[Mannes on Marketing] The Building Blocks for a ‘Super-Focused’ Marketing Plan

During NPMA’s PestWorld convention in Phoenix recently, I had the opportunity to lead a session on building a “super-focused marketing plan” and interact with about 100 pest control companies. The infographic at right was a popular resource and I wanted to share with all of you as you begin building your 2014 super-focused marketing plan.

Infographics have become quite popular as they quickly illustrate a story. This infographic illustrates the foundational elements that should be a part of every plan: your mission, vision and core values, as well as the other elements critical to building a successful plan. Let’s take a moment to review the foundational elements:

Your mission statement is what you do, how you do it and why you do it. Your vision statement is your ultimate business goal and how you will achieve it, and your core values define your company culture and impact your bottom line.

We sometimes overlook these fundamentals to get to the “tactics,” but I would suggest that developing a mission statement, vision statement and core values is not just for “big” companies. When developed and used properly, mission and vision statements are powerful tools for all size businesses. They provide direction, without which it is impossible to build a cohesive plan. They allow you to purse activities that lead your company forward and avoid devoting valuable resources to those that don’t. They are the first critical steps to building a super-focused and successful marketing plan and they will serve as your compass moving forward.

Next Steps. Once you have a defined mission, vision and core values, you are ready to start on the next steps — objectives, strategies and tactics.

Objectives are specific goals that you want to achieve over the next year — they should be aligned with the vision of your company. Some objectives will remain consistent year over year, some will drop off once achieved and be replaced with new ones. Make sure they are measurable and again, specific.

Strategies guide your tactics and should be in line with your mission, vision and core values.

Your tactics are the nitty-gritty. This is what you are going to do day in and day out to reach the objectives – these are more likely to align with your core values.

As entrepreneurs, we can sometimes get distracted with the new tactic or “shiny object” that may steer us in a direction that is counter to our vision, mission and core values. A super-focused plan will help avoid those distractions.

Staying on course takes tenacity with insight to know when to adapt. Your marketing plan is the backbone of what you do each and every day to grow your business. Stay “super focused” and you will meet your goals.

The author is chief marketing and strategy officer for Arrow Exterminators, Atlanta. Contact her via email at cmannes@giemedia.com.