieved if the marketing plan is executed well.

·          No Buy-In. Who executes a marketing plan? Everybody in the company. As such, the plan needs to be created with buy-in from key employees who ultimately will own the execution of the plan. Getting buy-in starts with effective marketing planning and strategy conversations.

·          No Clear Responsibilities or Accountability. We’ve seen great marketing plans that fail because tasks are not assigned to individuals and there is no accountability. Be sure to define who is doing what when as part of your marketing plan.

·          Wrong People Working the Plan. Even the best laid plans fail if the people who are in charge of execution don’t have the skills and attributes needed for successful plan implementation.

·          No Discipline to Execute the Plan. Some organizations talk a good game on planning but lack the discipline required to implement a plan.

·          Lack of Performance Consequences. What happens when somebody succeeds at executing the marketing tasks they are responsible? What happens if they don’t get their assigned tasks done? In order for a marketing plan to be executed successfully, you’ll need to motivate your team, both with carrots and with sticks.

·          Lack of Time or Lack of Money. Nothing is more frustrating than writing a marketing plan and then finding out that there’s no budget to cover it and everybody is too busy to execute the plan. Be sure to get consensus on your marketing budget and available resources before you finalize your plan.

·          Changing Market Conditions. The last reason that marketing plans can fail is the only one that’s outside of your control. If there are fundamental shifts in the market, your plan may not work. For this reason, it’s good to revisit your marketing plan frequently during the year to see if it needs to be updated based on changing marketing conditions.

Consequences of Not Having a Marketing Plan

A business plan charts and guides the operational functions of your business; a marketing plan charts and guides the promotion of your business. Both are vital to a successful operation. Failing to develop a marketing plan can result in budget problems, low customer volume and, in a worst-case scenario, the closure of a business.

Uncoordinated Promotion Strategies

If you don’t have a strategic marketing plan in place for your business, chances are your advertising, marketing and promotion efforts are haphazard. A marketing plan helps you assess your market, determine your target audience and select appropriate marketing vehicles for promoting your company. A good deal of marketing plan creation includes research and comparison shopping for ad rates. Without this in place, your marketing plans can be ineffective.

Ineffective Tracking

A good marketing plan not only charts a course of action for promoting your business, but it also helps you track, or follow, which marketing approaches result in the highest flow of business. If you don’t have a marketing plan in place, you won’t have a formal system for assessing where your leads and customers come from. This means you won’t know which of your marketing approaches works. You could be wasting money on marketing and advertising venues that don’t work for your business while underutilizing effective marketing vehicles at the same time.

Budget Problems

A comprehensive marketing plan includes a marketing budget. The budget helps you assess how much money you have to apply to various marketing strategies, and, with a tracking feature in place, it can help you calculate how many customers result from each marketing initiative. If you randomly place ads, run commercials and print promotional materials with no real goal in mind, you can overpay and see poor results. A marketing plan that explores and defines the best marketing approaches allows you to time your ad campaigns, buy advertising in bulk and saturate your market for the best possible returns.

Low Traffic

The worst-case scenario of not having a marketing plan in place is that your business fails to attract enough customers to warrant keeping the doors open. If consumers are not aware of your business, they will not patronize your company. This can lead to a slowdown in business, employee lay-offs, the inability to pay creditors and the eventual closure of your operation.