b2b marketing planning is an essential activity for your success. Business success rarely comes from off-the-cuff decisions, and without a plan, you’re basically shooting at targets in the dark!
Mapping out a strategy and action plan helps to prioritise the high-impact activities and allocate the resources required to implement and measure the results. Without a documented plan, goals, objectives and priorities seem to escape into thin air. Every successful marketing (and life) activity requires goals and objectives and an activity plan helps to prevent confusion over which task is more important to get done today.
And that’s just the beginning. Here’s our top 4 reasons why you need to start planning your marketing sooner, rather than later.
Clear decision-making
To kick-off your b2b marketing planning, you first need to audit your current situation. What has been working? How efficiently are your customers moving through the buying cycle? Where are the bottlenecks? Where are you missing the tools you need to help them progress?
This current state audit forms the basis of the goals we set for ourselves and the subsequent strategies and tactics we outline to meet them. It helps you to make clear decisions and diminishes the temptation to jump on miscellaneous opportunities that don’t meet your current marketing needs.
Set goals, reduce measurement headaches
Without goals you have nothing to measure the impact of your tactics against. Tactics are actually penetrating the market. b2b marketing planning early gives you the best opportunity to set clear SMART goals and create the content you need to reach those goals.
If you’re organised, you can assess your content marketing goals, optimise assets that aren't working and measure your content marketing ROI. Measuring your marketing goals keeps you focused on what’s important, and is therefore one of the key factors to drive results in your business.
Consistent branding and messaging
Marketers have so many platforms and avenues to cover (you don't need to tell us!). Whether you’re emailing, posting on Facebook, creating a landing page, or writing your next blog, it’s easy to get caught up and overwhelmed.
b2b marketing planning enables you to keep your message unified - you’re not rushing - and simple brand indicators such as your tagline, brand colours and brand essence don’t get missed in moments of mayhem.
Target and meet customer needs
The focus of every marketing plan should be to meet buyer needs. Most strategies start with a solid profile of the target audience or, as we like to call it, the buyer persona. This brings focus to your strategic thinking, helping you ensure that all initiatives are designed to help that persona act.
Persona-specific plans give your communications a better chance of engaging because they are tailored to your target market’s real motivations and needs. If you’re able to directly impact and solve your customer’s problems, they’re going to buy from you again and again.
Set for success
b2b marketing planning in advance will help you clearly map out your strategy and keep you organised, but it’s only when you’re monitoring and measuring you will be able to see opportunities to tweak and drive greater results. Planning your marketing is always going to make things easier down the road, but it’s important your working marketing plan document remains flexible and adjustable to what the data is telling you.
With a flexible, organised and data-based plan, you're well on the way to achieving marketing success.
Brand chemistry is a b2b marketing agency winning your customers' hearts and minds through inbound, brand, content, lead generation and digital strategy. Our marketing specialists achieve stellar results with the latest lead generation techniques.