creating activity/event/program calendars early in the planning process saves time & highlights potential conflicts & crunches.

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Marketing Essentials:
Integrated Thinking Tools:
THE CALENDAR
November 2020
Professor Steven Litt
@StrategySteven

2. You may delegate or ‘distribute’certain Marketing Plan tasks
but what about the ‘Big Picture’?
- Does the Plan Product availability really coincide with
that latest version of radio airtime media?
- Will Staff/Dealer training be done, before TV ads start?
- Will retail Point-Of-Sale signage be up, to coincide with
the big Price Reduction event?
- Will that sampling event happen soon enough before the
Retail Display event, to ensure Triers become Buyers?
- Will a Regional Promotion, conflict with timing of
National Corporate Social Responsibility event?
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Integrate & Check The Plan

3. You may delegate or ‘distribute’certain Marketing Plan tasks
to coworkers and to agencies, but as Brand Manager, you
are responsible for integrating all the efforts!
Tools To Use:
Meetings! Frequent ‘check-ins’as a team to ensure the
entire plan ‘hangs together’.
Timelines with interim milestone dates, end dates, and they
always indicate who is responsible for each task
Shared documents passed about (given ‘version numbers or
dates’ in the file name to prevent confusion); and
a Calendar!
©2020 Steven Litt . All rights reserved May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a website in a whole or in part.
Integrate & Check The Plan

4. What does building a Calendar early in the Plan process achieve?
• Helps you ‘tally up’ how much resources are being devoted to each
business strategy- eg “60% Continuity and 40% Trial? SHOW ME!”
• Ensures you take into account seasonal activities/conflicts eg
Black-Out periods, etc
• Helps you check if a Plan is spending too unevenly (eg by quarter)
or too ‘rear end loaded’ (ie most of support in 3d or 4th quarter)
• Clarifies if you have included not just sustaining programs but new
thinking eg Test events (& if you will acquire Test results before
NEXT year’s planning begins!)
• Identifies conflicts between regional & national events, or
between account-specific & national events
• Helps you and agency pinpoint potential resource/staff shortages
• Help you to see possible synergies you had previously missed
• Verifies if you have enough coordinated effort or ‘Thud Factor’
behind your key events
• Strengthens/completes overall proposal in Plan approval process
©2020 Steven Litt . All rights reserved May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a website in a whole or in part.
Integrate & Check The Plan

5. So my recommendation to you
How about an example or two?
OK. Review how these two examples do include
• When an event reaches the market, how long it lasts
• should cover all the brand’s product lines or sizes
• should cover Consumer and Trade support of all kinds
including training, sales/staff contests, CSR events, online & offline media, etc
So---- Does it ‘hang together’? Are you putting
enough effort behind the most vital activities?
©2020 Steven Litt . All rights reserved May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a website in a whole or in part.
Integrate & Check The Plan

6. for an FMCG brand w Consumer support (media,web activities& Consumer Promotionby
product line) AND Trade Support (TemporaryPrice Reductions,Displayallowances, etc)
©2020 Steven Litt . All rights reserved May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a website in a whole or in part.
Integrate & Check The Plan

7. ©2020 Steven Litt . All rights reserved May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a website in a whole or in part.
Integrate & Check The Plan
for a service based business that has own staff to motivate, outlets to supply etc – and
that requires both Consumer and Trade Support

8. So my recommendation to you
BUILD A CALENDAR!
Check if your ‘team’ work so far, is integrated enough!
• Does it ‘hang together’?
• Are you putting enough effort behind the
most vital support activities?
©2020 Steven Litt . All rights reserved May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a website in a whole or in part.
Integrate & Check The Plan

9. SOURCES
• StevenLitt, StrategySteven.comaccessed November 24,
2020 strategysteven.com
©2020 Steven Litt . All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a website in a whole or in part.