Are you tasked to develop a launch plan or a fully integrated B2B marketing plan to drive leads? Are you new to B2B marketing and unsure of best practices and/or the sales process? If so, consider asking yourself these 10 questions before developing tactics. These are some of the high-level areas to think through to help ensure your B2B marketing communications plans are smart and set up for success. It's derived from: Beginner's Checklist for the Corporate B2B Marketer at http://goo.gl/c1bdVV About Lydia's Marketing & Communication Consulting Services: I help companies develop effective brand, marketing and content strategies. Strategic Thinker | Exceptional Marketing Planner | Effective Content Marketer | Great Value

1. Visit
Lydia’s
Marke/ng
Consul/ng
at
www.lydiamarke/ngconsul/ng.com
Contact
informa/on:
LYDIA
VOGTNER
lydia@lydiamarke/ngconsul/ng.com
415-­‐672-­‐1870

2. Introduction
Are you tasked to develop
a launch plan or a fully
integrated marketing plan
to drive leads?

3. Introduction
Are you new to B2B
marketing and unsure of
best practices and/or the
sales process?
NEW?

4. Introduction
If so, consider asking yourself the following
questions before developing tactics
These are some of
the high-level areas to
think through to help
ensure success...

5. Think it Through
1
Do you have a solid
understanding of the
business vision and
financial goals?

6. Think it Through
If not
you should obtain it
before doing anything
else

7. Think it Through
2
Do you have a
point-of-view (POV)
on how marketing
can help meet those
goals?
If not, what do
you need to do
to develop it?

8. Think it Through
3
Do you have a POV
on which tactics
within the marketing
mix will have the
strongest impact?

9. Think it Through
Do you have the
necessary budget
and resources to
effectively execute
them?

10. Think it Through
If not
make the business case
to get what you need
and if that’s not possible

11. Think it Through
Encourage discussion
about your barriers up
front to help ensure the
marketing team
prioritizes effectively

12. Think it Through
4
Do you have a
framework for the
marketing
communications
strategy…
…that allows
stakeholders to
weigh in on
objectives and
contribute
tactical ideas?

13. Think it Through
Are
stakeholders aware
of dependencies
that may require their
active participation?

14. Think it Through
Make sure key people
and areas are aligned
with you and ready to do
their part because
if they’re not

15. Think it Through
It could have an adverse
effect on your results as
well as internal
relationships (and
possibly the respect and
morale of your staff)

16. Think it Through
5
Do you have a
Messaging and/or
Brand Toolkit that
everyone can work
from when crafting
communications such
as…

17. blogs
Think it Through
collateral
product
presentations
video promotions
scripts
Websites
emails

18. Think it Through
It can be a rough draft
that will evolve
but at least some type of
brand and messaging
strategy is critical

19. Think it Through
This is a Company
that gets me!
to ensure your message
is relevant, engaging
and consistent

20. Think it Through
6
Do you have a
Measurement Strategy
figured out across
tactics?

21. Think it Through
Have you figured out
how all the metrics will
come together to
determine whether or
not the plan is
delivering?

22. Think it Through
If not, get ahead of that
and encourage dialogue
early so that everyone is
on the same page to
determine...
.

23. Think it Through
How well the plan is set up to
measure and
How best to address key gaps or
potential risks in determining ROI

24. Think it Through
7
Have you assessed
where various
components of the plan
need to integrate to be
effective?
For example...

25. Think it Through
Is there a messaging
framework that needs to be
implemented
simultaneously across the
web, sales collateral,
email, videos, etc.?
Are the dots
connected to
activate, manage and
measure social
media?

26. Think it Through
Understanding this could
help you consider the
necessary resources
and execute in a timely
manner

27. Think it Through
8
Have you thought about
third parties that are a
dependency for certain
tactics?

28. Think it Through
The sooner you can
research and engage
vendors and agencies
necessary for
implementation
Such as for
campaigns, design,
research and lead
management
the better

29. Think it Through
This often takes longer
and is more
complicated than you
think

30. Think it Through
9
Have you determined who in your
organization needs to be trained
and educated about what the
marketing team is doing?

31. Think it Through
Thinking about this
ahead of time will help
you gain respect
as it ensures
everyone is
comfortable with
what’s going on

32. Think it Through
and that key
stakeholders are part of
the process

33. Think it Through
10
Have you established
milestones to assess
how the plan is doing?

34. Think it Through
Do you have resources
that can pull together
the necessary data and
information?

35. Think it Through
Always think ahead
about how you will
respond to a demand
from Senior
Management to...

36. Think it Through
Show me
how our marketing
communications efforts
are driving business
and/or at a minimum
supporting the sales
process

37. Think it Through
You’ll be considered a
leader if you
demonstrate you are
proactively
thinking this way
Visit this blog post for the complete narrative:
Beginner’s Checklist for the Corporate B2B Marketer

38. Think it Through
Here are some great training resources if you want to stay current
.
on B2B marketing trends and best practices ongoing
Membership
Training Courses
Learning
Webinars
Community

39. Let me know if I can help.
Visit
http://www.lydiamarketingconsulting.com
Contact information:
LYDIA VOGTNER
lydia@lydiamarketingconsulting.com
415-672-1870