Planning and strategy development

The initial phase of a marketing strategy seeks to identify your larger goal and which aspects of it could be met through marketing.
Effective planning allows you to:

• Understand the problem you are addressing
• Determine the role of communication in addressing the problem
• Identify the best approach to bringing about the desired change
• Establish a logical program development process
• Set priorities
• Assign responsibilities
• Assess progress
• Avoid wasting resources

A. Defining the problem – Where are we?

Key Questions to ask and answer:

• What is the problem you are addressing? What is the problem of the insurance scheme?
• What role does marketing/communication play in addressing that problem?
• Is marketing an appropriate response to the problem?
• If marketing activities are deemed appropriate to address the problem, does your organization have the technical and financial capacity to implement and marketing strategy?
• What other approaches (other than social marketing) are you currently using or planning to use to achieve your overall goals?
• How does marketing fit into your existing structure?

 

B. Setting goals and objectives – Where do we want to go?

For a marketing plan to be truly strategic, it should be designed to fit with the goals, objectives, capabilities, and changing opportunities of the organization.

Goals are defined as the overall change in behaviour or health problem that your programme is trying to reach. Objectives, on the other hand, refer to the specific behaviors you want to influence the target audience to accept or modify. They are in the form of specific communication outcomes you aim to produce in support of the overall goal.

Objectives should be:

• Measurable. How will they show progress?
• Achievable. Be realistic in what behaviour change can be expected of your audience. For example, it may be unrealistic to expect a target audience who has never heard of insurance to immediately sign up for insurance coverage and pay premiums regularly.
• Prioritized. Which objectives are most important to achieving your goals?

 

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Tools for planning: Log frame matrix SWOT analysis

 

Read more on planning: Developing a new product Presentation on strategic marketing for MFI's