Why Your 2023 Marketing Planning Should Start Now

We’re heading into the final lap of 2022—which means the need for a 2023 marketing plan is looming. Such endeavors can fill many marketers with dread, but creating such a plan doesn’t have to be painful.

Consider the question, “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer is one bite at a time. While a comprehensive 2023 marketing plan might seem overwhelming, when broken down into its distinctive parts, it becomes an easier-to-tackle process.

Wait. Is This a Strategy or a Plan?

There is much discussion around the differences between a strategy and a plan. One of the most interesting perspectives on this comes from Roger Martin, Professor Emeritus at University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Get his take on the topic here.

Personally, we like to make the following comparison: a strategy considers the longer-term “big picture”—how an organization intends to get from where it is now to where it ultimately wants to be—while a plan contains the shorter-term tactics that move it incrementally along that process.

For our purposes, we’re looking at building a marketing plan—a 12-month plan specifically—to move the needle toward meeting your organization’s higher goals.

6 Essential Questions to Ask 

This is where we’re preparing to eat the proverbial elephant, which can be broken into the following components:

• What should be the “arms” of the plan? Full-spectrum, integrated marketing plans come with multiple moving parts. For example, your plan may need thought-leadership elements to build credibility (think media coverage, bylined articles, speaking opps, etc.), social networking to engage prospects directly, and sales support such as digital campaigns to generate leads. Determine those larger categories first so you can then begin filling in the blanks underneath each.
• How successful were your tactics last year? Evaluate the various tactics you undertook last year and assess which were successful and which were not. Keep the ones that worked and still have relevance for the coming year—and maybe even tweak them for better performance.
• Are there new expectations? If you know a new product is launching in Q2, or that an in-person user conference is being planned for the first time next summer, then support for those elements will need to be in your plan. This is where you want to talk to leaders outside of Marketing to ensure you have a good grasp on what’s on the horizon.
• How’s your content? In marketing, there’s a perpetual need to “feed the machine” with content that builds visibility and supports sales. Look at what you currently have—messaging, whitepapers, website copy, digital brochures, etc.—to determine what’s still good for 2023, what needs updating, and what new content might be required. The latter is especially key since content development is typically a big portion of budgets.
• What is your budget? So far, we’ve been talking about a “wish list” of marketing components without much concern for costs. This is where you may need to request additional funds (and make the case accordingly), or begin to cut back your wish list to only the most imperative.
• How do you define success? For each selected tactic, determine the KPIs by which its success will be measured. For instance, web-site traffic during a digital campaign or media impressions following a news release are pretty specific numbers. Such KPIs can help determine whether to repeat a program or tactic next year, and also provide validation for future funding.

Once you have answers to these questions, you can begin to build your 2023 marketing plan. We’re big believers in living by a master calendar (typically created in Excel) as part of the plan that delineates a timeline for when each tactic must happen. The more wide-reaching your marketing program, the more you need to get everything on the calendar to stay organized.

When it comes to creating integrated marketing plans, this isn’t our first rodeo! If you need assistance brainstorming campaign components (or developing content) to achieve your business objectives, contact us today. We can help you determine the activities that will deliver the most bang for your buck in 2023 and beyond.