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Nov

Best Practice = Marketing Plan Pro + Lean Six Sigma

Posted by: business901 | Comments (1)

Best Practice is an idea that asserts that there is a technique , method or process that is more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other technique, method or process. I have just completed a series of over 10 blog post showing the correlation between Marketing Plan Pro powered by Duct Tape Marketing and the Lean Six Sigma process. However, at the completion of the series I still felt there was something missing. The only sensible thing to do is to walk through the issues using Six Sigma tools. The first thing I did was map out the blog posts as shown below:

You can vividly see the correlations I used and maybe some of the inaccuracies in the process. I felt that the Lead Conversion system should be moved under Lead Generation and into the Develop stage. But overall, I felt the analogy used in my post made a strong case that this marketing system followed sound principles and could very well be considered as a Best Practice.

I found several ways to get acceptance as a best practice which were rather rigorous and probably not needed for small business. But more interesting, I found out how ingrained the use of the term has become in the language of marketers, salespeople and industry. So, where do you turn for better definitions, customers! Marketing Operations Partners recently polled marketing leaders to find out: Four factors that survey participants said had contributed significantly to their Marketing Operations success:

Clarity and consistency across the organization—shared practices, a well-defined road map and enabling infrastructure, reinforced by clear and pervasive communications that keep everyone on the same page.
Executive advocacy and support to champion the value of the Marketing Operations function in achieving the organization’s objectives.
A culture of accountability and alignment that fosters buy-in at all levels and rewards productive behaviors consistent with the desired vision.
Processes and technology that are fully leveraged to achieve and sustain operational excellence.

What jumps out to you when you read this poll? What I see is the need for a system or marketing practice that is definable, measurable and easy to implement. Now my polling may not be scientific, but I believe the principles of Lean(customer centric, removal of waste) and Six Sigma(quality) are also components that are needed in today’s processes. Marketing Plan Pro just about works right out of the can for these needs!

What is best practice?

Posted by: business901 | Comments (0)

Best practice, I always wondered who determined that? NIBAC’s President Craig Crook was Joe Dager’s guest on his show Connecting Your Passion. Craig’s company is a Learning Center and as Craig calls it -Learning faster than your competitors is the only sustainable advantage.

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Lean Six Sigma – Develop

Posted by: business901 | Comments (1)

In my previous post on Lean Six Sigma marketing , I had stated Develop, a new process so that the problem is eliminated and the new results meet the new requirements, was the 4th step in building a Lean Six Sigma marketing process. I also stated that in the Duct Tape Marketing planning system that the Lead Generation coincided with the definition of Develop.

Lead Generation is how we change the marketing process. We take the strategies that we have created: Ideal client, Target Markets, Remarkable Story and how we are going to judge success(measurements) and put them into a plan through our lead generation trio. The trio is simply Public Relations, Referral and Advertising. Categorize all your efforts, events, ads, articles, and even social media. Social Media may force us to create the Lead Generation trio into the L.G. Quad but we will save for another Blog post. I typically ask people their expectations of the event and that in itself can be a measurement of sorts. To simple, yes than it is better than running an ad and having no expectations at all. After that it is typically justified as a branding attempt or that we are just creating awareness. Have a measurement for everything and do not accept less. If it doesn’t work justify it with data and stop doing it.

Now think about this a little bit from the Duct Tape Marketing Perspective , a basic marketing plan consist of Advertising, Public Relation and Referrals.