Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

I got a cold call the other day - a man looking for a marketing company. His first question, “How much do you charge for a marketing plan?”

Well, sorry, but no reputable, responsible marketer will quote a price for a plan without more discussion, a discussion for which - sorry, again - we’ll charge…there’s value in them thar brain cells. (Also - except for a limited number of “Ask Mary” clients and entrepreneur sanity checks - I normally only work on retainer.)

You may not even be ready for a “marketing plan” First, we need to talk about:

1. What kind of business do you have? (or are planning)
2. What do you want to achieve? (revenues, growth, etc.)
3. What have you done/not done already about “marketing?” (I also ask people their definition of marketing. If they start talking about advertising, I know we’ve got some initial clean-up work to do before we can get to a good discussion.)
4. What’s your budget for marketing? Do you even have a budget?
5. Why would people choose you over others?

Depending on the idea, business and industry, I then go into a lot more questions - on everything from product development to staff capabilities. Because - really - everything you do is marketing.

A good marketing plan can be on a stickie note, if you do some hard thinking before scribbling…and look at the stickie every day.

I recommended the caller start with an “entrepreneur sanity check” where we’d talk about all this and I’d give him some recommendations he could use even if we didn’t do anything else. He asked the price. I told him. “Uh, Thank You.” Dial tone.

There is no such thing as a pre-canned, one-size-fits-all plan. And, the simpler it looks, the more thinking (should have) has gone into it. (See above re that stickie note.)

Read More:

Entrepreneur Sanity Checklist 15 of the questions I ask in my entrepreneur sanity check consultations. Everybody and every idea is different, but the basics remain the same. (one-page PDF download)

One-Hour Business Plan A one-page PDF download with a quick exercise to help you focus, before writing your “real” plan. Some stickie notes, one brain, one pencil is all you need. (Note: Be wary of so-called free business plan help. Advice from a retired, successful serial entrepreneur, good…from newbie MBA students, not so good.)

My colleague, Mary Ellen Merrigan’s recommended marketing tune-up (’fess up. When was the last time you looked at your own brochure?)

Tags: marketing, marketing troubleshooting, marketing planning, marketing plans, entrepreneur sanity check