As marketing professionals, most of us have been subjected to questions regarding the value of our work. How often have you been asked, "Why do we need to advertise?", "What is the value of our print collateral?", or "How are we going to benefit from a seminar or workshop?"

More often than not, our responses are weak, especially if there is no firm-wide marketing plan in place to justify what we do and why we do it. That said, a marketing plan alone is ineffective unless it supports a strategic business plan.

A strategic plan of any worth provides a practical vision (who we want to be), and the obstacles that are keeping us from being that today (barriers to the vision). It must also include a marketing plan that is a roadmap consisting of strategic and tactical objectives that result in helping the firm overcome the obstacles and evolve into its vision.

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