Real tough stuff, right? Let's take them one at a time.

What's your objective? 

This is the first question I ask prospective clients when they want to do a marketing program. What is your goal, and what are you selling? Without a known objective, you're wasting everyone's time. With a quantifiable objective, everything will fall into place for you quickly.

Here's a fast story for you. The mayor of a small Massachusetts town was organizing an effort to market his community, and asked me to sit in on the initial meeting. One of the city councilors also attended the meeting, and expressed a desire for a brochure to market the city. I asked him to explain his objective.

His blank look told me he didn't understand the question, so I continued: "Are you trying to bring in new businesses? Do you want to lure tourists? Or are you seeking residents for the community who will work elsewhere?" The man put on his best "Don't you know who I am" face and said "Don't bother me with any of that. I want a brochure!"

His inability to focus on an objective became indicative of the city's leadership in general. Five years later, they still have no firm marketing goals. No sales brochure. They lurch from one possible solution to another — like a drunken fool.

Oh yes, that city council member still holds his seat "leading" the city.

What galls me about such gross incompetence is how easily this community could have become a magnet for tourism and jobs. All that was needed was a willingness to thrash out in advance a lucid vision of where they wanted to take themselves.

Remember to keep it simple

Broadway producer David Merrick once said: "If you can't write your idea on the back of my business card, it's not a well thought-out idea." Your objective should be written down in 25 words or less. The roads taken to reach your goal may vary, but the goal itself should remain the same until next year - when you revise your marketing plan.

Your objective must be do-able, and therefore should be an incremental part of your corporate mission. Do you want to be the biggest in your industry? Are you content with being the largest company in the region? How about just being the best in town?

Please don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with dreaming - it's what's gotten you to the point you're at today. But from here on, you need to be realistic.

The VP of an Internet service provider once told me "A year from today, I want to be the biggest ISP in New England." I got excited thinking about the cutting edge creative we'd create to help them rise quickly in a field that at the time lacked serious competition.

I began roughing out a marketing plan in my mind, and casually asked "How large a budget have you earmarked to achieve your goal?" Her answer: "We don't have any money - I just want to be the biggest." Today, this firm is at the back of the pack in the region. They couldn't focus on a realistic, achievable goal, and missed their window of opportunity because of it.

The key word is realistic. Just wishing won't make it happen. Like the lady said in the movie WORKING GIRL: "Sometimes I dance around my bedroom in my underwear...but it don't make me Madonna."

As that realistic goal takes shape in your mind, think about the second question: Who's your audience?

Rob Weinberg
rob@marketbuilding.com
Strategic Planning & Marketing
Unique Solutions. Profitable Results.