Going For the Gold in Marketing Planning
Move Beyond “Gut Feel” Towards More Strategic Marketing Plans
What does marketing planning look like at your organization? Is it a well-defined and strategic process, or a slightly chaotic one?
While every company plans differently, there’s likely a little room for improvement in the marketing planning methods at virtually every marketing organization.
In this webinar, hosts Ryan Danner, Director of Planning for Red Hat Software and James Thomas, CMO of Allocadia software talk about their experiences as long-time marketing leaders with responsibility for planning.
They paint a picture of what better marketing planning looks like (flexible, aligned and revenue-driven) and share some first steps your organization can take to start making it happen.
In this webinar, you’ll learn:
- The current state of marketing planning – what’s working, and what’s not
- The pros and cons of some of the most common tools, frameworks and approaches to marketing planning
- 3 levels of advanced marketing planning (Bronze, Silver and Gold) recommended by Allocadia and how to achieve them
Contact us at 1-866-684-0935 or at hello@allocadia.com for more information.
4. 44
What We’ll Cover Today
• The state of marketing planning today
• Frameworks
• Methods
• Tools
• What strategic planning can look like
• 5 recommendations for getting started
5. 55
The State of Marketing Planning
• Top-down guidelines for big-
bucket budget allocation
• SiriusDecisions, IDC, others
• Limitations
• Must be adapted for each
organization
Frameworks
& Strategic
Alignment
6. 66
Marketing Framework Examples
IDC Taxonomy SiriusDecisions Campaign
Framework
(Screenshot excerpts from past Allocadia webinars)
www.idc.com www.SiriusDecisions.com
7. 77
The State of Marketing Planning
• Workflows:
• Top-down allocation
• Bottoms-up activity building
• Planning vs. budgeting
• Planning & forecasting
• So much planning is ad-hoc
• “Gut feel”
• “Last year +”
• Squeaky wheels / politics
Methods
9. 99
The State of Marketing Planning
• Spreadsheets (69%)
• 25% with another app
• Dedicated business planning
application (5%)
Tools &
Technologies
Source: Ventana Research white paper: Strategic Planning for
Modern Marketers (2015)
10. 1010
What’s holding us back from better marketing planning?
No ability to
measure impact
of spend (past,
current, future)
Lack of
information/data
about the sales &
marketing
environment
Inadequate
technology or
resources
(including people)
Source: Ventana Research white paper: Strategic Planning for Modern Marketers (2015)
12. 1212
Marketing Planning Philosophies
Good strategic marketing plans can help:
• Drive alignment:
• with Sales
• to Company goals
• within the marketing organization
• Secure incremental funding
• Drive more revenue
Core
Beliefs
14. 1414
Bronze-Level Marketing Planning
A quantitative understanding
of marketing spend.
• Scenario planning
• +10%, +20%, -10%
• “Hit the ground running” when
conditions change
It’s all about
Flexibility
15. 1515
Silver-Level Marketing Planning
A qualitative understanding
of marketing spend.
• Planning decisions guided by
corporate strategy, frameworks or
other defined metrics
• An aligned plan builds team
momentum
It’s all about
Alignment
16. 1616
Gold-Level Marketing Planning
A predictive understanding
of marketing performance.
• Creating plans based on
forecasted revenue outcomes
• An executive-level conversation about
business impact
It’s all about
Revenue
20. 2020
Summing Up
1. Recognize that change
management is the biggest
challenge.
2. Take steps to make the planning
conversation data-driven.
Analyze what worked & what
didn't. Historical data will shape your
marketing planning priorities.
5
Recommendations
for advancing your
marketing planning
practices
21. 2121
Summing Up
3. Start by defining big-picture
strategic priorities. They will
become a lens to view every
activity.
4. Plan to plan. Use your next
planning cycle to lay a foundation
for the next one after that.
Start capturing the data you’ll need
for the following year or quarter.
5
Recommendations
for advancing your
marketing planning
practices
(continued)
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Summing Up
5. Better marketing planning is a
journey that starts with small
steps.
5
Recommendations
for advancing your
marketing planning
practices
(continued)
24. 2424
Additional Resources – Marketing Planning
The Gold Medal
Playbook of Marketing
Planning (eBook)
Strategic Planning for
Modern Marketers
(Ventana Research
white paper)
Plus on-demand webinars:
• 5 Marketing Planning Best
Practices to Achieve of your
Objectives
• How to Align Campaign Plans
& Budgets with SiriusDecisions
& Allocadia
All available on the Resources
section at allocadia.com