This post deals with a technical aspect usually considered the “Cinderella” of the Business Plan, that is to say the Communication Plan.
It minutely describes what will be the ordinary investments, eventually attempting to program the extraordinary ones, about all the allocated budget to this specific field.
The Communication Plan is drawn up in collaboration with the commercial area, the marketing division and more and more, year after year, with both the after sales area and the after market one.
Since often the Communication budget is used by the Marketing frequently Marketing and Communication are considered as two synonymous, but this is absolutely not true.
The Marketing Department uses business communication to achieve the purposes that have been identified in synergy with the Sales Department; the marketing man – we talk about the dealers – is not the man of advertisements and exhibitions.
The creation of a Communication Plan cannot be separated by three basic principles:
- what I have been;
- what I have;
- what I want to achieve.
In a few words you need to see, through feedback and from an accounting point of view, what is our history and what resources are been assigned to achieve a given purpose.
For the ordinary session, the budget is considered, approximately, by 1% of the turnover related to the previous year, with obvious differences; account must be taken of any launch of products already planned, the relative second-hand return peak but also the cyclical nature of the influx in the workshop.
A good Marketing Department always completes the budget before it is supposed to and so there is a modification which is made according to the increases in turnovers related to the quarter just ended ; this ensures, to the Marketing Office, to be always able to direct the activities with greater temporal precision.
Always considering the ordinary session, a central role is played by the Editorial Plan which allows to program – also – far in advance the outputs, on different media, and to achieve competitive pricing if compared to monthly purchases, as well as having safe areas in case on necessity.
Operationally, the Communication Plan optimizes all resources used and available for the purpose, with an immediate overview and a rational use of the allocated budgets.
Already in the early years the benefits are been considerable:
- allocated budget;
- no overrunning if not agreed by everyone;
- the possibility to add potential contributions in the right place at the right time.
In the more complex Marketing Plan of the company, the session dedicated to the communication (more properly the use of media) should have a role dedicated to the commercial choices by dealer, in terms of the assigned market.
The marketing manager has, with the Communication Plan, a key tool in order to apply the business decision and implement geomarketing policies of invasion or defense of the territory.
Always the Head of Marketing, has also large maneuvering spaces where the new product doesn’t become the main protagonist… that is the second-hand market, workshop and aftermarket – the only areas where the supremacy of the OEM isn’t limited to individual entrepreneurial skills.
The old adage always says that… If I know the numbers I can quantify things and measure them to improve!
To conclude, even if you are a small dealer it is always necessary to know, control, report investments in communication so that the benefits, in terms of accounting as well, can no longer be postponed!
Translated by Federica Izzo