Twice a year a message about developments in the market, buyer personas and competitors.
Every quarter an update on the plans for the coming quarter. What are we going to do and why?
A quarterly report to management and sales to review KPIs.
Monthly report on the results, including explanation.
Bi-weekly update on ongoing campaigns and progress at operational level.
You can also choose to involve colleagues from other departments in the actual development of plans. For example, invite some colleagues for a brainstorm. Their fresh perspective from email list of australia 'outside' can sometimes lead to surprising insights and ideas.
An example of such a brainstorm is the ' speedbrain '. In the speedbrain, you invite two colleagues from other departments. Before the session, you share the problem for which a solution must be found, so that they can already put some thoughts on paper. Then you brainstorm for a maximum of fifteen minutes to solve the problem. Afterwards, you let them know what you are going to do with the ideas and what the result is. This is a fun way to keep colleagues involved and to gain fresh insights.
Stuff for a brainstorm.
The battle with sales
Internal positioning is of course also important for the sales department. The book pays a lot of attention to the relationship with sales. It even assumes that there is a battle, which you naturally want to get rid of. And let's be honest: unfortunately, that battle also exists in many companies. That is not so strange, because although both parties have (should have) shared interests, the way of thinking is often far apart. For example, sales often has more eye for short-term goals , while strategic marketing usually focuses more on the long term . As the book already says.