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.

knitty gritty's of Content Marketing...

Content marketing

“ Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”

Traditional marketing is becoming less and less effective these days as a new age marketer there has to be a better way. Research shows that vast majority of marketers are using content marketing. In fact, it is used by many prominent organizations in the world like P&G, Microsoft, Cisco Systems. It’s also developed and executed by small businesses and one-person shops around the globe.

It is often used by businesses in order to:

·         Expand their user base

·         Diversify their user base

·         Establish or Increase online sales

·         Increase brand awareness or credibility

·         Create an online community of users

Unlike other forms of online marketing, content marketing relies on intercepting an existing customer need, as opposed to creating demand for a new need. More specifically, there are few reasons and benefits for enterprises who use content marketing:

• Increased sales
• Cost savings
• Better customers who have more loyalty

The difference between content marketing and the conventional marketing is the informational garbage we get from companies trying to sell us their products or services Companies send us information all the time – it’s just that most of the time it’s not very relevant or valuable. That’s what makes content marketing so intriguing in today’s environment.

Regardless of what type of marketing we use, content marketing should be part of our process, not something separate. Quality content is part of all forms of marketing:

• Social media marketing: Content marketing strategy comes before your social media strategy.
• SEO: Search engines reward businesses that publish quality, consistent content.
• PR: Successful PR strategies address issues readers care about, not their business.
• PPC: For PPC to work, you need great content behind it.
• Inbound marketing: Content is key to driving inbound traffic and leads.
• Content strategy: Content strategy is part of most content marketing strategies.

When creating content, businesses will typically go through 3 preliminary steps:

1. Define a target audience and their needs-

The first step in creating a successful content marketing campaign is to define your target audience, commonly known as user segmentation. Successful content marketers deeply understand their customers' needs and desires, beyond just their sole interest in their products or service.

2. Determine the types of content

The most commonly used type of content is blog posts though other types of content can resonate with your customer as well. Content includes:

·         Videos

·         Quizzes

·         Webinar

·         Surveys

·         Interviews

·         Editorials

·         Podcasts

The appropriate type of content for any business will depend on the business' goals and target customer.

3. Establishing a content management system

Businesses will need to find a content management system (CMS). Though there are many CMS and they each offer a slightly different value proposition, most include functions to help with content creation, publication, and analytics to track the success of posts.

4. Content Distribution

There are distribution strategies for successful content marketing with  customization, reach, and time commitment.

Building your own site

Businesses who build their own website maximize for complete control and customization. This is especially helpful for creative fields like art or interior design, where the primary value proposition communicated to user’s centres on qualitative factors or emotions.

Blog posts

Blog posts are that you submit on other people's sites, often with links or references back to your own business

Patanjali: an inception to a strong witful brand

It’s clear that Baba Ramdev understood the fact that without a solid foundation,one will always have trouble creating anything of value.From building a strong community before launch,to bringing back Swadesh in our country, it looks like he took all the right decision or maybe went the Ratan Tata way,took the decisions and then made them right.

PATANJALI  FACTS

· Patanjali has a turnover of Rs 5000 crore and expects to double this number by 2017.

· Pantajali Ayurveda’s Sales growth coverage: Increased by 150%

· Around 5000 retail outlets (seems like 5000 is a lucky number for baba) sell it’s 477 products and has collaboration with the Future Group, Star Bazaar, Easyday and other hypermarket chains.

· According to TOI, Patanjali has garnered 4.5% market share. Whereas there was a decrease of 60 points in case of Colgate—one of the leaders in this sector.

· Ramdev was ranked 27th in the Future Company’s 2016 list of “The Most Creative Businessman”

“We don’t know markets or marketing . . . but what we know is serving the people by providing them high-quality products at attractive prices” says Acharya Balkrishna, Co-founder, Patanjali

FACTOR FOR SUCCCESS

· A huge fan base

Before launching a full-fledged marketing campaign, Ramdev had already garnered people’s attention. His yoga asanas and daily yoga rituals were already followed by people. Even before launching the product, his followers trusted him.

· Always in the news

Be it for the 2011 anti-corruption andolan or in support of Lokpal Bill, I haven’t seen a week passed by without Baba Ramdev’s buzz. This helps him gain brand visibility.

· Content marketing

Content marketing is the new marketing principle to educate your customers and Baba Ramdev and his team have been on the forefront .Baba Ramdev has practiced it on TV.

· Smart Pricing policy

Since the production and promotion cost is less than what a new company in the business usually spends, it automatically lessens the product cost. Now who would not like to buy herbal natural products made in India which look expensive but don’t burn a hole in one’s pocket?

· Social Media

Baba Ramdev has over 6.6 million likes on Facebook and 564 k followers on Twitter as of May 2016.

He utilizes digital platform very well to educate, inform and engage people with his content spreading awareness regarding the content and his brand . He interacts with his followers on Twitter and Facebook by organizing live chats and also uses it as a medium to invite and inform them about his camps, events, product announcement, and more.

Marketing would have been a tricky area to handle for a new Swadeshi company like Patanjali. But in India, Trust and Faith are still given more importance than science and logic making it easier for Baba Ramdev. Though Patanjali believes in traditional way of lifestyle ,it follows the modern techniques for marketing which is the vice versa of other Indian Brands.Using great content ,strong promotions and engaging the audience Patanjali has made a name of it’s own in the FMCG sector.

STRATEGY OF PATANJALI

Ø The Story of Branding

Patanjali has made a unique approach marketing by building a community before product launch. Patanjali was always bound to meet new competition in the market.Though Patanjali made a good start ,without establishing themselves with a unique positioning, they would not have been able to ever competed against brands from P&G and Hindustan Unilever.

Ø Brand ambassador

“Patanjali is riding on Ramdev ‘s image, not products”

There are a very few ‘big’ companies in the world who are identified with the face of their founder–Apple’s Steve Jobs and Virgin Group’s Richard Branson are the perfect examples. For such companies, the founder is the brand ambassador.

Ø Brand positioning

Every brand has a unique positioning.  This is where Patanjali is different.Most of the products by the FMCG companies are influenced by the Western medical ideas. Patanjali did not join the race. They created a new one. It offered herbal and natural products backed by the people’s beloved Indian medical science. It was the first Indian brand which was turning the idea of using natural products into a cult.

Ø Brand consistency

Great brands always keep their brand personality, messages, tones, images, and ideas consistent. patanjali never budged from its central theme. It has always held to its core values and image.the reason whenever a new Patanjali product enter market, consumers know it will be organic and healthy even if it’s an instant noodle!

Ø Brand trust and faith

This department has been given the highest priority and even people at Patanjali agree to it. They always try to deliver on their promises, be it with their yoga benefits or products. This trust and faith are another major reasons why people feel connected to Patanjali.

Brand positioning redefined...

Brand Positioning would be defined as an activity of creating a brand offer in consumers mind in such a manner that it creates a distinct place and value in the target customer’s mind.

The brand positioning is a place in consumers mind that you want your brand to own   . It is a benefit we want our consumer to perceive when they think of our   brand strong brand position means a brand that has unique and sustainable in the mind of consumer

The best brand are built on products not advertising as quoted by steve wozniak {co founder of apple )

 For example - Kotak Mahindra Bank positions itself in the customer’s mind as - “Kotak ”- which can provide customized and one-stop solution for all their financial services needs. It intends to stay with the proposition of “Think Investments, Think Kotak”. The positioning you choose for your brand will be influenced by the competitive stance you want to adopt.

For example , ayurveda brand Patanjali is backed not only by the awareness of Baba Ramdev but it is built on the brand strength, firstly of Yoga and its proponent, Baba Ramdev, and of Ayurveda. Followers of yoga, Ayurveda and Baba Ramdev were/are its most ardent early adopters, and they spread the word to others on the efficacy of the products. There is the added belief that something from this heritage is likely to be pure, and Patanjali has been quite welcoming of analysts and media to its offices to back this belief. They also have a research lab, Patanjali Research Foundation, which, based on its website has a team building a framework to prove that yoga works. Thus he created a herbal brand image of their product  .

SEGMENTATION TARGET POSITIONING - AN OVERVIEW

Segmenting Market:

The company’s product or brand can’t be all things to satisfy all people. This is why you need to use market segmentation to divide your customers into groups of people with common characteristics and needs.
There are many different ways to segment the target markets. For example, we can use the following approaches:

Demographic – By personal attributes such as age, marital status, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, education, or occupation.
Geographic – By country, region, state, city, or neighborhood.
Psycho-graphic – By personality, risk aversion, values, or lifestyle.
Behavioral – By how people use the product, how loyal they are, or the benefits that they are looking for.

Example

Travel Company is a travel agency that organizes worldwide adventure vacations. It has split its customers into three segments.
Segment A is made up of young married couples, who are primarily interested in affordable, Eco-friendly vacations in exotic locations. Segment B consists of middle-class families, who want safe, family-friendly vacation packages, it makes easy and fun to travel with children. Segment C comprises upscale retirees, who are looking for stylish and luxurious vacations in well-known locations such as Paris and Rome.

 Target The Best Customers

Next, you decide which segments to target by finding the most attractive ones. There are several factors to consider here.

First, look at the profitability of each segment. Which customer groups contribute most profit to the company.
Next, analyze the size and potential growth of each customer group.
Last, think carefully about how well your organization can service this market.

Example

Travel Company then analyzes the profits, revenue and market size of each of its segments. Segment A has profits of A$, Segment B has profits of B$, and Segment C has profits of $C. It decides to focus on Segment A, after confirming that the segment size is big enough

 Position Your Offering

In this last step, your goal is to identify how you want to position your product to target the most valuable customer segments.
First, consider why customers should purchase the product rather than those of the competitors. Do this by identifying your unique selling proposition to understand how each segment perceives your product, brand or service. This will help you determine how best to position your offering.

Next, Create a value proposition that clearly explains how your offering will meet this requirement better than any of the competitors’ products, and then develop a marketing campaign that presents this value proposition in a way that your audience will appreciate.