Don't Forget Your MAP

When I develop a marketing plan, I call it a MAP -- a Marketing Action Plan. It's a pretty simple acronym and metaphor. You use your MAP to get where you're going and you can refer to it when you get lost. It should state some background (how you got here), your objective (what you want), and, of course, how you're going to go about getting it (your strategy and tactics).

It's the last part that, the strategy and tactics, that adds the ingredient of action and makes this thing a living, breathing document that guides you throughout your campaign or project.

Is it a locked, concrete document? No. What makes it breathable is that if something changes as you begin you can go in and modify your map (OK, so the changeable part breaks the map metaphor a bit -- bear with me). You have to be a cartographer during your journey (there!).

The Point? Just a name? No, it's more important than that. It's a label. And labels are important because they get your head in the right place. By the right place, I mean a place where you can take action. And action is where it's at. A map is your tool to get somewhere!