A lot of us will procrastinate writing a marketing plan and for good reason. Planning is painful. If done correctly, it forces us to face current reality. Adding insult to injury, it forces us to face future reality. It is simply a disheartening process for most.
I wrote an outline on what I think a marketing plan might look like, Developing a Lean A3 Marketing Plan, a few weeks ago and even with that single page effort many thought it rather labor-some. There is a shorter way, and frankly, I have used it often. In fact, just about weekly. It is the Reflection A3 or CAP-Do.
Download Reflection A3: CAP-DoP DF
I am not going to elaborate on how to do it. The picture and PDF along with the previous blog, Developing a Lean A3 Marketing Plan, should cover most of the steps. However, I do want to re-emphasize what the strength of utilizing CAP-Do versus the other Lean Cycles of SDCA-PDCA-EDCA. CAP-Do reinforces the action of determining current state and confirming with customers. Also, there is an unwritten step in CAP-Do of pausing and presencing at this time for reflection. It is then and only then we start looking and generating alternatives.
For more on this process, take a look at the CAP-Do eBook.
CAP-Do (More Info): What makes CAP-Do so attractive is that it assumes we do not have the answers. It allows us to create a systematic way to address the problems (pain) or opportunities (gain) from the use of our products and services.