I'm back to update my blog after a long hiatus. I guess nothing really moved me to make a blog entry ... until last week. I received a notice from a public agency that they had completed a long overdue strategic plan. In case you haven't noticed, there's a recession raging out there - and I thought every organization, including government agencies, would be motivated to get a move on. Well, I thought, at least it was done. Then I read it. Not a lot of depth, but directionally right on. Short term: need to react to the economic crisis with hard hitting marketing programs. Longer term: get back to more traditional branding and positioning. Sounds right.
Except that on the very same day I got the plan, I saw some of the marketing programs that the plan ostensibly is driving. My reaction: huh? It's like nobody read the plan. No hard hitting offers or message. More fluff than a Northeastern snowstorm.
I guess no one figured out that there's supposed to be a connection between what's in a plan ... and what hits the streets. At the end of the day, marketing will be judged on the effectiveness of programs, not the elegance of plans.
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1 comment:
Welcome back, Frank!
As I tell people in my marketing workshops, the purpose of planning is to create action, not just as plan ... One can only hope the plan includes some element of monitoring or maintenance that will draw people back to the plan to check on their progress in implementation; otherwise, what a waste.
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