The Lazy Man's Way

I had occasion a couple of days ago to make a presentation to a financial institution about helping them with their marketing. They had been piecemealing their advertising out to various persons and firms and wanted to consolidate it with one company. They also wanted to get more growth from their marketing. The foundation of my presentation was for them to start with a written marketing plan and to work that plan. After several minutes of involving them in a discussion about the importance of a written marketing plan, one of the participants, I assume the head guy, said, "We get it."

His next statement showed that, no, indeed, they did not get it.

"We want to take the lazy man's way," he continued. "We want someone else to handle all this for us."

While I am all for delegating parts of your marketing to others who are experts in the field, you cannot have someone else create your marketing plan for you. That's like asking someone else to dream your dream for you. To have an effective marketing plan, you must be involved in creating that plan. You must help in forming the objectives. You must help in targeting your market. You must help in deciding your message. These decisions require your input. No one else can know these for your business.

If you are not willing to participate in creating your marketing plan, you will never be happy with the results of that plan.

Why?

That plan is not your plan. It is not accomplishing what you want to accomplish. It is not saying what you want said. It is not reaching who you want to reach. It can't because you weren't a part of creating the plan.

While creating a marketing plan may seem a daunting task because you just don't know how to do it, you cannot shirk involvement and hope to get anything close to what you want. In fact, that is the problem. You don't know what you want, and, if you don't know what you want, you certainly won't get it.

I know this from experience. I've seen marketing plans slipped into drawers and never used because the owner of the business did not "buy into" the plan. He or she was not involved in creating it. Consequently, the plan's implementation was not relevant to him or her. Involvement gives you ownership. You get out of your marketing in direct proportion to what you put into it.

The lazy man's way to creating a marketing plan is a waste of time.