Marketing Plan Template – RRNCO

Executive Summary

Provide a brief summary of your marketing plan.

Should address:

  1. Strengths and weaknesses from prior year’s plan.
  2. Most important information in this year’s plan.

A good Executive Summary includes mission, goals, strategies, media, and focus areas.

NOTE: This is typically written last while preparing the marketing plan.

Swot Analysis

Complete the chart below depicting area strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Then, underneath the chart, provide a brief analysis describing how these findings have shaped your mission goals and marketing objectives.

POSITIVE / NEGATIVE
INTERNAL / STRENGTHS
  • Ex. State Tuition Program
/ WEAKNESSES
  • Ex. High OPTEMPO

EXTERNAL / OPPORTUNITIES
  • Ex. Reinvention of state image
/ THREATS
  • Ex. Decrease in state-level Marketing funding and yearly budget cut threats

Internal Factors (Strengths)NOTE: Example matches strength listed in corresponding box above.

  • Ex: Plans are in the works to launch the Michigan National Guard State Tuition Assistance Program.

Internal Factors (Weaknesses)NOTE: Example matches weakness listed in corresponding box above.

  • Ex: High operation tempo as well as the largest deployment of Michigan Army National Guard Soldiers since WWII has been a consistent activity.

External Factors (Opportunities)NOTE: Example matches opportunities listed in corresponding box above.

  • Ex: The State of Michigan is in a position to reinvent itself from a primarily automotive manufacturing community into several different energy supplying endeavors; wind energy, solar energy, advanced energy storage, water technology, alternative energy, life sciences and advanced manufacturing.

External Factors (Threats)NOTE: Example matches threats listed in corresponding box above.

  • Ex: A decrease in state funding for FY14 greatly affected the RRBs Marketing Programming. Continued yearly budget cut threats make it difficult for the BN to plan ahead and strategically attack issues before they become immediate threats.

Mission Priorities

Provide a brief list of area goals that relate to your mission. This should primarily be detailed, measurable, mission goals.

Include:

  1. Area end-strength mission numbers.
  2. Any other statistics that relate to deficiencies that will be addressed with the marketing plan.
  • Mission Priority #1 (Ex. Improve Officer accession rate by 5% to achieve >85% benchmark)
  • Mission Priority #2
  • Mission Priority #3

Primary areas of focus for fy15

Provide a brief summary or bullet points of other areas of focus. (May include Commander’s Intent and/or strategies and tactics that don’t fit in with the objectives above or are not measurable.)

  • Area of Focus #1 (Ex. Focus on College Market)
  • Area of Focus #2
  • Area of Focus #3

overall marketing and advertising objectives for fy15

Provide a bullet point overview of objectives. Each objective should have bullets listing out strategies for meeting that objective. The objectives and strategies should correspond to and help achieve the mission priorities as well as taking into consideration the Commander’s Intent or Areas of Focus.

  • Marketing Objective #1 (Ex. Increase the number of qualified leads for Officer accessions)
  • Supporting Promotional Strategy - (Ex. Expand college marketing efforts through digital and social media marketing )
  • Supporting Creative Strategy - (Ex. Highlight educational benefit information in messaging to College students and Recent College graduates)
  • Supporting Strategy- (Ex. Implement internal marketing strategies to ARNG Soldiers that have recently graduated from college and are OCS eligible)
  • Marketing Objective #2
  • Supporting Promotional Strategy
  • Supporting Creative Strategy
  • Supporting Strategy
  • Marketing Objective #3
  • Supporting Promotional Strategy
  • Supporting Creative Strategy
  • Supporting Strategy

Budget

Provide a brief description of your budget and any changes from the previous year. This should be the amount you are requesting from HQ based on the needs of your market plan.

Current Budget for FY14: $______

  • Company allocation: $______
  • Detachment allocation: $______
  • My allocation: $______

Include a brief description of marketing mix related to the budget and any significant changes to the mix from previous year (in percentages).

Marketing and Media

Summary of Current Marketing and Advertising Activities for FY15

Provide a brief description of your marketing plan and strategy. Briefly mention what information and/or research helped develop the plan. The first column below should include the Mission Priority (see “Mission Priorities” listed previously above) and the corresponding Marketing Objective (see “Overall Marketing & Advertising Objectives for FY15” listed previously above).The second column details the overall strategy, creative and promotional strategies. The final column identifies some of the media elements that will support the strategy. An example is provided in the first row.

