Should Your Marketing Plan be Fixed or Flexible?

When making a marketing plan for the new year, it helps to keep an open mind. A flexible marketing plan can help you respond to opportunities and problems, but it can also create chaos by a lack of brand management. Being too strict can prevent you from responding to an ever-changing market. Here’s what you need to know about fixed and flexible marketing plans.

Fixed & Flexible Marketing Plans

Fixed: A fixed plan determines how the majority or all of your budget will be spent, pricing strategies, media placement, product mix, and distribution channels in advance. So, you might budget a fixed amount for advertising each month no matter what your sales are. You might commit to running a certain number of Facebook ads or local print ads.

Flexible: A flexible marketing plan starts with ideas about how you want to make your product, where you will sell it, what your price points are, and what promotions you want to use. This type of plan gives you the ability to change your plans based on the results you yield. An example of this is that you might connect your advertising purchases to a percentage of gross sales. If you can’t afford to distribute your product using all of the distribution channels available to you, you might choose the top 3 and then evaluate your results after 90 days.

Benefits of Fixed and Flexible Marketing Plans

Fixed: Fixed plans allow you to project your expenses for the year ahead, which helps you to set price points and spending levels based on projected sales and revenue levels. You may be able to negotiate lower rates and more freebies if you can guarantee a specific amount of advertising during the year and the more consistent you are with promotions, the less you’ll have to spend on updating and changing marketing materials. Planning your marketing in advance can help maintain consistent brand management, which can get lost if you change your marketing tactics every few months.

Flexible: Flexible plans allow you to respond to changes in the marketplace quickly from problems that arise to opportunities you see developing. If your competitor lowers their prices, you may need to respond quickly by lowering yours or changing your messaging to stay competitive. If a particular platform is generating most of your business, you can easily shift more of your budget. A flexible marketing plan also allows you to raise promotional spending as sales rise, cut that spending if it drops, and drop poorly performing distribution channels.

The most important part of a marketing plan is to create one that works for your unique business. Want to learn more about marketing plans? Check out our guides and e-books here or click here to connect with one of our experts for a free evaluation.

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