144: The Elements of a Great Marketing Plan

It's episode 144, and we're diving into the heart of our "AEC Annual Planning Empowerment" series with a focus on creating an impactful marketing plan for your AEC firm. 🏗️📈

 In this episode, I unpack the essentials of a marketing plan, linking it with your BD (Business Development) strategy to fuel revenue growth. Remember, a marketing plan isn't just a set of tactics; it's your roadmap to market dominance. 🗺️🚀

🔍 We'll explore:

• The definition and purpose of a marketing plan.
• Aligning marketing with BD strategies for a laser-focused approach. 🎯
• Key elements of an effective marketing plan, from SWOT analysis to actionable goals. 📊

Plus, I'll share an example of how to tailor your strategy for specific markets, like targeting higher ed clients in Florida.

Want a hands-on guide to craft your BD plan? Check out the Business Development Planning Mini-Workshop at marketerstakeflight.com/BDPlan. 🏢

📈 And don't miss out on our freebie - a comprehensive Marketing Plan Outline! Grab yours at marketerstakeflight.com/144. 🎁

🔔 Subscribe for more insightful episodes on sales goals, marketing strategies, and personal performance tips.

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

• New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
• Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
• Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
• Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey there, I'm Lindsay Diven and I'm passionate
about everything marketing,productivity and career growth.
With over 17 years ofexperience in the architecture,
engineering and constructionindustry, I know firsthand the
ins and outs of this excitingfield, from my early days as a
marketing coordinator tobecoming an award-winning

(00:23):
marketing professional.
In firm principle, I've learnedthe ropes through countless
late nights and challengingdeadlines.
Now I'm thrilled to bring youthe AEC Marketing Strategies
Podcast.
Here I'll be sharing simple yetpowerful, step-by-step
marketing strategies that youcan implement to achieve the

(00:44):
same level of success.
Consider me your go-tomarketing mentor, someone who
truly gets the unique challengesyou face in the AEC industry.
Whether you're an AEC MarketingPro or industry newbie, this
podcast is your personal coffeedate with your marketing bestie.
Together, we'll navigate theever-changing landscape of

(01:06):
online marketing and digitaltrends, ensuring you stay ahead
of the curve.
If you're ready to unlock themarketing secrets they never
taught you in college and tailorthem specifically to the AEC
industry, then you're in theright place.
Now let's get started.
Well, hey there, marketers,welcome back, and we are

(01:28):
continuing our planning seriestoday by talking about marketing
plans, specifically theelements that make up a great
marketing plan for your AEC firm.
And, as a reminder, thisplanning series includes podcast
episodes, freebies and manyworkshops to help you prepare

(01:50):
your business development andmarketing plans.
This series kicked off theelements of a great business
development plan.
You can find all of these, allof the series episodes, as well
as today's freebie, a marketingplan outline over on the show
notes page over atmarketerstakeflightcom forward

(02:10):
slash 2222.
And if you're really ready todive deep into business
development planning andfacilitate this process at your
firm, you can sign up for mybusiness development planning
mini workshop.
In this mini workshop, I teachyou my proven approach to
writing a business developmentplan, including how to develop

(02:30):
the right mix of strategy,meetings and research to get the
plan done, and then I walk youthrough how to execute the plan
so it doesn't just get writtenand sit on the shelf.
You'll walk away with theknowledge and tools and
templates to lead the businessdevelopment planning for your
firm.
Best of all, it's online and ondemand so you can access it at

(02:52):
the right time for you.
So learn more about this miniworkshop and register for it
over at marketerstakeflightcomforward slash BD plan.
Okay, so let's dive into today'stopic.
Today I'm going to be talkingabout what a marketing plan is,
the elements that make up agreat marketing plan and how to

(03:13):
use your BD strategy to developmarketing str strategies that
drive revenue growth.
Sound exciting, doesn't it?
So let's first start by talkingabout what exactly is a
marketing plan.
A marketing plan serves as yourroadmap to introducing your
firm and or positioning yourfirm's specific services or