Mission / Strategy / Elements
Ex: Improve Officer accession rate by 5% to achieve >85% benchnark: Increase the number of qualified leads for Officer accessions /
  • Expand college marketing efforts through digital and social media marketing
  • Highlight educational benefit information in messaging to college students and recent college graduates
  • Implement internal marketing strategies to ARNG Soldiers that have recently graduated from college and are OCS eligible.
/
  • Facebook ads
  • Email blast campaigns
  • Mobile ad campaigns
  • Direct Mail

Briefly explain any components to the marketing strategy or media elements that are new.

State Funds

This chart may vary from area to area, based on level of planning. Should be detailed or broken into general categories and estimate projected cost.

Target / Name / Projected Cost / Description / Purpose/Notes
List whether General Media, HS, College, Prior Service, RPI or Event / Media Name, ex. Facebook Ads / Amount budgeted / Brief description of the media; details about what will be run / Briefly describe how the media supports the overall marketing strategy; which objective is it part of
Example: COI/VIP/Lead / RPI / $10,000 / Purchase difficult to obtain items, specialized items, specially branded items and supplement what is already offered on Mission Zone / Supplement larger events where normal quantities of RPI are not available; customize for events such as educational conferences to meet target audience needs

Analyzing the Effectiveness

Provide a brief description of how the you will track ROI and the plan for making changes to the marketing plan based on these findings.

  • Example: All local advertising/marketing efforts will tie into and support the national campaign, incorporate the NGB-approved logo/call-to-action, as well as, state run social media site URLs.
  • Example: All digital/electronic programming will be monitored to ensure ROI is effective using CIDs, click-through rates, impressions, and social media analytics. Reports will be generated on a quarterly basis, at minimum, for both email blast/mobile campaigns and social media, with adjustments made to both based on an ongoing basis.

Annex(es)

Recommend including the elements identified in NGR 601-1, 7-6, Marketing Plan, that are not covered in the marketing plan. This could include a detailed market analysis, identification of target audiences, advertising strategy, creative strategy, media plan, and promotional strategy. Refer to NGR 601-1, 7-6 for additional guidance. This may also include any additional information the co/det would like to provide, including projects, unfunded requests, and justification for certain elements of the marketing plan.

Annex

Advertising Strategy

Outdoor/Out-of-Home.Includes plans for billboard advertising, transit media, etc.

Storefront Operations.(If applicable).Includes plans for storefront promotions, local advertising, etc.

Electronic.Includes plans for theater advertising, internet advertising, mobile advertising, radio station visits, etc.

In FY 14, my area ran local advertising on:

  • Ex: Treetops Resort website

Social Media. Includes plans for area social media goals.

Market Analysis

Target Audiences

The ARNG’s target audience consists of three different groups of people. The components of the target audience are the key components of the NGB strategic level—accessions, retention, and attrition. The goal of the MIARNG advertising and marketing campaign for FY15 is to create qualified leads in each of the three target groups. In order to maximize effectiveness, the messaging and media outlets need to be geared toward each target audience with the same common message woven throughout. The mission priorities for FY15 primarily address accessions deficiencies, therefore, the majority of marketing efforts will be targeted at one the primary audience - Non-Prior Service. Additionally, each marketing objective has a promotional and creative strategy that identifies which subgroup of that audience to target.

For FY15, a Market Share research study was conducted by the CACI GIS Team to help Michigan identify and target each particular audience.

Primary Audience – Non-Prior Service

The primary audience, Non-Prior Service (NPS) individuals, comprise of the 17-35 year old male and female market. Despite the Guard’s ability to recruit up to age 35, the core of this target market is really those aged 17-24, as JAMRS research shows this age group to be far more propensed and this audience is more likely to be physically capable to join. As a result, high school juniors and seniors, as well as, college freshmen are prime targets.

Of our total enlisted accessions, 75% will comprise of NPS applicants. Our NPS market consists of:

  • No High School Degree (NHSD) / High School Juniors & Seniors
  • 3.4% - FY13 NPS accessions
  • High School Graduates
  • 95.8% accounted for FY13 NPS accessions
  • Alternate High School Diploma Holders
  • 2.7% accounted for FY13 NPS accessions
  • Gender:
  • 77.7% Male
  • 22.3% Female
  • Race:
  • 76.6% Caucasian
  • 18.1% African-American
  • 3.3% Hispanic
  • 1.4% Asian
  • 1.9% Native American
  • 2.0% Other

Secondary Audience – Centers of Influence

Centers of Influence (COI) make up the secondary target audience for the ARNG. COI consists of current family members, educators, school administrators, and community leaders. Targeting COI ultimately helps to reinforce the primary audience.

