Creating a Marketing Plan for 2021 During a Pandemic

Resources in Today's EpisodeNew York Times Article Key TakeawaysCreating A Marketing PlanDue to the COVID-19 crisis, there was very little margin in the spring and summer months to create a formal plan for this year — much less, for 2021.Despite the No Normal, creating a plan for 2021 is still a useful practice — even if the plan doesn't hold up.When creating a plan, determine your approach to balancing proactive and reactive work in the future. We all experienced the 90-100% reactiveness in March and April. Now, we're experiencing the effects of running at this pace for months. Is that sustainable?Taking Lessons From The Past Into Your Future PlanIt will be essential to take all this experience we’ve accumulated in COVID-19 and apply our new expertise in the future, should we ever find ourselves in a similar situation again (shutting down elective surgeries, shutting down communities, etc.).Many of the campaigns we launched and practices we employed can be quickly repurposed and reused in a similar future spike — helping our teams to respond more quickly without re-creating the wheel. For example, many marketing departments now have existing assets encouraging the use of masks and urging consumers to practice good hygiene. These are applicable in any future situations where there is widespread viral threat.Marketers were able to move things along very quickly during the peak of COVID-19, and we should look at replicating this speed of decision making within our organizations going forward.An essential aspect of a marketing plan is taking the time to share the results of your efforts. Given how much can happen in a month these days, it can help to share results monthly with leadership instead of the quarterly or even yearly cadence many of us grew accustomed to before COVID-19.Personal PlanningTaking time to step away can be incredibly helpful to recharge and reset goals both personally and professionally.Even a personal plan provides a tether to certainty in a world where uncertainty is everywhere.