Roman G. Hiebing - The Successful Marketing Plan: How to Create Dynamic, Results Oriented Marketing

The Successful Marketing Plan

How to Create Dynamic, Results-Oriented Marketing

FULLY REVISED AND EXPANDED FOURTH EDITION

Roman G. Hiebing, Jr., Scott W. Cooper, and Steven J. Wehrenberg

Copyright 2012 by by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-07-174897-1
MHID: 0-07-174897-0

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Appendices B and C can be found online at www.mhprofessional.com/successfulmarketingplan

First of all, I would like to establish some background information so that comments I make later on in this Foreword become clear. During my career I chose to move to companies that were in need of changing their business model. Their performances in generating top line sales growth and bottom line operating profits were not healthy or acceptable in the short or long term.

Over the years, I have been deeply involved in many marketing planning processes while employed by retailing companies such as Famous Footwear, Finish Line, Athletes Foot, Zales jewelry corporation, Just for Feet, Lazarus department stores, Oshmans Sporting Goods Stores, and others. These companies were publicly held, privately owned, or foreign owned entities with revenues ranging from billions of dollars to less than $20 million.

I was also involved in the marketing planning process of key wholesale companies, such as Nike, Adidas, Converse, Skechers, Steve Madden, and Nine West, that addressed specific marketing initiatives of the retailers previously mentioned.

Ultimately, the performance of these retailers and wholesalers, and the vendors that supported them, after executing well-thought-out plans and processes was exceptional.

I would like to take credit for these things, but I cannot. But I do credit myself for two things: (1) a strong belief and commitment to great and effective marketing planning that produces results and (2) finding external resources that lead that thinking.

After 20 years at the Hiebing Group, the last 7 as president, Scott joined me and the new leadership at Famous Footwear and Brown Shoe as senior vice president of marketing. We subsequently used the services of the Hiebing Group where I met Roman Hiebing and later also partnered with Campbell Mithun where I met and worked with Steve Wehrenberg, the chief executive officer, when Campbell Mithun became the Famous Footwear agency of record. So Ive come to know the three authors marketing planning process well, from the extensive insight work we did at Famous Footwear to the marketing strategy and tactics that were all shaped by the content that is so clearly laid out in this fourth edition.

Many plans are academic, and most sit on the shelf and arent used to actually move the business. This one works. It is the best all-around planning tool Ive seen. It speaks not only to the needs of the traditionally structured marketing department but also to the entrepreneur, something I think is a critical advantage of the book.

While Famous Footwear was a $1.4 billion business we couldnt afford to run it like a bureaucracy. In the contents of this book, youll find a disciplined approach that brings the consumer to the table, provides accountability, and demands creativity. Critical to the success of this planning methodology is the fact that the authors dont define marketing as simply communications. They understand the cross-functional nature of the discipline and the fact that the channels you pick, the products you develop, the operational side of the business, and the communications all make the difference in how you actually deliver your brand positioning to your chosen target markets.

So this is a book on marketing that isnt just for the marketing department. Its a book that can change a company, no matter the size, because, in keeping with my own belief in the necessity of doing so, it provides every department with a marketing orientation.

The authors have been helping some of the largest and best consumer, business-to-business, and service businesses in the world with their marketing. But they have also taken the marketing planning process in their book and worked with start-ups, franchise operations, and turnarounds. I believe that, with this book as a guide, any intelligent, persevering person, regardless of experience level, can write an effective marketing plan. The book guides strategy, but it is also filled with tactical direction and ideas. Its a reference guide. Its the one marketing book you want on your shelf. Theres a reason that since 1990, when the first edition came out,