The challenges of creating a B2B marketing plan

- The average monthly global search on Google for the term "marketing plan" is about 140,000. for the term "marketing plan" is about 140,000. This hefty search value suggests that marketers are constantly looking for templates, tips and tricks on how to create a solid plan with ease. All of that tackles the 'how' of drafting a plan. Honestly, addressing 'how' is easy. Honestly, addressing 'how' is easy. The challenge is to figure out why and what. The challenge is to figure out why and what. Why are you creating a plan? What are you going to do with your plan? So let's start with why. The why will help you determine the scope of your plan. Do you want a plan to support the biggest launch in your company? Do you create a plan to rally all marketing peers, teams and the partners for an upcoming global campaign? Do you create a holistic annual plan to get the budget and a headcount approved? So here's my number one tip. Write on your objectives as clearly as possible so that everyone knows why you are creating your plan. For example, the main objective of this marketing plan is to achieve a $32 million revenue goal is to achieve a $32 million revenue goal through sales enablement and targeted marketing outreach. Clearly defining why will minimize confusion for you and your stakeholders. It will also help you choose the templates that you want to use to create your presentation. Next is what. Defining your what is where planning for the plan comes in. Defining your what is where planning for the plan comes in. What will you do to determine the table of contents and the flow of your presentation? In this case, think of your plan as a Q&A. In this case, think of your plan as a Q&A. What questions do your internal stakeholders want answers to? What recommendation do you want to make based on the company's strategic directions and the business goals. For example, say, you need to present an account based marketing plan to the VP of sales and CMO. What is the list of questions that VP of sales and the CMO may have? VP of sales may care about your marketing tactics and the content support you'll provide to sales. The CMO may care about how you want to measure your success. Can you quantify your contribution to sales so that's easy for them to showcase the results? And what other questions can you think of that your audience might want you to address? Write them down. Write them down. You can break down the content into smaller pieces through the questions you want to address. It would make your plan easier to manage. Oh, one more note. I want to make it very clear. Answering question in your plan doesn't mean turning your plan into a Q&A slides. You still need to structure and flow your information logically like a storyboard which we will discuss more in later videos. which we will discuss more in later videos. So let's put this into practice. If you are in the middle of creating a plan, take five minutes to write down your objectives and the list of the questions that you need to address.