MAKING BETTER PLANS THROUGH A BETTER PROCESS
Eight simple steps to bringing agencies and clients closer to striking gold
By Robert Wheatley
After all what’s the outcome of the annual planning process between client and agency? A path to improved business results in the year ahead. This can often be a glass half empty or half full proposition. Meaning plans can be good or great and thus outcomes can go from good to great — if the process is designed to combine the best elements of the right and left brained worlds.
For that purpose of discussion, we’ll assume that clients play the more analytical role while agencies fit the intuitive mold. Give and take is required by both participants to get to victory. And success in this case will be the best and most effective plan possible the available resources can fund.
The process goal – avoid tactics that lack sufficient strategic foundation and therefore relevance to the intended audience. In the end, this is about various forms of communication and in the absence of real, authentic relevance none of this will work very well in recruiting new customers and retaining existing ones. Instead our process objective is to inspire all participants to work towards injecting brands with greater meaning and therefore, value.
Of note, our firm’s Trailblazer Planning Model (you can learn about it here watching this presentation) is designed to secure the right information, process and outcomes. Without making this column simply a plug for our method, we’ll devote the remaining space to some key elements that get us all to the same place.
These instructions assume one thing up front: that the agency and client relationship is a collaborative one built on a foundation of mutual respect and even affection. Without collaboration (thus willingness for all parties to reach consensus on equal footing) and affection (an emotional state that permits friendly discourse and disagreement without fear), the outcomes are less reliably great and more likely to be good.
Eight Steps to a Better Plan
1. Outline what success looks like
No one can fully expect to create a strong strategic platform without first understanding what the outcomes should be, defined from both a business and communications viewpoint. Everything should flow from this understanding, arrived at jointly and cooperatively.
2. The deep download
Some believe that creative people simply manufacture ideas though some form of specialized brain chemistry. And while there may be some added wiring in the right brain of agency types, in the end it is deep understanding that feeds the creative process. Strategic ideas do not coalesce in a vacuum. For clients this means opening up and sharing every aspect of your business results and challenges. The more information that changes hands the better.
3. Inspire your partnership
Fundamental to all the people involved in this process is our need to be a part of something greater than ourselves. For clients, share your dreams and vision for the business and brand. For agencies, be equally forthcoming in describing your thoughts on the client’s strategic mission and upside prospects.
4. Brand opportunity POV
As a part of this “inspiration†process, clients should ask their agencies to develop a Point of View presentation aimed at sharing their perspective on your short and long-term challenges and opportunities. A SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity, threats) analysis could serve this purpose to engage in a discussion about what lies ahead.
5. Consumer insight vital
Nothing can be more important in this dialogue than getting to consensus on what your “Super Target†consumer is all about. This audience is comprised of the low hanging fruit – those most likely to buy because they are your best customers and fans of the brand. Share your research. Fund insight research if you haven’t done so already. Basing communications ideas on hunches and assumptions never works very well. Insight is the springboard to relevancy.
6. Encourage dialogue
Get off site to a neutral place where interference of daily business demands can be avoided. Turn off the PDAs and smart phones. Spend some quality time talking (not presenting) about your plans and ideas. Share concepts in an informal forum — elicit feedback and sharing. A collaborative effort will lessen the likelihood that lack of understanding will inadvertently kill fragile ideas. And likewise ideas can be molded in the early stages to better accommodate business objectives.
7. Build the appropriate size ship
Talk budgets early on. It may be fun to approach this process from a zero-based view. But inevitably the incredible work that goes into plans making can be wasted if it ultimately reaches beyond the budget. If there is a possibility of discretionary spending above the budget, then it’s appropriate to ask for some optional projects. Overall a much better outcome and effective use of time are permitted when all cards are on the table financially.
8. Stretch goals
Consider adding clear, tangible benefits for efforts from agency partners that extend above and beyond the call. Most agencies work hard to deliver on their promises. That said, added incentives may drive the effort even further and that could help make for a very interesting and hopefully lucrative year for all involved.
Marketing and PR planning should create path for left and right brained people to merge their thoughts and views. The differences in perspective should be recognized and celebrated. Agency people must cast their ideas so they align with analytical outcomes. Client management must be willing to deal carefully with conceptual thinking and allow ideas to ferment and mature a bit before subjecting them to rigorous critique.
How do you handle planning?
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