Whether you’re new to our blog or have been reading it for years, you know (or will soon enough) that we are committed to Marketing Action Planning (MAP). Properly formulated, your MAP will be a step-by-step process document to help guide your short- and long-term plans of work to help accomplish the mission of your organization and achieve whatever metric of success you have defined for your organization. 

We regularly work hand-in-hand with professional service provider clients to develop this resource to help focus, strategize, plan, and confidently shape and evaluate the work we do for them and the marketing work clients do for themselves. But we also have several resources on our website that can help you develop a MAP for your professional services organization on your own. And we have just started offering one-hour MAP development sessions for organizations interested in getting a head start on this process. We will be offering 3 free sessions per month, so click this Calendly link to see if there is a slot open soon for your organization.

DIY Marketing Action Planning development resources: MAP Worksheet / MAP Cheat Sheet / MAP Workbook

When you take a step back to really work out and then commit to following your own Marketing Action Plan, you will start to see progress towards a more cohesive marketing effort. MAPs also provide a way to share with your stakeholders what your brand will be doing in the near future to help drive growth. MAPs often help more clearly define the mission and the tasks of each team member—we've even had clients begin to use some of the (desired) beliefs defined in the MAP in staffing decisions and performance evaluations. (i.e. Are the efforts of this team member going toward achieving the goals agreed to in your MAP?).  

When setting out to develop your Marketing Action Plan, first define what success means for your organization. Most often, we start with the organization's mission statement. Your Marketing Action Plan should be a road map for efforts to fulfill that mission. 

Step 1: List Who

List who the target groups are that will influence your company’s success. 

Examples to consider including on your MAP under the TARGET GROUP:  

Employees; Stakeholders; Current Clients; Board Members 

Note: The prioritized order of these target groups can vary dramatically by your market size and the mission & structure of your organization.

Step 2: Define What

Define what roles each target group must fulfill that will lead to success for your organization (see the success statement referenced above).  

Example ROLES to consider including on your MAP under the TARGET GROUP: Provide exceptional service to clients; refer clients; be actively engaged 

Step 3: Determining Why

Determine the beliefs that each TARGET GROUP must possess in order for them to accomplish the ROLES that will result in your success. BELIEFS become much more specific to the attributes and advantages of your individual organization. So, think about what makes you stand out. Why would clients pick you? 

Step 4: Identify How

Identify the processes that will help effectively communicate the BELIEFS that each TARGET GROUP must possess in order for them to accomplish the ROLES that will result in your success. PROCESSES are the Action Plan portion of your MAP. 

Things to Remember:

There are no wrong answers in Marketing Action Planning. However, each Target, Role, Belief, and Process should be listed in priority order, and some will just not be important enough to be included on the final plan. 

When the Role and Beliefs of two or more Target Groups are the same, they can often be combined into the same Target Group. 

Each element of the prescribed Actions outlined in your MAP should be realistic AND aspirational. That is, they should reflect your organization's current position and desired future position, but these attributes and the defined efforts (the plan of work) should be within the realm of achievability. Remember: Roles, Beliefs, and/or Processes should be tempered by the realities and the budget of your organization. 

It is best to review and update your Marketing Action Plan on an annual basis. 

You can make a MAP for your organization on your own. But it’s also one of the ways we actively help professional service providers reach their goals. If you’re ready to kick off making a plan that will help your organization achieve your future goals, we’d love to help.