Planning Made Simple(r)

Strategic plan. Marketing plan. Tactical plan. Creative plan. Seems like all we do is plan. And the planning is complex, often filling three-ring binders with hundreds of pages and appendices.

For nearly 19 years TriComB2B has approached its marketing communications planning with the relatively simple but highly effective Six M approach. The Six M's consist of:

• Market
• Message
• Motive
• Media
• Merchandise
• Measurement

Simple…elegant…effective. Oh, and easy, too. Let’s briefly look at each.

Market

Who are the people that will likely purchase your products and services? Demographics, psychographics and other metrics certainly come into play. But we can do better than that. We talk to your customers. We know them.

Motive

What makes people want to buy from you? Quality? Price? Service?

Merchandise

What are the benefits and shortcomings of your offering? Make a brutally frank assessment of what you’re selling both on its own and vis-á-vis the competition. Identify the one or two key benefits of your product or service which make it distinctive and valuable.

Message

This is the true beauty of the Six M’s. Once you’ve addressed the first three M’s, the message writes itself. The message becomes immediately apparent, and it will be effective.

Media

How are you going to deliver the message? If you truly know your customer, and you are one with the customer, this too will be easily determined. But we’re all resource constrained. So don’t restrict your thinking to big media. There are many communications tools available and quite a few cost nothing but your time.

Measurement

If you aim at nothing you’re bound to hit it. Set goals and see how you are doing. Double the media that is working and eliminate those that aren’t. Refine the message if necessary. Sweeten the inducement to buy. Always measure, because advertising is an investment. It’s only an expense if it doesn’t work.

So there they are. The Six M’s. Next time you’re at a meeting to promote a product, jot them down on your notepad. Take each in turn, and you’ll find your thoughts and the meeting will be better focused, more effective and mercifully shorter.