How action planning templates can help save tech marketers time

The all-mighty action plan

We do a lot of action plans around here. In some ways, it's the most important part of the tech marketing gig.

Action planning is the process of developing a structured plan that outlines the steps required to achieve specific marketing objectives. For us, it involves breaking down a project into actionable steps, assigning roles and responsibilities, and setting deadlines to ensure that the project is completed on time and within budget. An action plan provides a clear roadmap for achieving marketing objectives, making it an essential tool for tech marketers. Without it, we'd be lost.

Why do tech marketers need action plan templates

We've found over and over that tech marketing needs a template for action planning for several reasons. Firstly, it provides a repeatable framework for creating a structured plan outlining the steps required to achieve specific marketing objectives. This ensures that all stakeholders are on the same page and reduces the risk of miscommunication or misunderstandings. Secondly, templates provide a starting point for action planning, allowing tech marketers to save time and resources by using pre-built templates tailored to their specific needs. Finally, templates provide a way to rinse-and-repeat plays over and over... making it much easier to get to scale in marketing campaigns.

Action plan templates can come in a lot of shapes and sizes, but all of them usually have the following items in common.

5 Steps to a great action plan

Restate the Problem:

‍The first step in action planning is to restate the problem. This involves defining the problem statement, the desired outcome, and the constraints that must be considered. Restating the problem provides a clear understanding of the problem at hand and what needs to be achieved.

• What specific problem are you trying to solve?
• What are your goals for this marketing campaign?
• What obstacles are standing in the way?
• Are there any existing data or analytics you can use to inform your problem statement?
• Who are the stakeholders involved in this problem (buying groups) and what are their goals and priortities?

Identify Messaging by Segment:

‍The second step is to identify messaging by segment. This involves understanding the target audience and developing tailored messaging that resonates with each segment. Identifying messaging by segment ensures that marketing efforts are focused on the right audience, resulting in higher engagement rates and conversion rates.

• Who is your target audience?
• What are their needs and pain points?
• What messaging will resonate with each segment?
• What is the tone and voice of your brand, and how can you tailor your messaging to reflect this?
• Are there any specific features or benefits you should highlight in your messaging to set your products apart from competitors?

Create a Customer Journey:

The third step is to create a customer journey. This involves mapping out the steps that a customer takes from initial engagement to conversion. Creating a customer journey helps to identify areas for improvement and opportunities for optimization, resulting in higher conversion rates and customer satisfaction.

• What are the steps your customers take from initial engagement to conversion?
• What are the pain points in the journey?
• What opportunities are there to improve the experience?
• What touchpoints do customers have with your brand, and how can you optimize them to create a more seamless experience?
• Are there any areas of the customer journey where customers drop off or lose interest, and how can you address these issues?

Identify an Inventory of Assets:

The fourth step is to identify an inventory of assets. This involves identifying the types of assets that need to be created, such as ads, landing pages, and content. Identifying an inventory of assets ensures that all necessary resources are available to execute the action plan effectively. We use a simple order form for our campaign inventory that lists out the type, format, number and sizes of all assets that are included in a play.This helps our creative teams know exactly what they are producing and in what templates and sizes. We answer questions like:

• What types of assets do you need, such as ads, landing pages, and content?
• What types of assets will resonate with your target audience?
• What types of content will be most effective?
• What channels will you use to distribute your assets, and how can you optimize them to reach your target audience?
• Are there any gaps in your asset inventory that you need to fill, such as additional content or creative assets?

Create a Timeline:

The final step is to create a timeline. This involves setting deadlines for each task and milestone to ensure that the project is completed on time and within budget. Creating a timeline helps to manage expectations and ensure that all stakeholders are aware of project progress.

• What are the key milestones you need to achieve?
• What are the deadlines for each task?
• Who is responsible for each task?
• Are there any dependencies between tasks that you need to account for in your timeline?
• How will you measure progress and track success throughout the campaign?

Conclusion:

Action planning is really a life saver for us here at Mighty & True. We are a systems-driven company and our action planning system is a critical step in our tech marketing process. By following a structured approach, tech marketers can create a clear roadmap for achieving marketing objectives, resulting in higher engagement rates, conversion rates, and customer satisfaction. By using a template for action planning, we save time and resources while ensuring a consistent approach to action planning. The steps outlined in this blog post provide a framework for building a high-performance action plan that will help tech marketers achieve their marketing objectives.

In a future blog post, we'll be offering an action plan template you can download and use for your own team! Happy planning!