(03:35):
expertise to your current andpotential clients.
Really, you just want them toknow about you, you want them to
be warm, they know you in acertain way and for certain
services, to make it easier foryour sales team to go in there
and get the sale.
Furthermore, the marketing planoutlines your firm's specific

(03:56):
marketing strategy.
It includes concrete actions tobe taken, along with
anticipated results, and themarketing plan serves as a guide
for your firm to execute andmeasure the marketing efforts
results over a specific periodof time.
In the case for today's episode, we're talking about an annual

(04:17):
marketing plan, so over a timeof a year, and so this is really
important.
We can't just say we're goingto do all these strategies.
We want to link it to results.
We want to say here's ourdesired results from this.
That way we can measure ourresults against something.
And if you recall from episodenumber 20,.

(04:39):
The business development planprovides guidance to your firm
on what services, clients andprojects you'll be pursuing for
the year, and so the marketingplan then outlines your
marketing strategy to you knowin relation to the BD plan.
And so the marketing strategyshould be based on your BD

(04:59):
strategies, because we want,like a lot, if not a majority,
of our marketing efforts,tactics, resources, budgets to
be focused on revenue growthexcuse me, to be focused on
revenue growth, and the best wayto do this is to make sure that
we are deploying thosemarketing strategies that are
aligned with our businessdevelopment growth strategies.

(05:22):
So that is why I started withthe BD plan, and today we're
talking about the marketing plan.
So how do you use your BDstrategy to direct your
marketing plan?
First, let me tell you what isnot a marketing strategy.
A marketing strategy is notjust a blog post or a golf
tournament.

(05:42):
Those are tactics that you useto execute your strategy.
If you don't have a largerstrategy to guide you, you'll
just be guessing at whatmarketing tactics you should do
and, worse, you may not evenknow what marketing tactic is
working.
So the first step in using yourBD strategy or your BD plan to

(06:05):
guide your marketing plan is toidentify your ideal clients and
potential clients.
And if you've written your BDplan for your firm, this is easy
because you've most likelyidentified a list of those
current and ideal clients inthat plan.
And it's even better in thatplan if you've also have a list
of targeted pursuits.

(06:25):
So if you haven't listened tothat episode, number 20, even if
you're not involved in BD, goand listen to episode 20 so you
know what I'm talking about.
So, once you have your BD plan,you can take the list of
targeted clients and pursuitsand identify their industries,
markets and key issues, becauseyou'll have some of that

(06:48):
research from BD and the listfrom the BD plan and you, as the
marketing team, can conductyour own research on what the
current perception of your firmis in those markets and
industries and with thoseclients and identify the gaps in
your current brand awarenessand where you need to help
position your firm for thoseprojects in those specific

(07:12):
industries, markets, key clients.
And knowing all this then willhelp you develop your marketing
strategies, your messaging andthe places you will need to
broadcast your marketingmessages.
You can start to formulate thehigh level marketing strategies
with measurable objectives andgoals and better yet.

(07:35):
These objective and goals aligndirectly with the sales goals
from your BD plan.
So let me give you an exampleso you understand a little
clearer.
If one of your BD growthstrategies includes identifying
and winning two key projects forhigher ed, then part of your

(07:55):
marketing strategy should answerthe questions of how well known
is our firm with those keyhigher ed clients, what types of
marketing materials andmessages do we want to get in
front of those key clients, etcetera, et cetera.
Furthermore, if those targetedhigher ed clients are in Florida

(08:16):
, you could start by asking havewe done work for Florida higher
ed clients before?
What's our firm's brandawareness in Florida?
What's the perception of ourfirm, et cetera, et cetera.
And then, based on thatinformation, your marketing
strategy would be very different.
For example, let's say, ifyou're very well known but not

(08:39):
known to those two universitiesyou're targeting, maybe you can
focus on a referral campaignfrom other Florida universities
or do some kind of campaignhighlighting work done at other
Florida universities.
On the other hand, if you'rebrand new to Florida and have no
relationships, your focus wouldbe on a brand awareness

(09:01):
campaign Continuing.
If you have a content marketingplan or content marketing as
part of your you know strategies, you may create some thought
leadership pieces aroundspecific topics of high interest
to those specific higher-edclients.
You see how this makes this alittle bit easier to narrow down

(09:25):
what marketing strategies tofocus on.
Knowing that your BD plan hasthat objective of getting two
new higher-ed projects fromclients in Florida, you can work
with those business developersto develop marketing strategies
that focus on that specificobjective, because this effort
also helps them meet their goals.

