First question: When is the best time to write an annual marketing plan?
It is appropriate to start writing in the middle of G3 quarter of the marketing year, and finalize the annual plan by mid-G4, which takes about three months. The process includes draft, discussion, defense, decomposition, and promotion, and it is better to complete it by mid-Q4 for good continuity.
During the planning period, several meetings are recommended:
First meeting: Kickoff meeting. Determine three things: the marketing policy and strategic goals for the next year; the list of writers and their division of work; and the calendar for the planning period.
Second meeting: Argumentation meeting. After department managers have completed their drafts, this meeting is held to discuss cross-departmental coordination. The biggest risk is that departments work in silos, ignoring whether others can support them. For example, the sales department plans to ship 100,000 pairs per day with an error rate below 0.01%, but that is not solely within their control; it requires production or supply chain support. Similarly, the marketing department plans to send 100,000 EDM issues of the brand's internal magazine, but that requires enough subscribers, which depends on sales and IT. So this meeting focuses on reviewing each other's plans, checking feasibility, and deciding whether the planning department should adjust or the supporting department should adapt. After this meeting, the director can compile the company's annual marketing plan.
Third meeting: Defense meeting. After the director compiles the annual plan and submits it to the company, if the general manager approves in principle, a defense meeting is held. Senior management raises questions, and the marketing director leads the marketing management team to answer.
Fourth meeting: Promotion kickoff meeting. After the annual plan passes the defense, specific implementation measures, calendars, and schedules are developed. This is the most complex and time-consuming part. After that, the plan must be promoted to the entire marketing department, reaching every individual, and the promotion lasts a long time. Starting promotion means the countdown to execution begins. Therefore, before promotion, a kickoff meeting is held to determine three things: who is responsible for promotion (forming a promotion team); the methods and standards for verifying promotion effectiveness; and the promotion calendar and schedule.
Second question: Who is responsible for the annual marketing plan?
As mentioned, the marketing director and middle-level managers in the marketing department jointly write it. Some managers may not be good at writing, but writing a plan does not require many words. The key is to have ideas in mind, then speak them out, record with a phone, and have someone with decent writing skills turn the recording into an article. Then review and revise as needed. That works too.
If everyone feels they are poor at writing and cannot speak to a recorder, they can record meetings and have someone transcribe the recordings into documents.
For marketing managers, writing and not writing an annual marketing plan are completely different. Not writing means the strategy may stay in a leader's mind. How can it be implemented across the organization and ensure everyone is aligned? Even with a detailed plan, success is not guaranteed; without one, nothing can be expected.
Therefore, I suggest that bosses should make writing the annual plan a basic competency assessment for marketing management. If they refuse to write, they should step aside.
Third question: What should the annual marketing plan include?
I have seen many annual marketing plans that mostly summarize the current year, with only a few lines at the end about next year's targets, KPIs, and tasks. Such plans are meaningless for the coming year. Why do I advocate writing next year's plan before G3 ends and G4 begins? One reason is that at that time, you cannot write an annual summary report. If you write at the end of G4, there is a 90% chance it becomes another annual summary.
Should you write an annual summary? Yes, but it is the marketing director's own task. After G4 ends, the director writes an annual summary as part of the performance report.
The annual marketing plan must follow these rules:
- It must not contain a summary of the current year; instead, it should include a review and inheritance of the current year. Summaries are usually data-driven and result-oriented, while reviews and inheritance are execution-oriented and process/object-oriented.
- It must not contain deployments that deviate from the long-term plan; instead, it should include strategies to respond to future changes.
- Every plan must have matching execution actions, processes, timelines, and cash flow changes. Only then can the plan be executable and dynamically tracked. Otherwise, after making the plan, people will do what they did before, and the plan has no value.
The annual marketing plan should be analyzed along three axes:
- First axis: Marketing tools and methods for next year. This is the top priority. For example, Zhida Shoe Materials' highest-level marketing tool in 2013 was the internal brand magazine "Xing Tian Xia." How to create it? Who is responsible? How to use it? From creation to application, from application to benefits, and from benefits to proficiency, it takes a long process.
Some marketers confuse marketing tools with marketing methods. Let me explain: Everyone writes a "Work Log" daily; the log is a management tool. We insist on sending a daily email to customers; the "email" is a marketing tool, and "sending one per day" is a marketing method. So, marketing tools are things used, while marketing methods are ways of using them.
Second axis: Customer-market axis. For existing customers, do classification and case analysis. For potential customers, do market analysis and strategy analysis.
Third axis: Performance-cash flow axis. Many marketers focus on performance but neglect cash flow. They think cash flow is just about chasing payments, but it is not entirely the same. For example, both scenarios have a profit of 1 million yuan, but one has a maximum negative cash flow of 1 million, and the other has 2 million. The difference matters: the former uses 1 million to earn 1 million, while the latter uses 2 million to earn 1 million. The latter's capital efficiency is half of the former's!
Fourth question: Why is a defense meeting necessary for the annual marketing plan?
There are two main values:
Support from finance and supply departments. During the defense, these departments participate. As questioners, they are different from being questioned. The company naturally wants higher performance, but supply and finance are often blamed by marketing for holding back. If you question them, it only worsens conflicts. Letting them question is to encourage them to cooperate proactively.
Team ownership. When the marketing team defends the plan, they feel it is a team effort, not just the director's. If they think the director makes the plan and they just execute, it will be difficult to achieve even 30% of the plan.
Fifth question: Who is responsible for promoting the annual marketing plan?
There are two ways. The first is that those who wrote the plan are responsible for promotion, as they understand it thoroughly. However, if conditions permit, I suggest the marketing HR department handle promotion. The HR department, during the decomposition phase, extracts performance appraisal items closely related to the plan's execution. When they promote, employees feel it directly affects their income, making it more effective.
Promotion is a crucial step, even more important than writing the plan. The hardest part is not the content but how to do it. Therefore, before promotion, the plan must be broken down layer by layer into specific actions.
Sixth question: How to decompose the annual marketing plan?
In the past, I often saw decomposition by time and people. For example, next year's target is 100 million yuan. There are five regional managers: East China 30 million, North China 30 million, South China 30 million, Central China 20 million, and West China 20 million, totaling 130 million, 30% above the company's target. If one regional manager fails, the company's target is still met. Then each region's target is broken down to provincial managers, then to district managers, then to city managers, each adding 20-30%. By the city manager level, the total might be more than double the original 100 million.
After assigning to people, time decomposition follows. For example, January 5%, February 11%, March 30%. This kind of top-down decomposition is foolish and causes resentment.
Performance decomposition can be done in three levels:
First level: Customer decomposition. Which customers will contribute to the performance? Try to sign annual contracts to confirm the targets, as verbal promises are unreliable. Annual contracts also define service standards and requirements, giving both sides clarity.
Second level: Sales funnel decomposition. For example, "17 samples sent, 1 success; 3 successes bring 1,000 pairs of orders." This is a simple sales funnel. Reverse-engineering the funnel turns it into daily work indicators.
Third level: Product-market matching decomposition. Which products to add, what is the market demand, and how much industry share can they bring?
After these three levels of decomposition, everyone can see how to achieve the performance, where to focus, and how to implement it.
At year-end, companies are about to do annual summaries and annual marketing plans.
Top-level design of annual marketing: Step 1
This article is reprinted from Cui Zisan. If there is any offense, please contact the editor.
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