January 2019 Book of The Month “The One Page Marketing Plan”

Book of The Month “The One Page Marketing Plan”
By Alan Dibb

For the vast majority of businesses, effective marketing is the single biggest factor in determining whether they survive or thrive.  The importance of marketing is illustrated by the fact that for 90% of SMEs their ‘marketing spend’ equates to between 10% and 50% of the sale prices of their products and services! Therefore, even if you are not a ‘Marketing specialist’ if you wish to more effectively lead any organization you should at least have a good high-level perspective of what is required with all of the key components needed for a business to be highly effective at marketing?  This book delivers an easy to understand marketing model that is highly effective. Of course there are elements of the model that would need to be adjusted based on the nature of your business, however, this model will force you to consider if you have all of the essential components in place and if so how they might be improved.
To download the illustrated full-size free pdf of Alan Dibb’s 1-page marketing plan please click on the image below or go to …
http://assets.successwise.com/documents/1PMP-Canvas.pdf

1 Page Marketing Plan Alan Dibb - CanvasIt’s extremely practical to have a single page view for each of the following 3 key areas of your business:

  • Finance
  • Operations (+HR)
  • Marketing (+Sales)

If ALL the essential high-level ingredients are included in your single page high-level view for each of these 3 is items it will give you the clarity you need to grow your business.

If you do not have already have a ‘one-pager’ for your ‘Marketing (+Sales)’ then using Alan Dibb’s one-page illustration (and reading his book) would be a great starting point (click on …http://assets.successwise.com/documents/1PMP-Canvas.pdf).

Whilst the content of this book appears to be more relevant to small to medium-sized businesses the principles outlined are universal requirements for any business wishing to increase its sales and marketing performance.

What I love about the author’s approach in writing this book is that he credits much of the wisdom he has learned to many of the great marketing minds that I have also learned from people like Frank Kern, Joe Polish and Dean Jackson to name a few. He has captured much of the wisdom of these ‘marketing giants’ in his ‘One Page Marketing Plan’

The author points out the downside of social media and the importance of Build traffic to your own Digital Space/website and database keep your own social media IS ‘social’ so your message can get drowned out by ‘funny cat videos’. Whilst Dibb has grown several businesses using social media and email marketing he also points out that ‘Snail Mail’ is an extremely valuable and much-underused communication and marketing tool.

Hunters v Farmers
Dibb talks about the mindset and systemic difference between Marketers who are ‘Hunters’ and those who are ‘Farmers’.  Marketers who are hunters are opportunists and scavengers whereas he is a Marketer who has learned to be a farmer who sows seeds and nurtures them until they are ready for harvest.

The nonsense of Marketing Budgets
Dibb points out that the only time that Marketing Budget makes sense is during the ‘testing phase’, if you are accurately measuring your ROI (return on investment) then you either have a profitable marketing campaign or you don’t. If your business is conducting a campaign that is NOT profitable you must stop it immediately. On the other hand, if you are consistently making $100 profit for every $60 of marketing spend, why would you limit your marketing spend?

I love the fact that Alan Dibb has distilled the teachings of so many other great marketing teachers into what is a little gem of a book that will empower the thinking and strategies of any business leader and entrepreneur.