08 Oct Why Sticking to the Plan Matters

We hear from many C-level execs and marketing professionals that competing priorities can be one of their top frustrations. What seems important one quarter might be lower on the list of priorities in the next quarter because a new idea, program, product, or service comes up. That can leave many PR and marketing plans in the throes of constantly changing, shifting, and morphing. While PR and marketing must be flexible, it also must be strategically planned and implemented.

When a plan changes too frequently or without being seen through to fruition, it can be very difficult to measure the true impact of the efforts. The plan gets diluted from the changes and never maximized to its full potential.

That’s why we say ‘sticking to the plan matters.’

Here are a few ways to help make sure your plan sticks, with flexibility of course, but that the plan has the opportunity for meaningful results.

1. Develop a road map. We have discussed how to create a road map in previous blogs, but here’s where we discuss the importance of the road map for seeing a plan through. If something is written down in a road map, it will be more difficult to veer off course. Sure, there may be competing interests that come along, but referring back to a road map will help ensure that the main goals are kept intact.
2. Have regular meetings. We know, we know, you might be saying ‘another meeting?!’ But the purpose of meeting regularly is to help keep to the plan. We meet with our clients bi-weekly, to give a good idea of the cadence of meeting. Make sure marketing and PR get the attention deserved.
3. Brainstorming is good. Planning is better. We have been in countless meetings where leadership will introduce a completely new and unheard-of idea to the table. As the masterminds talk excitedly about the potential, we see marketing being thrown in every direction to meet the new idea discussed. Brainstorming is a wonderful thing! We live and breathe at our agency from the amazing ideas from brainstorming. However, we just make sure we don’t ‘chase the rabbit’ down too many holes. We collect and gather all ideas and then develop a strategy to see the idea to fruition. We can then see in the planning process what obstacles will come up before investing a great deal of time and energy into the new idea. From there, we can determine if the new concept fits the overall road map goal or if it’s just simply a cool idea but more of a distraction.

 We can’t emphasize enough that through leadership changes, priority shifts, or economic turns, how important it is to stick to a plan.

Have questions about setting up a plan for your organization? Give us a call at (813) 865-3093.