(09:47):
You might find yourself withbetter participation and
encouragement from your internalpartners and once you know your
high-level marketing strategies, then you can start
brainstorming tactics, andtactics allow you to fill in the
gaps to meet the clients wherethey are.
If your ideal client findsexpertise by searching the web,

(10:08):
which we know a lot of folks doright now at least looking you
up when you reach out to them,you may need to create, or you
may want to create, a landingpage that highlights your
specific expertise and somethought leadership content.
You might also have sometestimonials from other similar
clients on this page or on yourwebsite.

(10:32):
These tactics will align withthat larger strategy that is
driven from your BD plan andaligns with your BD plan Going
back to our Florida Higher-Edexample, because that's a BD
focus.
You focus these marketingtactics around those first.
It really helps you and yourmarketing team prioritize your

(10:55):
efforts, your tactics, theactivities you're actually going
to be working on, especiallysince in our AEC firms we are
often a very small team withlimited resources and budgets
when it comes to marketing, andI know a lot of our firms were
splitting our marketing timewith proposal time.
So, if you can, the morefocused and targeted you can be,

(11:16):
the easier it's going to be tohave success.
So you'll continue to buildthis plan around all of your
business development objectives,or at least the top priority
ones.
Again, this comes to time andresources and then eventually
this all comes together tobecome your marketing plan.

(11:47):
Okay, so let's talk about theelements of a great marketing
plan.
This might help to make moresense to you, and before I
introduce those elements, let mepause and note that even if you
are a single marketingdepartment of one, it is
imperative that you develop somekind of marketing plan to
support the brand awareness andmarket positioning for your firm

(12:09):
.
It may not be as robust ifcompared to those firms that
have a whole marketingdepartment, but you need to at
least have some language writtendown.
You might outsource many partsof your marketing functions,
like communications, pr, socialmedia etc.
But you will still need anoverall strategy to convey to

(12:33):
your consultants that yououtsource the work to.
Okay.
So off my soapbox, so let's getto the marketing plan elements.
So the marketing plan elements.
I'm going to go quickly throughthem and then go into each in a
little bit more detail.
So the marketing plan elementsinclude number one, executive

(12:53):
summary, and that includes ahigh overview of goals and
objectives.
Number two, historical overview.
Number three, marketing summaryand analysis, including your
SWAT analysis.
Four, objectives, both shortand long term.
Five, your action plan or yourmarketing mix.
Six the next couple sectionsare optional, depending on the

(13:16):
size of your team in yourdepartment.
Number six is training andprofessional development.
Seven is organizationalinvolvement.
Number eight is marketingbudget.
Number nine, departmentorganization and
responsibilities.
And last, reporting.
I know I went through thatreally quick, so let me go into

(13:38):
more, go into each section in alittle bit more detail and again
, you can get this template overat the show notes page.
So marketerstakeflightcomforward slash 22.
Okay, so, section number one,the executive summary.
Again, this should be completedlast and it summarizes the

(13:58):
other sections of your plan.
It really helps your executiveteam and implementing team
members quickly understand andsupport the plan.
Section two, historicaloverview, and this includes
performance and historicaltrends, and this includes a
summary of achievementsaccomplished in the current year
.
This include can include anymarketing objectives achieved,

(14:22):
baseline statistics for yourcurrent marketing efforts, like
web views, downloads, growth,etc.
The next section is marketsummary and analysis.
So here you want to answer thequestion what's your firm's
position in the marketmarketplace?
What's your firm's overallgrowth strategy?
So, is it geographic?

