At the Helm: Plans on paper

Everyone loves good marketing. Just think about how our society responds. We oooh and ahhh over Super Bowl ads. We find ourselves humming ad jingles at odd times of the day. And there are marketing messages that are cemented into our memory whether we like it or not.

One particular ad that immediately caught me — no pun intended — is the latest Rapala billboard to show up on the stretch of freeway south of our offices. It simply says, “Whudjagiddumon?” The Rapala lure displayed makes it clear to even the uninitiated that if you want to know what’s catching the big fish, the Rapala is what you’ll “giddumon.”

Rapala seems to nail its target market (that’s me, by the way) with its messages every summer here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Last year’s message: “More hits than Google” and that same Rapala image.

Such creativity can be difficult to come by — you either have the marketing gene or you don’t. But what isn’t difficult is the foundation of any successful campaign: the creation of the marketing plan. You don’t have to be the wordsmith, the witty mind or the artist to create a formalized plan that will find you success. You just need to put the plan on paper and put it into action. Sure, it’s time consuming and it takes some serious strategizing, but the sweat equity is worth it.

I can attest to that. Early last year, we set some lofty goals for the Marine Dealer Conference & Expo. We were hoping to attract 400 dealers and 700 total people, both of which were more than two times the totals from the year prior.

In my mind, there was a strategy: a compilation of print ads, e-newsletters, online articles, promo pieces and word-of-mouth efforts, components that any marketing plan should include. Outside of the mess between my ears, however, it wasn’t so clear.

So, led by Jeff Strong of Strong’s Marine, the MDCE committee challenged me to put it into a fully fleshed out plan. What transpired from there was simply incredible. The ideas became much more fluid. They took life in the form of an official document. They were built upon with further ideas. And what once was a mishmash of hopes and desires became a concrete direction for our team to follow and execute.

The results of the plan were equally incredible. We exceeded every goal we set for that event, eventually tripling the attendance and filling an exhibit hall with more than 10 times the total space ever offered at this event. The marketing plan was the main ingredient in making that happen, and this example is a testament to its power.

I urge you, if you’re not yet putting your plan on paper, do it. There’s no better time than right now to put your plan together for 2011. Do it before boat show season arrives. If you do it right, you’ll hook your customers’ attention, and you’ll know precisely “Whudjugoddumon.”