On Thursday 21 August 2008 John Jantsch announced on his blog that Marketing Plan Pro powered by Duct Tape Marketing is ready to go.
This is version 11 of Palo Alto’s proven Marketing Plan Pro and is a major coup for John Jantsch and his Duct Tape Marketing brand.
I feel like applauding and cursing at the same time.
It’s several years since I looked at the Palo Alto products (Market Plan Pro and Business Plan Pro) but I thought that they were both very good and comprehensive for an “out of the box” solution.
One word of warning. Make sure you buy the version for the right country so that it handles the VAT/sales tax issues etc correctly in the numbers section.
It will be interesting to see whether this polarises opinion as the Duct Tape Marketing coaching network expands. Will other marketing coaches and business coaches who use Market Plan Pro as an easy and quick tool jump to another product or will they promote a rival?
If you are an experienced Market Plan Pro user, what difference has the “powered by Duct Tape Marketing” made?
13 responses so far ↓
1 John Jantsch // Aug 23, 2008 at 8:22 am
Paul - of course all the marketing coaches out there could simply become Duct Tape Marketing coaches - that would solve the dilemma now wouldn’t it?
2 Paul Simister // Aug 23, 2008 at 10:28 am
Creative suggestion John but you don’t want a monopoly do you?
I hadn’t seen world domination as your mission.
I think competition is good and I’ve given your book a buy recommendation without having any desire to swap my Guerrilla Marketing for your Duct Tape Marketing.
I did admit I was intrigued to know more.
3 Matsonian // Aug 24, 2008 at 12:31 am
It is just amazing how much business Palo Alto Software is getting whether Business Plan Pro or Marketing Plan Pro. Both of which are basically cumbersome products. In today’s fastcompany netpreneur world, business plans are only needed for bankers and financiers. If you really want to develop a plan for success in your business, marketing, strategic, or otherwise, use a software like QuickPlanner Plus designed for creating a living, dynamic, plan for organizational success.
4 Paul Simister // Aug 24, 2008 at 12:59 am
Hi Matsonian
Thanks for the comment. I haven’t tried QuickPlanner Plus but I would be interested to see other people enter into the debate.
For a company wanting to put together a marketing plan (which after all is often the main element of a business plan) do you recommend:
1 - Market Plan Pro or Business Plan Pro
2 - QuickPlanner Plus
3 - Other specialist software
4 - You believe the template approach stifles innovative thinking as it turns planning into a “fill in the box” exercise so you favour Word/Excel based solutions.
I’d also like to hear from people who have tried the previous Market Plan pro versions and now have the Market Plan Pro powered by Duct Tape Marketing to hear how much of an influence is coming from Duct Tape Marketing.
5 Sabrina Parsons // Aug 26, 2008 at 11:15 am
Hi Paul-
Interesting to see people still think plans are only for bankers and financiers. How can you possibly stay focused, and more importantly understand and manage your cash flow, if you don’t have a plan? You need to have some financials in your plan in order to manage your cash flow, and understand your expenses.
At Palo Alto Software we are definitely big into the process of planning rather then the actual document. Tim Berry, our founder and president has written a book, and runs a web site called “Plan As You Go” : http://planasyougo.com/ This methodology clearly explains why planning is good, and how it is easy to focus on planning and NOT on the actual PLAN (the document)
Palo Alto Software’s products are intended to help and guide people through what can be a cumbersome process — but shouldn’t be. Our products are heavy on the teaching, but very flexible and very easy to customize so that you have a simple, easy, action plan to help you focus your business and take it in the right direction.
Marketing Plan Pro powered by Duct Tape Marketing has a quick and easy 30 minute plan that will help anyone create an action plan to jump start their marketing and actually grow their business. What more would you want?
6 Paul Simister // Aug 26, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Hi Sabrina
Thanks for your comment and it’s great to see a debate going on here.
Business planning (and marketing planning) is certainly something that can get people worked up.