(14:42):
Is it market growth, organic,inorganic?
If you have a long termstrategic plan, what year are
you in and how does this annualmarketing plan support that long
term plan?
And then also part of this isthe SWAT analysis, and this is
somewhat similar to the SWAT andyour BD plan, but may also

(15:02):
include other strengths andweaknesses of your specific
marketing program.
So here you know.
Just a reminder for those ofyou who don't know what a SWAT
analysis is it's your strengths,weaknesses, opportunities and
threats.
And your strengths arecompetitive advantages or core
competencies that give yourorganization advantage.

(15:24):
Weaknesses are the limitationsthat a firm has in developing or
implementing a marketingstrategy.
And then opportunities arefavorable conditions in the
marketplace that could yieldrewards for your firm, and
threats or conditions orbarriers that may prevent your
firm from reaching its goals.
So during the development ofthe marketing plan, you know you

(15:47):
, or marketers, attempt to matchthe internal strengths to
external weaknesses, orsometimes you may want to try to
convert internal weaknessesinto strengths and external
threats into opportunities.
So this is where some of thecreativity starts to happen.
I really liked putting thatSWAT into action, because those

(16:09):
are really interestingbrainstorming sessions.
Okay, so the next section areobjectives, and this includes
your short term, short termgoals, the goals for the current
year, and it can include goalsthat cover business development,
communications or PR, knowledgemanagement, new technologies,
etc.

(16:29):
You should list here any firmwide initiatives related to
marketing your firm.
This can include new branding,website, anniversary campaigns,
acquisitions or mergers, etc.
And then you have the long termgoals, and these are typically
the goals for the next one tothree years or whatever your
strategic plan horizon is.

(16:50):
And so how will your firm looklike?
What kind of new clients orproject types will you be
pursuing?
What kind of research do youneed to be doing now to help
position your firm for thefuture.
So sometimes in the marketingplan, the long term goals that
are in the BD plans you'restarting to work on because you

(17:13):
need to start your brandpositioning in those markets a
couple of years ahead of when wewant the sales.
And also as part of thisplanning series, I'm going to be
doing a few episodes on goalsetting.
I can't say it, but I'm goingto talk about it Goal setting
for sales, for marketing and foryour own personal performance

(17:34):
goals.
So make sure you're subscribedto this podcast so you don't
miss an episode.
Okay, so the next section in themarketing plan is the action
plan or the marketing mix, andthe marketing next section
should provide considerabledetail regarding various
marketing and BD activities.
There should be a plan ofaction for each short term goal

(17:56):
listed in the previous section,and this section should detail
any, should detail each activityor marketing mix.
This could also be your tactics, and so you'll list them.
Who will be leading anestimated budget and desired
outcome or goal for those andthat's the important part that I
don't see a lot of marketers dois say, okay, well, we're going

(18:18):
to do this, you know campaign,you know this Florida higher ed
campaign will, but we don't putan objective or goal to it.
The goal is just to do it.
It's not well, how many morewebsite impressions do we want
or improve our?
You know we're going to createa landing page and we're going
to increase the traffic, orwe're going to have more email

(18:40):
signups or we're going to getinvited somewhere, you know.
So you need to have some goalsrelated to each of the items in
your action plan Desired goal oroutcome.
And then the next section istraining and professional
development, and this is anoptional section.
I used to include this sectionin my marketing plans because I

(19:04):
had to get my department budgetapproved and training for my
employees was part of thatbudget, and I also oversaw the
seller do our training and hadthat as part of my budget as
well.
So thus I included it in mymarketing plan.
So that was included.
So I created a section in mymarketing plan called training
and professional developmentbecause of that, and in this

(19:25):
section I listed any and alltraining provided to seller
doers, business development andmarketing staff for the upcoming
year.
I listed any internal trainingbecause I did a lot of training
internally, and then alsotraining conducted by outside
consultants and some of thetopics that I've done in the
past.
You know, client managementroles and responsibilities,

