Marketing: Planning and Strategizing

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    Sections of This Topic Include

    Rules of Marketing: Old Vs. New
    Makin’ the Marketing Strategy Happen!
    Additional Perspectives on Market Planning

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    Related Library Topics

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    Rules of Marketing: Old Vs. New

    (The following article also addresses public relations — the opinions in the
    article apply to both marketing and public relations. Note that many people
    would assert that public relations are a form of outbound marketing.)

    © Copyright Lisa
    Chapman

    What is Marketing? What is PR?

    You’ve likely heard it before – in the digital world, “The
    lines have blurred between Marketing and PR.”

    What does that mean? How have the lines blurred? In order to answer these questions,
    let’s take a look at the OLD versus the NEW rules of Marketing, as proposed
    by David Meerman Scott in his bestselling
    book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR.

    The OLD Rules of Marketing

    The message was delivered ONE-WAY, and CREATIVITY was the secret sauce that
    commanded the audience’s attention. Among the fundamental concepts of
    the OLD marketing paradigm:

    • Advertising was the core tool
    • The advertising message was generally crafted to appeal to the masses
    • Advertising INTERRUPTED the audience with a one-way message
    • Advertising engaged campaigns for a defined time period
    • Creators focused on creativity – and award-winning campaigns
    • Advertising and PR were different specialties, run by different people

    The OLD Rules of PR

    The ultimate goal: Spin a press release to capture reporters’ attention,
    then get a clip of the story, to show that the message was viewed by the audience.

    • Media comprised the toolbox, in order to get the message out
    • A press release was the core tool
    • Only significant news commanded the attention of the media
    • It was all in “the spin” (or HYPE!)
    • Quotes from third parties were an important element of a press release
    • Press releases were meaningless unless a reporter decided that it was worthy
      of a story

    The NEW Rules of Marketing and PR

    Since the internet is now one huge publisher, ANYONE can learn how to create
    compelling messages and publish them. Getting found online is the science and
    art. A few of the new rules include:

    • People don’t want “spin” – they want authenticity
    • People don’t want to be interrupted anymore (it’s now called
      SPAM)
    • People don’t want to be ‘told’ (push marketing), they
      want to be heard
    • People want VALUE (content), which develops relationships and trust
    • Marketing and PR can reach niche audiences online in a wider variety of
      ways
    • Content is KING, and stays online, with no end to the campaign

    The New TOOLS of Marketing and PR

    It’s no longer TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, direct mail, etc. Meaningful,
    valuable CONTENT is the vehicle that captures audiences’ attention. It
    is now found on:

    • Websites
    • Blogs
    • Microblogs (Tweets)
    • Social Media platforms (Facebook.com, Myspace.com, etc)
    • Article Directories
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Etc, etc, etc!

    Makin’ the Marketing Strategy Happen!

    © Copyright Tove Rasmussen

    Implementing a marketing strategy is a multi-faceted activity. A good marketing
    strategy is driven by a clear, simple positioning statement. This makes it clear
    to your employees and market, that the company is superior to the competition.
    The marketing strategy encompasses the product or service offering, pricing,
    promotion, and distribution – or delivery of the product or service to
    your customers.

    So, the marketing strategy is all-encompassing. It drives product features,
    time from order to delivery, logistics, research and development, customer services
    — in short, it drives what is key for all facets of the business.

    Consequently, implementing a marketing strategy involves so much more than
    marketing. It involves the whole company.

    How you implement the marketing strategy depends on who you are in the organization.
    Are you the president or the marketing director? If the organization has developed
    a marketing strategy, both need to be aligned with the strategy, on-board and
    enthusiastic.

    The implementation of the marketing strategy can begin with the development
    of the marketing strategy. The organization can be involved or informed of the
    status of the development of the strategy. The input of operations, regulations, and sales can be part of the information that is used to develop the strategy.

    Or the strategy can be developed by the management team and rolled out to
    the company once it is completed. The extent to which each approach works depends
    a lot on the issues involved with strategy development, the culture of the
    company, and the buy-in to the plan by the company as a whole.

    If, for example, operations were asked for an opinion, it is very important
    to close the loop and let operations know what happened to the input. How it
    was used in developing the plan and, if possible, how the input affected the
    final strategy that was developed.

    If the plan is being rolled out with no input, then it is critical for the
    department heads to consider the expected response from their teams, and to
    ensure the potential issues will be addressed. If unexpected issues are raised,
    it is critical to research these issues and respond to them. However, the key
    is to effectively demonstrate how the plan is in the interest of each department,
    in particular, the growth of the company. Information that provides confidence
    in this result is essential to provide, and an inclusive, enthusiastic, confident
    tenor of the meeting is important.

    However, it is much more than one roll-out meeting, or several roll-out meetings.
    Implementation includes informal discussions in the hall, during chance
    encounters, and in regular meetings. People will absorb the information, and come
    up with excellent questions that need to be taken into account.

    There is, of course, the formal implementation of the strategy as well. It
    will translate into objectives for performance evaluations, possibly organization
    shifts and changes.

    As the company moves through the changes, focus on gaining some small wins
    first. This increases confidence in the new strategy and increases momentum.
    Keep it forefront in the company, and stay positive and flexible.

    Additional Perspectives on Market Planning

    Definition of Strategic Market Planning
    Planning Your Market Strategy
    How to Write a Marketing Plan
    Market Planning Worksheet
    Sample Marketing Plan
    Target
    and Market to Your Audience

    Makin’
    the Marketing Strategy Happen!

    Understand
    your Buyers’ Behavior: The Key to Effective Promotion

    Products and Market Planning
    Revisiting and Revamping Your E-Marketing Plan
    First Steps to Marketing a Small Business
    Learning How to Make Market Segmentation Work Again
    What
    Gandhi taught us about business planning

    Steve
    Harrison: Publicity Power

    Sample
    Marketing Plan

    Strategic
    Marketing

    Marketing Ideas

    Inexpensive Marketing Ideas For Small Businesses
    100 Awesome Marketing Ideas You Can Use Right Now
    Why Nonprofits Need a Digital Marketing Plan (applies to for-profits, as well)

    10 Best Digital Marketing Ideas And Strategies To Grow Your Business
    Top 25 Digital Marketing Tips & Ideas From The Pros


    For the Category of Marketing:

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