Planning. Who needs it?

Well, if you are in the business of spending money on marketing that is designed to have an effect on an identified target market and make you some money, you do.

It has often been said that if you put 5 agency planners in a room and ask them a question, you’ll get 6 different answers. That’s because back in the days when ‘marketing’ was bit of a dark art, planning often involved some degree of subjective opinion when data or accurate knowledge was in short supply.

Today we live in a data-rich world, where most things can be discovered either at the click of a mouse or via published and certified research. Specific, custom-built research techniques have come on a lot too, with the advent of web-based and computer-aided quantitative questionnaires and a new sophistication in qualitative research developed through a deeper understanding of marketing psychology, sometimes down to the neural level.

So, data, data everywhere, but it doesn’t help you think – unless you know what you are looking for and how the results can help you in targeting, proposition development, brand positioning that cuts it amongst the competition, the development of brand architecture and associated Vision and Values. Add in a need to create dialogue and real relationships with customers, track them and their propensities within your sphere of influence, retain them and make them advocates for whatever you are selling to them, and you can begin to see how the addition of some solid marketing planning can not only add value, but be the only solid foundation amid the shifting sands of daily commerce, competitive pressure and fickle consumers.

And really, there is nothing to be afraid of. Planning before you go is something that every one of us does on a daily basis. Just as you don’t get into your car without knowing where you are going, how long it will take and what you are aiming to do once you reach your destination, so it is with marketing planning. It’s a map, with markers and milestones, an identifiable journey and measurable destination results. And it’s a vital map, whether you are specifying an international, high-profile campaign with a specialist hotel marketing agency such as LAW, or are just looking for a simple new web site design in a different business sector.

Here at LAW, we won’t start the journey unless we know where we’re going and why. This isn’t because we’re sticklers for process, but because were spending other peoples’ money and, rightfully, they expect a return from a diligent and careful approach.

So how do we go about it?

First, we get to know you, your brand, aims, ambitions, Vision, Values and financial expectations in terms of ROI properly. If some of these are unknowns, we’ll work with you to map them out.

Once we know what we’re expected to do and what it is that you’re anticipating in return for your marketing investment, we’ll work together on a tight brief that identifies the key issues and helps everyone at our end – and in your organisation – to focus fully on the task at hand.

We will then apply the planning framework that we have created with you to scaffold every area of the project that we are responsible for.

At LAW Creative planning encompasses all of these areas.

• Brand positioning, Brand/product/sub-brand architecture
• Competitive analysis to find clear blue water if possible
• Analysis of published data to understand target typologies and identify demographic, psychographic and geographic propensities
• Construct meaningful and content-rich research proposals and recommendations to precisely match your selected targeting criteria to your objectives
• Use this research to develop a compelling and competitive proposition for the brand/product/service that delivers a clear understanding and benefit to the target
• Apply all of the above to the development of whatever marketing channel can be best and most cost-effectively applied, from traditional media channels, through to all other customer touch-points with consistency, in a fully integrated manner right through to web site development and construction
• Analyse results in terms of the objectives, be that direct ROI or improved brand comprehension and awareness, or any stop in between
• Work on building customer respect for the brand/product/service, to the point of their advocacy, through the application of sophisticated CRM techniques, (fully woven into our offer as a Digital marketing agency) including the use of Email Campaign software, such as the LAW AMP platform, which you can read about elsewhere on this site
• Building and evolving the Vision and Values that support the brand throughout your organisation to modify staff behaviours to be fully supportive internally: the organisation speaking with one voice
• Track cumulative findings as campaigns or activities roll out, or are refreshed.

And more!

So, what you don’t need is an integrated marketing campaign or a new web-site or a video. What you do need is to know what you need. And that’s exactly what planning helps you to do.