Marketing plans are worthless but strategy is everything

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Dilip S. Mutum

Marketing plans are worthless but strategy is everything

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Introduction

“Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential” - Winston Churchill

“In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” - General Dwight D. Eisenhower

A seeming paradox which is loaded with wisdom

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Sony PS 2

The PS2 was released in Japan on March 4, 2000.

Marketing plan - aggressive presale promotional campaign to build demand.

1 million units sold within the first 3 weeks in Japan.

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Sony PS 2

Manufacturing delays due to unexpected component shortages meant that Sony could not fulfil demands.

European launch delayed and number of units shipped to both Europe and the US was reduced.

On-line sales were postponed. Corporate sales and profit

objectives for the year were not met despite the huge demand.

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Marketing Strategy & Marketing Plan?

Marketing strategy * An endeavour by a corporation to differentiate

itself positively from its competitors using its relative corporate strengths to better satisfy customer needs in a given environmental setting.

Marketing plan ** A written document that summarizes what the

marketer has learned about the marketplace, indicates how the firm plans to reach its marketing objectives, and helps direct and coordinate the marketing effort

* Jain, S. C. (1999) Marketing planning and strategy 6th ed. South-Western Pub. p. 24.

* Kotler, P. and Keller, K.L.(2006). Marketing Management.

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The strategic three Cs

Marketing strategy deals with the interplay of 3 forces - The strategic three Cs: the customer, the competition and the corporation.

A good marketing strategy has the following characteristics:1. clear market definition2. a good match between corporate strengths

and the needs of the market3. superior performance relative to the

competition in the key success factors of the business.

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Responding to changes

Unexpected planning involves a continuous process to respond to rapidly changing market conditions.

Solid marketing strategy is the foundation of a well-written marketing plan.

A final step in developing a marketing strategy is to create a plan to monitor progress and a set of contingencies if problems arise in the implementation of the plan.

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Marketing Myopia

Theodore Levitt in his classic HBR article Marketing Myopia* talked about industries endangering their futures by improperly defining their purposes.

Dramatic strategic consequences A well known case of course, "oil

business" to being in the "energy business.

* Harvard Business Review 38 (July-August 1960), pp. 24-47

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The Web Effect

Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson of 37signals in their book “Rework”: “planning is guessing”. If you’re just starting out on the web,

you can’t plan for anything. You have no record to pull from, no way to estimate numbers or to guess sales. You don’t know which kind of marketing has proven effective and which hasn’t.

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Concluding remarks

A marketing plan without a sound strategic foundation is of little use.

It would be wrong to say that marketing plans are useless.

The marketing strategy defines the company and products while sales and marketing plans are the specific actions taken to achieve the goals of the marketing strategy.

Marketing strategies serve as the fundamental underpinning of marketing plans designed to fill market needs and reach marketing objectives.

Marketing strategies are dynamic and interactive.

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