(Photo by Dustin Ginetz)
Experts always advise that you need to create a long-term plan for your business and marketing. Clearly identify the big goal. Develop measurable milestones. Use appropriate tactics. This long-term plan becomes your bible. But is this approach likely to miss something BIG?
Developing long-term plans is a great exercise. It will help you understand what’s important for you and what isn’t. It’ll help highlight the resources you’re likely to need to achieve your goals. But the mistake people make is thinking that the long-term plan is then written in stone. These grand plans cannot account for changing market conditions, new technology, efficiencies in production, and fads.
This problem was first identified in software development, where teams often spend years developing complex software only to find out problems too late. In 2001, a group of people gathered to create the Manifesto for Agile Software Development (which has been since adopted by software testers, marketers, etc.):
“We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to change over following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.”
The Agile manifesto basically says that if you create grand plans and marching forward confidently (without measuring the results as-you-go), you’re likely to become a dinosaur.
For your own marketing efforts, be willing to clearly state and then test your assumptions in smaller chunks. Your plan may be perfect, but you won’t be able to convince anyone else unless you have the data to show why you’re right. For example, before launching a new offering, test market it quickly/cheaply using pay-per-click ads for a short time period. If enough people click-through to find out more (and then request more information), then you know you have interest. Before you spend a lot of money on a fancy website, (split) test the home page.
Don’t become the best buggy whip manufacturer.