Writing an In-Plant Marketing Plan
(Part 2 of Marketing Your In-Plant)
By Greg Cholmondeley
In-Plant Segment Marketing Manager,
Ricoh Americas Corporation
In our last issue we provided numerous ideas for marketing your in-plant (this back issue is available on-line for those who missed it). While it is tempting to jump in and start implementing these ideas, it is very important to start with a marketing plan. If you don't have a plan, then your hard work is probably not going to be as effective as it could be.
Marketing plans don't need to be lengthy, complex and intimidating documents. They are simply plans covering how to most effectively market your in-plant. Don't go overboard by making them too formal or elegantly designed - very few people will read them. Keep in mind that it is the plan that is important - not the document.
Marketing plans are typically structured with the following sections: Executive Summary, SWOT Analysis, Market Segmentation, Messaging, Market Channel, Marketing Calendar, Marketing Budget, Measures of Success.
 Most of those terms probably sound as meaningless to an in-plant manager as "trapping" does to most marketing managers. Don't panic. Once you know what these mean, you'll have no trouble doing the job.
Starting with a blank sheet of paper and coming up with a plan is a daunting task. My recommendation is to have a half-day brainstorming meeting with a few people to come up with the ideas collected on flip charts. You'll get more and better ideas than just doing it yourself. Also, think of a marketing plan as a story. It can pretty much be created in the same order it is read starting with what you do and ending with how you're going to do it.
Executive Summary
The first element of a marketing plan is, however, the last that you should write. This is the one- to two-page overview that will be read by the few people who want to understand your marketing plan - but who don't really want to read it. It makes little sense to write this until later. We'll come back to it.
SWOT Analysis
An intimidating name, SWOT is simply an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Think of this as a description of what you do. Brainstorm ideas on each of these four topics and then compile them into a few paragraphs on each.
Strengths: What are your in-plant's strengths? What services do you offer? What do you do exceptionally well? In short, what do you do? You probably already have much of your capabilities listed but don't forget to include "softer" areas like customer service, personal attention, rapid response, etc. Weaknesses : What are your in-plant's weaknesses? Be honest. What could you do better? What capabilities do you not offer that, perhaps, you should? Where have you had problems? Customer service complaints? Missed deadlines? Mistakes? Difficult submission? Limited VDP capabilities? Pricing? Convenience? Ability to reach your customers? Consider the reasons why people take their jobs elsewhere.
Opportunities : Take some time to list ideas on what more you could be doing to make your in-plant more successful. These could be additional services, improved workflow efficiencies, unreached organizations, in-sourcing, etc.
Threats : Threats are just that. What are the threats that you need to defend against? These might include facilities management, commercial vendors, increased departmental printing, etc.
The reason this section is done first is that you need to keep these SWOTs in mind as you develop messaging that explains your strengths and develop plans to reach new opportunities, strengthen your weaknesses and eliminate your threats.
Market Segmentation
Market segmentation is the marketing term for listing and organizing your target customers. It sounds simple, and it is, but it is incredibly important to know whom you are trying to reach. Start out by listing your existing customers (by department or project - not by individual name). Next, add organizations that don't use your services - but should. Now take some time to organize (or segment) these customers in ways that are meaningful for you. Perhaps it is by application type, or by profitable or unprofitable work, by department type, etc. You will use these customer segments to help you develop messages and market approaches that make sense to groups of customers with shared interests and needs. If you don't segment (organize) your customers with similar interests and needs, then you'll probably end up with bland, generic messages that catch no one's attention.
At Ricoh PPBG, we have segmented our customers into in-plants, graphic arts firms and data centers so that we can tailor our messages - and our channels - to be most effective for each of these audiences.
Messaging
Now that you know whom you're trying to reach, you need to figure out what to say to them. Think in terms of how what you offer can help them do their jobs. This is why segmenting your customers is important. Variable data printing and personalization might be exciting to the marketing department while rapid turn-around, tabs and binding might be more important to others. Always keep in mind the value to your customers ... not the value to yourself.
Channels
Marketing channels are the various ways you reach your target customers. Your "channels" might be internal publications, open houses, mailings, posters, personal contacts, etc. Refer back to the earlier articles for ideas on marketing channels that might work for you. Here are a few important considerations to keep in mind:
- Different people respond to different marketing channels. Some people may read newsletters while others ignore them. Some people are attracted by graphic posters - while others don't seem to notice them. No single marketing channel will be effective in reaching everyone. For example, at Ricoh we're using a variety of channels like newsletters, business seminars, emailings and direct mailings to reach our audience.
