ONE-PAGE MARKETING PLAN

Reilly read one of those rare books during the week that he wished he’d written himself.

Basically, it is simply the fastest, easiest, and most scientific way of increasing sales, growing a business and making an impact.

The book is called ‘The 1-Page Marketing Plan’ and written by a no ‘BS’ Australian businessman called Alan Dibb.

He was bringing his son Harry by car to Rosnowlagh on Thursday and was waxing lyrical about the power of this book.

‘It’s all in the title Harry.’

ONE-PAGE MARKETING PLAN.

Basic ‘Three words. Three essential components of a thriving business.’

‘What’s the big deal? says Harry. ‘It all sounds pretty simple to me.’

Markedly, ‘That’s what makes it such a ‘thing of great beauty as Magann would say. It’s the essence of simplicity.’

PROFESSIONALS FOLLOW PLANS.

‘Let’s begin with the three words Harry. Pro’s follow plans. Would you even countenance building a house without an architect’s plan and or undergoing surgery without a treatment plan? Or going on an airplane flight without a flight plan?

‘And yet, 8 out of 10 small businesses have no business plan. Indeed, that’s a recipe for business disaster. Plans provide direction, focus, motivation, and a way of tracking your progress.

THE RIGHT KIND OF PLAN.

‘Sure Reilly, I can understand having a business plan, but why a marketing plan?

‘Great question Harry,’ says Reilly.

‘Remember old Wilfredo Pareto. Pareto coined the term ‘The Pareto Principle or ‘The 80:20 Rule.’ Basically, it posited that.

• 20% of your customers generate 80% of the sales.
• 20% of your products/services generate 80% of the profits.
• 20% of your team generates 80% of the performance.
• 20% of the team gives you 80% of the aggro.

In other words, the Pareto Principle predicts that 20% of the causes generate 80% of the outcomes.

Dibb summarises it elegantly. ‘In my observation of and work with numerous business owners around the world, there’s one thing that differentiates the wildly successful and wealthy ones from the struggling and broke.

‘Struggling business owners will spend time to save money, whereas successful business owners will spend money to save time. Why is that an important distinction? Because you can always get more money, but you can never get more time. Therefore, you need to ensure the stuff you spend your time on makes the biggest impact.

‘This is called leverage and leverage is the best-kept secret of the rich.’

These big impacting, leveraged activities are the things that make up the key 20% of the 80 /20 rule. If you want more success, you need to start paying attention to and expanding the things that give you the most leverage.

‘And what do you think gives you the most leverage in business Harry?

By far, the biggest influence point in any business is marketing. Certainly, it’s the 20% of the business plan that generates 80% of the results. Furthermore, if you get 20% better at marketing, this can have an exponential or multiplying effect on your bottom line.

Thus, if you’re time-poor, and are driven to succeed, the best use of your business time is to create a marketing plan.

WHY, THEREFORE, IF PLANNING IS SO IMPORTANT, DO BUSINESS PEOPLE AVOID IT?

The single biggest reason that business people eschew marketing planning, or any other sort of planning for that matter, is that the process is too complex, too complicated, and too curmudgeonly.

That’s why the ONE-PAGE MARKETING PLAN is a thing of such beauty. It’s fast and easy and exciting to do and your brain is hardwired to love single images or pictures.

WHAT ARE THE COMPONENTS OF A GREAT MARKETING PLAN?

Like no two fishermen will agree on the ideal rod, no two marketers will agree on the exact marketing mix. Having helped hundreds of business people increase sales, grow their business, and make an impact over the years Reilly has distilled the essence of a great marketing plan into ‘6 Ms.’

• MINDSET.

Great marketers are passionate, innovative, and scientific about their marketing. They see and believe that they excel at marketing. The best way to develop your marketing mindset is to ask yourself what are the people that impress you at excelling at marketing and what are their beliefs. As Thomas Watson, founder of IBM, once said ‘nothing happens until a sale is made.’ Now there was one person’s mindset and belief!

• MARKET.

Professor Jim Ward, who pioneered the development of practical marketing as a subject in the west of Ireland, devoted most of his marketing input to the topic of market research.

Reilly learned 5 simple market research points from him that have informed his thinking for over 35 years.

– What are the pain points can we solve for our prospective customers?
– What segments of customers exist for those solutions?
– Identify the size and value of each segment.
– Know the reasons they avail/buy our product or service.
– Learn an individual strategy we will apply for each customer segment.

• MESSAGES.

What messages are you portraying? Do they pass the grunt test? Ie would a caveman looking at your website know what you do and how to buy it from you? And if you’re looking for an outstanding example of marketing messaging simply go to https://www.citybin.com/ and study it as a case study in marketing. Gene Brown, CEO, and founder of the business is a former student of Jim Ward and reads The Life O’Reilly weekly. And if you sign up as a customer of citybin you’ll not be disappointed.

• MONETISATION.

Three simple points.

How many leads are you generating each week and how can you increase that?

Know how many of those leads are you converting and determine ways that you can improve that?

Identify means that you can increase the average value of each transaction.

• MAINTENANCE.

The purpose of business is still simply to get and keep customers. And that’s what maintenance is all about. What’s your plan for retaining customers?

• MARKETING ACTION PLAN. (MAP)

Know the actions you take quarterly, monthly, and daily to increase your sales, grow your business and make an impact. How will you take accountability for this?

I LOVE IT WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER.

When Reilly watched TV one of his favorite programs was The A-Team. Typically the plot unfolded as follows.

• Bad guys harass and threaten innocent people or groups.
• Poor people beg the A-Team for help.
• The A-Team fight, humiliate and drive away the baddies.
• Episodes would invariably end with Hannibal (the brains of the A-Team) chomping down on his cigar and triumphantly mumbling, ‘I love it when a plan comes together.’

HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN ONE-PAGE MARKETING PLAN?

If you’re interested in creating a ONE-PAGE MARKETING PLAN Reilly is presenting a webinar for Sligo LEO on September 27. Check it out on https://www.localenterprise.ie/Sligo/. In addition, Smácht Mor will be held in Donegal on September 29th and 30th. If you want to really ‘love it when a plan comes together’ join us at Smácht Mor in Donegal on September 29th and 30th to nail your marketing plan.

QUOTE.

‘Doing business without marketing is like winking at an attractive time person in a darkened room. You know what you’re doing but no one else does.’

QUESTIONS.

1. Do you have a plan for your business?
2. If so, have you a marketing plan?
3. Is it contained on one page?
4. Could you use some help? Therefore, in such a case, reply to Reilly by email.

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