I remember that John Jantsch on his Duct Tape Marketing blog ran a post along the lines of “I hate business plans because…” and it attracted lots of responses.
http://tinyurl.com/5fspy8
OK John was trying to shift the emphasis from business plans to business planning.
I took the contrary view and wrote why I loved business plans. I was comment 49 but I’ll repeat it here.
“I love business plans because they provide a record of intention at the time.
So often there is this huge gap between what we say we will do, what we do and what results we get.
A business plan gives you the chance to look back and reflect on why things didn’t go as you expected.
A business plan gives you a chance to learn and adapt your future behaviour.
A business plan stops your mind playing tricks on you as each day your plan evolves and you forget what you thought.
A business plan captures some of those brilliant ideas that you still haven’t put into action so that you can bring them back to the table.
I love business plans, I love business planning…I hate people failing to take purposeful action.
I hate it when people won’t decide on where they want to go and drift aimlessly.
I hate it when people don’t measure and monitor the business.”
Mind you Stephanie 30 minutes sounds a long time. (:-)
Even as an accountant I have a dislike for plans that over-emphasise the numbers at the expense of the strategic/ commercial / business logic of the plan.
That’s where Guerrilla Marketers concentrate and their seven step marketing plans can be created in five to ten minutes.
Now that’s time for planning that any entrepreneur can manage.
7 'Chelle Parmele // Aug 26, 2008 at 1:45 pm
“OK John was trying to shift the emphasis from business plans to business planning.”
I loved that post of John’s. Mostly because he was dead on. It /is/ about the planning. It’s always about the planning. It’s about the process of committing to going through the motions and learning something from that process. The “plan” is the output, the thoughts going /INTO/ the plan are the important thing.
You can get to your destination a hundred different ways - Car, bus, bicycle, walking - the point is you GET there. Right?
Fascinating discussion going on here. And hey, thanks for the mention about Marketing Plan Pro powered by Duct Tape Marketing. It’s been a blast working with John and melding his DTM system with our software.
8 paulsimister // Aug 26, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Stephanie
I’ve got no problem with the ideas of:
1 - deciding where you want to go,
2 - deciding how you are going to get there,
3 - taking action and then
4 - checking that you are where you thought and that it is as nice as you expected.
Then starting the merry-go-round again.
My issue is that planning without action and without learning is a much reduced activity.
Planning for the sake of planning because that’s what you should do has little value (except that it exercises the little grey cells) if it doesn’t lead to purposeful action.
9 'Chelle Parmele // Aug 26, 2008 at 3:13 pm
“Planning for the sake of planning because that’s what you should do has little value (except that it exercises the little grey cells) if it doesn’t lead to purposeful action.”
I always thought implementation was a given.
Planning a trip and never going on the trip is just sad and wasted time.
I’m not sure if your comment was directed to me… who’s Stephanie?
10 paulsimister // Aug 26, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Sorry about that ‘Chelle.
Fortunately I don’t know a Stephanie so it’s not a Freudian slip.
Implementation unfortunately isn’t a given and is the big problem in bigger companies that go through an annual strategic planning process.
11 'Chelle Parmele // Aug 26, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Not a problem. I’ve been called a lot of things with the spelling of my name. But Stephanie was never one of them.
12 John Jantsch // Aug 27, 2008 at 8:46 am
With regard to one planning tool being better than another, that’s a debate that could rage on deep into the night, but understand that one very significant difference between Marketing Plan Pro powered by Duct Tape Marketing and every other tool of the like is that Marketing Plan Pro is built on and leads the user down the path of a specific marketing methodology.
Now, that methodology may not be for everyone, but the key here is that it presents and helps the user outline one very specific way of building and implementing a marketing plan that was developed through successful implementation in the real world.
I think that distinction is an essential consideration for anyone analyzing planning tools.
13 John Jantsch // Aug 27, 2008 at 8:47 am
@Paul - World dominance has always been in the cards! - sort of a Pinky and the Brain kind of thing
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