As you develop your 2006 marketing plan, it might be good to revisit the term “marketing.” It’s a word that is commonly misused. Is it advertising? Is it public relations? Is it your web site? In fact, it includes all three, but it in addition it touches on research and product/service development, targeting, positioning, distribution, pricing, customer service and much more. It’s not unusual for people to confuse marketing strategy with communication tactics. Many times these tactics are the more visual side of marketing – catchy taglines, flashy web sites, media stories, promotional giveaways, multi-piece direct mail campaigns and many others. While these are tactics or elements of marketing, they only play a supporting role.

What needs to come first is an integrated marketing plan. This document should do more than determine how to spend your company’s advertising dollars and how to communicate a message. The marketing plan should address your company’s business goals, breaking them down into marketing goals and objectives – more attainable, measurable steps.

“The marketing plan gathers and analyzes all the information possible about the organization and reports it in one document that recommends strategies and tactics to achieve the organization’s marketing goals and objectives,” said Brian Miller, a partner in MillerWhite, LLC.
Miller said the discovery portion of the process looks first to the business itself for answers to questions like:

Then along with client discovery, strategies are developed that take into account the company’s “Fusion of Influence” – key areas of influence that can affect positive outcomes – industry standards and benchmarks, gatekeepers, possible marketing partners, the competition, product and/or service price and promotion and influencers such as culture and communication outlets. Where necessary, additional research is performed to “fill in the holes.”

While this process may sound involved, it can be easily implemented no matter how large or small the company. To create integrated marketing plans for its clients, MillerWhite uses its proprietary formula, MW Fusion. This formula results in a detailed, manageable and measurable plan or blueprint, which, when implemented, will help your company achieve your originally outlined business goals. Recommended tactics can include those catchy taglines and multi-piece direct mail campaigns that most people call “marketing,” but they can also include less flashy but equally important steps like customer service/sales training, media training and crisis management. The budget for these integrated marketing recommendations is determined tactic-by-tactic, and can be fine-tuned based on your company’s available resources.

As you consider planning for 2006, MillerWhite recommends asking yourself this question:
"What will NOT having a strategic integrated marketing plan cost the company in targeting the right audiences with the right benefits, strategies and tactics to generate the desired sales?”

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