Tertiary Audience – Prior Service

The third component of the target audience is the Prior Service (PS) individuals. Prior service will become an increased importance in FY15. This group is composed of the individuals who have served in the National Guard or another branch of service in the past.

We must sustain our enlisted prior service accessions by continuing in the current trend of over 25% of NGB mission. We finished FY13 with 191 PS accessions, which was 41.7% of our fiscal year goal.Of our total enlisted accessions in FY15, 25% will comprise of PS applicants. The PS market consists of members of the Individual Ready Reserves (IRR), Inactive National Guard (ING), and those veterans without a Military Service Obligation (MSO). Our Prior Service Market consists of:

  • Gender:
  • 90.73% Male
  • 9.27% Female
  • Education:
  • 83.9% HSDG+ Male
  • 8.78% HSDG+ Female
  • Race:
  • 85% Caucasian
  • 7% African-American
  • 4% Hispanic
  • 2% Asian
  • 1% Native American
  • 1% Other

Target Military Occupational Specialties (MOS):The following MOSs will be targeted for priority fills in my area: (List which MOSs are prevalent in the area in which you are recruiting to.)

  • Example: Motor Transport Operator (88M)

Priority Units: The following units have the largest number of vacancies for Skill Level 10 (SL10) in my area:

  • Example:1437 Engineer Multi-Role Bridge Company, Sault Ste. Marie

Market Share.The following counties in my area will be targeted with advertising to increase our portion of the large market share currently enlisted by other branches:

County / DoD Accessions / ARNG Accessions / % ARNG Market Share
Ex: Kent / 394 / 69 / 17.5
Ex: Ottawa / 190 / 32 / 16.8
Ex: Muskegon / 141 / 32 / 22.7

Demographic Information

Population

The state is divided into 11 Designated Market Areas (DMAs). The DMA for my area is listed below with their 2013 Total Population and 2013 Military Age Population (15-34).

Designated Market Area / 2013 Total Population / 2013 Military Age Population
Ex: Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, MI / 1,991,227 / 551,287

Education

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) lists 212 colleges and universities in the state of Michigan with total enrollments of 703,636 students. This list of institutions includes schools specializing in Cosmetology and Massage Therapy. The following table shows the top colleges and universities within my area based on student populations.

Name / City / Student Population / Undergraduate Students
Ex: Grand Valley State University / Allendale / 24,662 / 21,236
Ex: Grand Rapids Community College / Grand Rapids / 17,575 / 17,575
Ex: Davenport University / Grand Rapids / 11,707 / 9,369

Unemployment

The box below shows the 2013 Unemployed Population of individuals 16 years and older as well as the 2013 Unemployment Rate for the state of Michigan. (See page 5 “SWOT Analysis” for additional information.)

2013 Unemployed Population / 567,858
2013 Unemployment Rate / 11.9

This map shows the 2013 Unemployment Rate for Michigan’s 83 counties. Red is the highest with blue representing the lowest percent. My area is primarily WHAT COLOR.

Race

In the table below, the 2013 total population and the percentage found inmy area is displayed for the main racial/ethnic groups in Michigan.

Description / Population / Percentage
2013 White Population / 0 / 0%
2013 Black Population / 0 / 0%
2013 Hispanic Population / 0 / 0%
2013 Asian Population / 0 / 0%
2013 Population of Two or More Races / 0 / 0%
2013 Other Race Population / 0 / 0%
2013 American Indian Population / 0 / 0%
2013 Pacific Islander Population / 0 / 0%

The number of soldiers in my arearepresenting each racial/ethnic group and the percentage of the total they contribute as of DATE is shown in the table below.

Description / Number / Percentage
White Soldiers / 0 / 0%
Black Soldiers / 0 / 0%
Hispanic Soldiers / 0 / 0%
Asian Soldiers / 0 / 0%
American Indian Soldiers / 0 / 0%
Other Race Soldiers / 0 / 0%

Competition

In the next box, my area’s market share, applicant, and accession data is displayed.

Market share / 0%
DoD accessions: / 0
DoD applicants: / 0
DoD success rate: / 0%
ARNG accessions: / 0
ARNG applicants: / 0
ARNG success rate: / 0%

The counties in my area with the highest Percent Market Shareare shown in the table below.