 Customers usually require multiple "touches" before they remember a message. You don't want to be annoying with constant "junk mail" or "spam", but don't expect just one mailing or open house to convince people to use, or remember, your services. Multiple communications, particularly ones that build upon each other are most effective. Consider how this newsletter contains articles that build from issue to issue conveying (hopefully) meaningful information to you.
- Timing is critical. Sending out notices about coursepack production services after the term starts will not be effective. Attempting to engage a marketing or sales department while they are trying to close out business at the end of the fiscal year will not be appreciated either. Being cognizant of your customers' calendars and of the types of projects on which they are working will help make your communications much more effective.
- Don't start out with dozens of initiatives. Begin with 2 or 3 and do them right. You'll learn what did and didn't work, you'll apply that knowledge to your next attempts, and you can always add more in the future. Doing a dozen initiatives poorly is worse than doing none at all.
Calendar
We already discussed "touching" your customers multiple times and timing those communications with their programs. Make a list of ways to reach your customers (open houses, flyers, participating in planning meetings, etc.) and place them on a marketing calendar. Once they are on there, work on balancing the load.
- Make sure your programs aren't inundating your clients all at the same time.
- Make sure you are reaching all your target customers ... not just one segment.
- Identify when you'd like to reach your customers with your marketing programs and place these dates on your marketing calendar.
- Define a plan to develop and roll out each initiative and include this on your marketing calendar. For example, for a mailer, you'll need time to develop the concept, design the creative, develop the content, build the mailing list, produce them and mail them. If you're adding in variable data, you'll need to figure in time for the database and logic work as well.
- Overlay your marketing calendar with your operational calendar. Make sure that you aren't planning design time during peak production times. Remember, you don't need to send out mailings, or flyers, or hold open houses, as soon as they are developed. They can be prepared somewhat in advance - when you have the time, and delivered to your customers when the timing aligns with their needs.
Budget
Every marketing plan needs to have a budget. You should have a good idea of what the programs you want to do will cost so that you can prioritize and manage them. This section should be a succinct and clear table of programs and expenses.
Measures of Success
This is an essential, but often overlooked, section that covers your success criteria and how you will measure them. This can be difficult to do for marketing programs but you should try to measure your success. It will help you understand what did and didn't work, how things can be improved, and to justify future marketing expenditures. Two good, complimentary ways to measure and evaluate marketing programs are "P-Measures" and "R-Measures."
P-Measures stand for process measures. These are the easiest to measure, although they are hard to tie to business results. Examples of P-Measures are:
- We mailed 1,100 mailings.
- We hosted 200 people at 4 open houses.
- We distributed 6,000 handout flyers with jobs that were tailored to the job type.
R-Measures stands for results measures. These are often very difficult to tie into specific marketing programs but are much more meaningful. Examples of R-Measures are:
- Our March Madness color special program brought in 500 jobs worth $8,000, which is 50% more than we typically do at that time of year.
- After our open house we began receiving work from our finance department who had never used us before. These jobs represent 75,000 additional pages.
Knowing how you expect to measure your marketing programs before you start to implement them will help you identify the information you need to capture and make it much, much easier to do versus just looking back when they are complete.
Executive Summary (again)
Having made your plan, you can now summarize it down to a page or two for management to read. As we said earlier, while this appears first in a marketing plan, it should be the last piece written.
The End - Not!
It would be great to be able to write your marketing plan, check it off the list, and never need to revisit it. Unfortunately, these are evergreen documents that will require periodic updates. Fortunately, updating one is a lot easier than creating it. As you implement your plan you'll undoubtedly find some of your ideas were ineffective while others worked wonders. You'll be inspired with new ideas and driven by changing needs. The temptation is to simply react to these changes. Taking a few minutes to update your marketing plan, however, will help ensure you continue in the strategic direction you desire while making the tactical adjustments you need. Revising your plan when changes are desired is a simple, low-cost effort that could save you from making messaging, directional, budgetary or workload blunders.
Conclusion
So, that's a marketing plan. It isn't rocket science, but it does make you think. It can take time to develop and it is essential for delivering effective marketing programs within budget. As you can imagine, marketing plans and programs can become quite sophisticated and very labor intensive - but that is not where you should start. Start simple, keep your focus, and don't try to implement every great idea or reach every potential client right off the bat. Just write down your ideas, prioritize them, pick the top 2 or 3 and keep the rest for next time. You'll come out with an effective and manageable plan that will drive business results.
Greg Cholmondeley
Segment Marketing Manager
Ricoh Americas Corp.
An expert in production printing environments and solutions, Greg Cholmondeley is responsible for in-plant marketing for Ricoh Americas’ Production Printing Business Group. He brings 25 years of engineering, systems architecture, solutions development and industry marketing experience to this assignment. Greg can be reached at Greg.Cholmondeley@Ricoh-USA.com or at 561.516.0238.
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