planning model
p r smith's sostac® planning model
pr smith's marketing planning system - SOSTAC® - situation analysis, objectives, strategy, tactics, action, control
While many people seem to use the SOSTAC® acronym as a generic term, it derives from the SOSTAC® Planning System created by writer and speaker PR Smith in the 1990s, and is actually a protected registered trademark (registration number 2219677 to be precise).The SOSTAC® model and associated methodology are now used by blue chip corporations around the world and also by many smaller businesses and organisations. In some ways SOSTAC® has been a victim of its own success - rather like hoover means vacuum and xerox means photocopy - such is the price of inventing a good concept and name to go with it...
As stated in the heading the SOSTAC® acronym stands for:
- Situation analysis
- Objectives
- Strategy
- Tactics
- Action
- Control
Traditionally the task of putting together a decent business or marketing plan has been enough to strike fear into many an aspiring junior manager or budding entrepreneur:
"You want a marketing plan? Including financials? By the end of next week? Of course, no problem... (Oooer.. how on earth am I supposed to do this?..)"
The young planner then cocoons himself or herself away for a week after asking friends and relatives for examples of good planning documents, none of which is any use whatsoever, and trying to guess what exactly the boss (or bank manager) actually needs. Of course most of the time the boss hasn't got the first clue about how to write a decent plan either - it's all a big game - moreover most of the bosses who do know what they want don't have the sense to coach the terrified underling as to what the plan should look like. So the inevitable reams and reams of pointless calculations and hypotheses ensue, much midnight oil is burned, and a needlessly complex business planning document is produced.
Happily not so with PR Smith's SOSTAC® tool. Common sense prevails, and we can safely get on with producing a proper useful working planning tool, instead of something that will attract a jolly good bollocking for the unwitting planner, and then be tucked away into a deep drawer never to see the light of day again.
Incidentally when accrediting the SOSTAC® model the official attribution is PR Smith (there are thousands of Paul Smiths..), and it is certainly appropriate to use the ® symbol, which I do here on this page rather more freely than normally because so many people have come to think that SOSTAC® just sort of grew on a wall or something, or was devised by someone else who thought they'd fancy taking the credit for it. So, credit where it's due...
Here's what PR Smith says himself about the SOSTAC® planning structure, taken from his book, Great Answers to Tough Marketing Questions (Kogan Page 2003) and reprinted here with Paul's blessing.
what is SOSTAC®?
What should be in the perfect marketing plan? There are many different approaches to building a marketing plan. There is no single common approach. But there are essential elements which every marketing plan must have.The SOSTAC® planning system covers them all. It took me (PR Smith) five years to devise SOSTAC® but you can learn it in five minutes. Use it and you are well on your way to building a well structured and comprehensive plan. You can also use this approach to check other plans to see if they are comprehensive and cover the key items which every plan needs.
S stands for Situation Analysis - which means where are we now?
O stands for Objectives which means where do we want to go?
S stands for Strategy which summarises how we are going to get there.
T stands for Tactics which are the details of strategy.
A is for Action or implementation - putting the plan to work.
C is for Control which means measurement, monitoring, reviewing, updating and modifying.
add the 3m's
Now add in the 3M's - the three key resources, Men, Money and Minutes.Men meaning men and women, expertise and abilities to do different jobs.
Money means budgets - have we the money?
Minutes mean time - what are the time scales, schedules or deadlines? Is there enough time?
Each of the six elements of SOSTAC® are considered in much greater detail elsewhere in PR Smith's book, Great Answers to Tough Marketing Questions.
If you can remember SOSTAC® + 3M's and build them into your marketing plan, you have the platform for writing a good marketing plan. In fact, you have an outline marketing plan.
Here is what some experts feel about SOSTAC®:
Professor Philip Kotler: "SOSTAC® is a system for going through the steps and building a marketing plan".
Sam Howe, Director of CATV Marketing Southwestern Bell: "SOSTAC® is a great approach for anyone going ahead and building a marketing plan".
David Solomon, Marketing Director, TVX: "It appears that we are following the principles of SOSTAC®."
John Leftwick, Marketing Director, Microsoft UK: "We use SOSTAC® within our own marketing planning".
Peter Liney, Concorde Marketing Manager: "I think SOSTAC® is very good in terms of identifying, if you like, major component parts of what you're doing in marketing."
Finally, one question that commonly arises: Where would you put Target Markets, Marketing Mix and Positioning in SOSTAC®?
The answer is that Target Markets pop up almost everywhere. Target Markets are so important that once you have identified them in the objectives, they pop up all over a marketing plan - in the situation analysis, objectives, strategy, tactics and so on.
A summary of the current marketing mix and positioning will appear in the Situation Analysis under a 'review' section.
The future mix and positioning and target markets are often summarised under Strategy and explained in detail under Tactics.
The above is an excerpt from PR Smith's book, Great Answers to Tough Marketing Questions 2nd ed. (2003) Kogan Page, London. Reproduced by kind permission of PR Smith. SOSTAC® is a registered trade mark of PR Smith. More information at www.prsmith.org.
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