(19:48):
positioning to win or capture,planning, networking, preparing
for client visits, proposalplanning and management
presentations, building strongclient relationships through
debriefs, social media, thoughtleadership so they kind of ran
the gamut.
Those were just some of thetopics we covered in the past.
So again, that was in thetraining and professional

(20:09):
development section.
You might not have a need forthis, depending on how your
department and budgets are setup.
So section number seven isorganizational involvement and
from my previous job from acorporate level, we listed the
key organizations that willexpand our brand recognition and

(20:31):
build relationships with keydecision makers.
So we listed the location, theorganization and firm
representatives.
So for us at the corporatelevel we also did market level
marketing plans.
It's kind of a meta, you know,a division level marketing plan
From a corporate level.

(20:52):
We had some key organizationsthat were very like kind of big
ticket budget items.
So we put those in my marketingplan because it was really
where the CEO was involved inthose type of organizations.
And again, this is an optionalsection, depending on how your

(21:13):
firm's budget and expenses aretracked.
Again, I had to account for mydepartment's organizational
involvement in the budget.
So I put stuff like you know,there are S&P memberships and
stuff like that in there, aswell as key corporate
involvement that were you knowsome of these organizations.
It was like $50,000 to join, sostuff like that I put in this

(21:38):
organizational involvement.
And then the next section,section eight, marketing budget,
and this section is usually ina table format in the document
or could be a separate Excel,just kind of how you want to
format it.
But there should be a budgetfor each initiative listed in
your action plan or marketingmix section and, depending on

(22:01):
how your budgets are set up atyour firm, you may include line
items for your marketing staff,like for their salaries.
I'm going to be doing a futurepodcast specifically on how to
develop your marketing budget,so stay tuned for that.
It's going to be a lot of fun.
Okay, the next section, numbernine, is department organization

(22:21):
and responsibilities, and inthis section you want to
describe how your marketingdepartment is structured and
organized and include anorganizational chart if
applicable.
Again, if you're a marketingdepartment of one, you still
might want to list, like yourname, but then list a box for
everything that you do, becauseit's really imperative for
people to understand, especiallyfirm executives and principals,

(22:43):
to understand all the differentresponsibilities in a marketing
department, even if it's thesame name in all those boxes.
So don't skip this, even ifyou're just a marketing
department of one.
And then last is reporting.
In the reporting section, youwanna summarize the reporting
developed by your marketingdepartment to just demonstrate

(23:06):
the ROI of the plan as well assales and business development
effectiveness, and so you wannaprovide a summary of who will
develop the report, thefrequency of each report.
Some reports could include yourmonthly marketing or sales
report.
This might be the same aswhat's listed in your BD plan.

(23:27):
Another one you might have acommunications quarterly report
and we used to prepare these andthese would measure the impact
of a variety of internal andexternal communication efforts,
including website traffic,social media, media placements,
internal engagements, et cetera.
We would align thiscommunications quarterly report

(23:48):
directly back to those marketinginitiatives, and so it's really
nice to have those themarketing objectives and
strategy listed first and thenbuild the reports around those
and then a hit rate report,which some of these are an
overlap with the BD reports.
Okay, so those are the elementsof the marketing plans I have

(24:12):
created in the past and havehelped my clients to create.
You can create a marketing planfor your entire firm or,
depending on your firm's size ormarkets, you can create a
marketing plan for each officeor market or division or studio,
however you're organized.
And if you wanna get a copy ofthe marketing plan outline for
free, just go over to the shownotes page over at

(24:33):
marketerstakeflightcom, forwardslash 22.
And if you wanna learn, step bystep, of how to facilitate the
BD planning process at your firmbecause we wanna start with
that and that'll make yourmarketing planning so much
easier go ahead and check out mymini workshop at
marketerstakeflightcom forwardslash BD plan.

(24:56):
Again, this is just one episodeof several that will be focused
around planning.
So make sure you subscribe tothis podcast so you don't miss
any great episodes from me orany of the great business
developers and marketers I havescheduled to appear on the show.
Okay, until next week.
Bye for now.