Marketing Plans are more Hoax than in Science

Vow that you’re going to create marketing plans that produce results: no more hoaxes.  Set your objectives and make them specific, realistic, and measureable.  Evaluate your strategy.  Can it deliver the objectives?  Do you know this for certain, or are you simply guessing?  And what about the tactics?  How well do you understand the relations between each tactical component (for example, advertising spending) and the objectives you’re trying to achieve.

Companies ought to connect every marketing plan input to its forecasted (i.e. modeled) output.  The average marketing plan contains a discussion of the marketing climate, the elements of the marketing strategy, the specific goals and objectives of the marketing program, and the tactics the company plans to employ to reach those goals, but they’re not connected to one another.  They can be, they should be, and they will be, in the future, in the companies that plan to dominate their respective industries.

When you turn a steering wheel, the front wheels move.  Put the wheel hard over, and the car will make a 45-degree turn.  Turn the wheel back to the middle position, and the car goes straight.  Precision engineering connects one part to another, and all the parts logically and mechanically work together.

But the marketing department has no analogy.  Spend $18 million on advertising, and sales may go up, down, or stay the same.  Launch a new product, and company profits may go up, down or stay the same.  For many companies, it is often a surprise when things turn out well, badly, or the same.  Everybody hopes the new product (service, advertising campaign, promotion, price) will do well, but they don’t really know whether it will or not. 

Today it is possible to create scientific marketing plans that tie inputs to outputs.  The technology is available and can help you steer your brand, products, services, or company confidently.  Turn up the advertising, turn down the promotion, increase share of distribution, launch the new products, and simulate the effects before you make these changes in the real world.