"Which marketing plan do you need to boost your sales (and why the SWOT analysis is so important)"

I'm afraid no magic recipe fits all companies or products. Instead, it depends on the market, industry, company, and the world. Yes, the world. Others. Ultimately, it all depends on what the SWOT analysis says (I'll talk about this below).

Let's get to the point.

I've always said and probably will continue saying, that marketing has to be present from day 1. That means if you start your company without a solid marketing strategy in your business plan, you have a problem.

And Houston falls short.

I've seen business plans from SMEs and startups with instructions like "create a website and social media," with a couple of KPIs almost randomly chosen. And then, when you take charge of the company's marketing and ask who made the website, they say things like:

• IT did it.

• An external company.

• The intern.

• We don't know (this is true).

It's like when you ask the CEO what they do, what problem they solve, and what their logo means, and you get a vague answer or a "we don't know yet." Let me guess...

  They haven't done marketing since day 1 !

But no worries. We'll do marketing from day 2, or 6, or 100 (if the company hasn't closed by then). Because that's what we're here for!

Let's continue with the point.

What is the most important thing in a marketing plan 

The SWOT analysis. End of the point.

But it's not only important at the beginning but at any time, especially when doing a quantitative analysis of the results. For example, every quarter. Why? The SWOT analysis is the updated pulse of how things are going in the company, in my products or services, in the market, and in the world. If I know what's happening, I can find a solution and seek CHANGE. Because the SWOT analysis can tell us crucial things like:

• We don't have money for marketing (this is so common).

• We don't have a marketing team (an intern doing everything is not a team).

• We have a marketing team that doesn't work (or it´s badly led).

• The company isn't functioning (OMG).

• Our product has no demand (we're not solving any problem).

• Employees don't know what they're doing.

What do I need for a good SWOT analysis?

1. Honesty         2. Transparency     3. Objectivity (Sorry, Dafo-washing doesn´t work)

Doing this is extremely important. And I can't understand how the vast majority of companies don't do it, and if you tell them they should (together, with all departments of the company), they look at you as if you're speaking a language from another planet.

And then we complain that things don't work.

A real case study of the importance of the SWOT analysis

What did they ask for? One of my consulting clients entrusted us with the task of analyzing the feasibility of introducing their product, which was doing very well in Central Europe (software to facilitate intra-European e-commerce shipments), into the Spanish market.

We sat down to work and did an internal analysis (of the company, product), and an external analysis (of the market, competition, world). In short, a SWOT analysis.

Result? The SWOT analysis said that launching the product in Spain was NOT VIABLE. Among other reasons, the most significant was that Spain is far from Central Europe, and that implies an increase in costs that is not sustainable for the company (or the planet, by the way).

Conclusion: the most curious thing is that despite everything, they ignored our recommendation (thanks for paying us for nothing) and decided to do a "test" (that thing you do when in doubt) and launched the product in the Spanish market, with the personnel and marketing expenses that entails. What happened?

They didn't capture a single customer and lost more than 100K in the attempt.

And the SWOT analysis was right. However, they insisted: "The SWOT analysis could be wrong". The SWOT analysis is not wrong if done correctly. At most, the SWOT analysis might hesitate, in which case you can run a test. BUT if the Dafo is certain, you must too. That's strategy, not a random decision. 

Therefore, the first thing to do is…Listen to the ones who know how to do it. 

Why does no one listen to the marketing people?

This deserves a separate entry, and when I have it, I'll put the link. But to give you a taste, it seems like everyone knows about marketing. The other day, at the gym, chatting with one of the guys, he asked me what I do:—

—In marketing —I said.

—Oh well, now with artificial intelligence, you guys have it easy.

I was so stunned that I almost dropped the 15 kilos of pulleys I was trying to lift.

To this day, I'm still unable to understand it.

Marketing folks, surely you all understand me!

More entries on the marketing plan here.