County / ARNG Accessions / % Market Share
Ex: Luce / 3 / 60.0%
Ex: Menominee / 6 / 60.0%
Ex: Ontonagon / 2 / 50.0%
Ex: Marquette / 23 / 34.8%
Ex: Ionia / 17 / 29.3%
Ex: Chippewa / 11 / 26.8%
Ex: Alcona / 1 / 25.0%
Ex: Mackinac / 1 / 25.0%
Ex: Manistee / 4 / 25.0%
Ex: Delta / 8 / 24.2%

The counties in my area with the lowest Percent Market Share are shown in the table below.

County / ARNG Accessions / % Market Share
Ex: Hillsdale / 1 / 2.8%
Ex: Alger / 0 / 0.0%
Ex: Antrim / 0 / 0.0%
Ex: Benzie / 0 / 0.0%
Ex: Charlevoix / 0 / 0.0%
Ex: Iron / 0 / 0.0%
Ex: Kalkaska / 0 / 0.0%
Ex: Montmorency / 0 / 0.0%
Ex: Ogemaw / 0 / 0.0%

The next map shows the ARNG Accession Market Share by county for Michigan. My area is colored COLOR(S).

End Strength

The box below highlights the state’s End Strength Mission achievement as of 15 Apr 14.

FY14 End strength mission: 8,203
Current end strength mission achievement: 8,184
Current end strength mission percent: 99.8%

This is an excerpt of the 15 Apr 14 Director’s Personnel Readiness Report for Michigan:

Propensity

Using ESRI® Business Analyst™ Geographic Information System (GIS) software, we conducted a Segmentation Study. By analyzing MIARNG enlistments from the last three years we identified those persons most propensed to join. The dominant tapestry segment for my area is SEGMENT NAME. The following box provides a glimpse of my area’s largest segment.

EXAMPLE:

Segment: / 32: Rustbelt Traditions
Household Type: / Mixed
Income: / Middle
Employment: / Skilled/Professional/Management/Service
Education: / HS Graduate; Some College
Residential: / Single Family
Race/Ethnicity: / White
Activity: / Buy children’s and baby products
Financial: / Use credit union
Media: / Watch cable TV
Vehicle: / Own/Lease domestic vehicle

Core segments:

Core Segments are those segments that make up a large percentage of your customer base (enlistments) and have an above average index to be a customer. The population in the Core Segments represents the greatest opportunity. These segments contain at least 4% of the customer base and also have an index greater than 110.

The top Tapestry segments that make up the Core Segment for my area are as follows: EXAMPLE:

Tapestry Description / Customer Count / Customer Percent / Market Area Count / Market Area Percent / Index
50: Heartland Communities / 123 / 4.37 / 171,498 / 2.25 / 194
26: Midland Crowd / 119 / 4.23 / 204,994 / 2.69 / 157
25: Salt of the Earth / 247 / 8.78 / 535,370 / 7.02 / 125

Table Notes:

Tapestry Description= the title and number of the segment. There are a total of 65 Tapestry market segments.

Customer Count=the number of enlistments that are classified in each Tapestry segment.

Customer Percent = the percent of enlistments that are classified in each Tapestry segment.

Market Area Count=the total number of segment members in the state.

Market Area Percent= the percent of total state population segment members comprise.

Index = the likelihood that someone in this segment is to enlist with 100 representing the state average. For example, members of the “Heartland Communities” segment are 1.9 times as likely to enlist as the average person.

To gain an understanding of the geo-demographic, socio-economic, and behavioral drivers of these three highly propensed Tapestry groups, a summary of these profiles are provided below.

Segment: / 50: Heartland Communities / 26: Midland Crowd / 25: Salt of the Earth
Household Type: / Mixed / Married Couple Families / Married Couple Families
Income: / Lower Middle / Middle / Middle
Employment: / Skilled/Prof/Mgmt/Srvc / Skilled/Prof/Mgmt / Skilled/Prof/Mgmt
Education: / No HS Diploma; HS Grad / HS Grad; Some College / HS Grad; Some College
Residential: / Single Family / Single Family; Mobile Home / Single Family
Race/Ethnicity: / White / White / White
Activity: / Work on lawn, garden, DIY / Own pets / Gardening, outdoor projects
Financial: / Own shares in mutual fund / Have personal line of credit / Own CD longer than 6 months
Media: / Watch cable TV / Read hunting/fishing magazines / Watch CMT
Vehicle: / Own/Lease domestic vehicle / Own/Least truck / Own motorcycle

Zip codes are assigned a tier level based on the percentage of the population that is in Core Segments. The breakout of tiers is: