It was one of those perfect October Saturdays. The air had that fall crispness that’s so refreshing after a hot summer and the sky was that brilliant turquoise blue that only comes this time of the year. You were ready for a great football game, after all your team had an incredibly talented roster of players, were coached by one of the best, had the most sophisticated set of plays and the morale was at its highest. You just couldn’t lose…..but you did. What happened?
What we have here is a failure to execute!
A well researched, documented and detailed strategic marketing plan is nothing but great intentions unless it is executed flawlessly. Absolute attention to detail is the key and if executed properly, the plan will deliver on the increased sales that were the initial objective.
Here are some important things to remember:
- Make sure that you have the right resources in place and that they are committed to the plan. If internal departments were involved in creating the plan and had input, chances are very good that you will have their buy-in. There’s nothing worse than generating great leads from a direct marketing action only to have the sales department not follow through. Not only will the leads become stale, but the expectations of the prospects will not be met, generating negative impressions. It’s also imperative to have the right external resources. The selection of the right mix of vendors to perform the tactical actions is critical as their performance directly relates to your success, so it’s important not to fly through this step.
- Be sure to build in proper lead times. Things don’t happen as quickly as you might expect. Sometimes a new website can take as long as sixty days to complete. A good rule of thumb is to be working three to six months in advance and if your campaign is particularly complex, involving both offline and online efforts, you may need even more time. There is a potential danger: allowing too much time, where other priorities start jumping in the way. It’s a bit of a balancing act.
- Determine up front what every department, vendor etc. is going to need in order to properly execute their piece. If the sales department needs to upgrade their Customer Relationship Management system in order to follow through on leads, make sure that takes place before you start spending money on generating those leads. Also, if one of the goals of your plan is to increase sales by 15%, you’ve got to have the capacity to produce or you’ll end up with unhappy customers.
- Hold people accountable for their commitments. A solid project management tool can be instrumental in documenting and communicating critical dates and benchmarks as well as formalizing expectations. Who is supposed to be doing what and by when will keep the execution of your marketing plan from unraveling or underperforming.
Ongoing monitoring and follow-up is going to be a necessary aspect throughout the life of your marketing plan and most important, stay committed to the plan. People and vendors will bring ideas or great media buy deals to you, which must be weighed against the plan to determine if they meet your plan’s objectives.
Lastly, if all of this coordination is outside of your ability or time constraints to manage, consider bringing expertise in to help, something we are very good at.
Sorry for the huge review, but I’m really loving the new Zune, and hope this, as well as the excellent reviews some other people have written, will help you decide if it’s the right choice for you.
Hey this is a great story. I’m going to email this to my friends. I stumbled on this while surfing for some free downloads, I’ll be sure to come back. thanks for sharing.
Hey this is a great article. I’m going to email this to my buddies. I stumbled on this while surfing for some Popular Lyrics, I’ll be sure to come back. thanks for sharing.
Hi I found your blog on bing and enjoyed reading this post you have given some good information.I’ve bookmarked your site and will be back
Thank you for your comment, I appreciate it!
I was amazed my own android was able to look at this article, brilliant job.
I am glad I found your blog, I will return.
i really enjoy going through your blog and i’ve been watching from a distance and finally felt i should let you know. keep it up. Do you have a RSS feed? I just downloaded bloglines and want to add it in there.
Thanks for your comment, I appreciate the great response. I have an RSS button on the site but if that doesn’t work, please let me know. Regards
This may be off-topic, but how about changing the theme every now and then? Maybe not if it won’t look right, but I just get tired of seeing the same thing all the time. My own computer has about 1000 wallpapers that randomly rotate every 15 minutes, lol. Adult ADD I guess. Good post though, thanks.
T. Johns
Average homeowners insurance
Thank you for your comment. I do understand how a theme can get a little boring but I believe that a theme can become a part of your brand, much like a logo. People get used to your colors and style, a familiarity develops, and they know they’ve come to the right place. It is interesting how you rotate your wallpapers. I appreciate your frank feedback. David
hello!, thanks for the info, this post was really nice.
Wonderful insight:-)
Thanks for taking this opportunity to discuss this, I feel fervently about this and I like learning about this subject. If possible, as you gain information, please update this blog with more information. I have found it really useful.
Excellent information here. This interesting post made me smile. Maybe if you throw in a couple of pics it will make the whole thing more interesting.
Amazing post! I initially found your blog a week or so ago, and I subscribed to your RSS feed the very same day. I have several cool ideas for some upcoming posts you could write. I’ll send you an email shortly. Keep up the great work.
Thank you for your comment. Please do send along ideas, I appreciate the input. David
I read your articles and get a lot of info that I never know before. It’s hard to find knowledgeable people on this topic, but you sound like you know what you’re talking about!
Well, this is my first visit to your blog! We are a group of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us valuable information to work on. You have done a marvellous job!
Well, this is my first visit to your blog! We are a group of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us valuable information to work on. You have done a marvellous job!
Excellent read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little research on that. And he actually bought me lunch because I found it for him smile So let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch!
Hey Boss – its a nice blog, just looking around some blogs, seems a pretty nice platform you are using. I’m currently using WordPress for a few of my sites but looking to change one of them over to a platform similar to yours as a trial run. Anything in particular you would recommend me about it?
I am also using WordPress for this blog. Thanks for your comment.
This is my first time I have visited your site. I found a lot of interesting stuff in your blog. From the volume of comments on your posts, I guess I am not the only one! keep up the impressive work.
Guys, Great article and very very interesting blog. That’s one thing I’m really looking forward. Looking forward to reading more from you next week.
I was just browsing for relevant blog posts for my project research and I happened to stumble upon yours. Thanks for the excellent information!
I came across your article, i think your blog is awsome, keep working !
Amazing, truly excellent information. Your blog is really awesome. I bookmarked this and will come back once again. . . .
Sweet, that’s precisely what I was looking for! You just saved me alot of digging around
Such brilliant stuff and reporting! Keep up the good work guys