Stage 3: Actions, measurement and controls

Stage 3: Actions, measurement and controls

How will you monitor progress? Who will do which jobs? When will each element be completed? How will you adjust the plan? What will be the budget? This section discusses action plans, controls, measurements and reporting.

Actions

Developing an action plan

An action plan is core to the marketing process – a constantly evolving document which is cascaded to the relevant people and monitored regularly. Most action plans are relatively short term documents which focus on the coming year, but longer term implications should also be considered.

Action planning is a stages approach:

Clarify goals, and ensure they are SMART

Link back to your objectives and tactics

Set criteria for success

Prioritize

Set timings

Determine who will complete each action point

Monitor the progress of the plan and review regularly

Measurements, controls and reporting

The final stage of the action plan is the implementation of measurements and controls and reporting results. Many models for monitoring the performance of businesses have emerged, many of which address the needs of key stakeholders and allow them to evaluate the overall success of a company.

The balanced scorecard approach for monitoring company performance

The balanced scorecard approach is a widely used method of monitoring overall performance and ensuring daily work is focused on the strategic objectives. The scorecard is a "strategic planning and management system…which is used to align business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization, improve internal and external communications, and monitor organization performance against strategic goals". This approach encourages open communication throughout the business and allows tracking of performance throughout the year.

Traditionally, businesses have tracked success based on just one measure – financial results. However, the scorecard system views the business from four external perspectives to gain a more relevant approach to performance metrics.

Learning & growth – how you are innovating and improving to meet your goals

Business process – how critical processes are measuring up

Customer perspective – usually measured in terms of time, quality, performance and cost

Financial perspective – financial performance from the stakeholder point of view

Each element is tracked using four items, which are listed individually:

Objectives - as identified in stage 2 of the marketing planning process

Measures - how will success be measured?

Targets - specific quantifiable targets

Initiatives - how to make the targets more readily achievable