Attention Marketing Professionals: Get Ready Now for 2013

I blog about all kinds of things. But lately, after working with a number of marketing companies, I'm going to try to put a little more focus on using MINDMAP for market campaign planning.

I've touched on this before. But mind mapping is such an exemplary way to plan that, with the New Year fast approaching, I hope to convince at least some of you that a modest investment in ConceptDraw MINDMAP will transform the way you plan your campaigns.

Mapping enables you to visually see your entire marketing or PR campaign on one screen. This is so helpful to strategic thinking. Try it once, and you will wonder how you ever did it before with spreadsheets, lists, or project management software. And with mind maps you see the big picture--and still have immediate access to all the nitty gritty details upon which success hangs.

So if you're in marketing, public relations, or communications, stay tuned to this blog for the next couple of weeks to learn about some interesting ways to work with your clients to get 2013 off on the right foot!

Create Strategic Marketing Plans 80% Faster

Jack Todaro manages business development, sales, and marketing for Oregon Aero, an aerospace company that designs and manufactures products primarily for aviation, law enforcement, and the military.

Todaro says that the success of a small company like his depends on fast, strategic thinking to succeed. He, in turn, depends on ConceptDraw MINDMAP to help him make sense of all the different data points that contribute to his strategic thinking.

Hobie: What kind of strategic thinking are you involved in?
Todaro: My job has a lot of different dimensions. I have to help conceptualize what products we want to develop, analyze what the marketplace is, help engineering develop the product, and then develop the strategies that will help us bring the right product to market and find the right buyers.

Hobie: What are some of the elements of these strategies?
Todaro: They include identifying how we’re going to approach the market—whether it's through trade shows, magazine ads, or direct mail, e-mail campaigns, sales calls, et cetera. I manage how the marketing program is put into effect, and I make sure that we capture and follow up on all of the leads we generate through marketing.

Hobie: You recently worked on a project to develop cushions for helicopters. What was that all about?
Todaro: All helicopters come with standard seats. But a U.S. government agency wanted cushions that would help pilots avoid the physical problems that come from sitting too long in one position.

Whenever we consider creating a new product, we have to think about how large the market will be. I used MINDMAP to assess our opportunities in law enforcement, medical evacuation, and the military. I started by looking at the U.S. market, where I learned that about 200 helicopters were being used by domestic law enforcement. So that’s the first market that we're going to go after.

But I also discovered that there were almost 4,000 of these helicopters throughout the world. So my next step was to map out who owns all of these helicopters, how they’re being used, and the best strategy to sell to these owners.

Hobie: How else do you use MINDMAP?
Todaro: I use it for all kinds of things. We just finished a show in Florida called Heli-Expo. All the major OEMs and customers attend it, so we wanted to have a big presence. I used MINDMAP to design a 20-foot booth, including seating and tables. Then I gave the mind map to the company that would create the booth, and we went back and forth until we landed on the right design.

Hobie: So you use mind mapping for a wide variety of projects. What's the common thread?
Todaro: If I had to choose the top two things I get from mind mapping, I’d say that it’s speed and quality. Mind mapping shortens my thinking time by about 80 percent—and that’s a huge benefit.

It also helps me get new ideas much faster. If I'm presented with a blank sheet of paper, I’ll just sit there thinking and thinking. But with MINDMAP, the ideas just flow. I can see how they all fit together—and that helps me sharpen my thinking. Mind mapping is just an extremely intuitive and fast way to work.

Find out how ConceptDraw MINDMAP can speed up your thinking and planning!

Business is all about Accomplishment. ConceptDraw Office is all about Business.

To accomplish something, is to bring about a desired result. The individual components of accomplishment can be broken down as either tactical or strategic. Tactical is often viewed as small-scale actions that contribute to a larger purpose, while strategic accomplishment is more focused on the integrated planned effect of a company. Strategy comes in many shapes; likewise there can be varying levels of impact. The one given is that attaining a successful strategy is critical to any business.

A Strategic Accomplish Map can be used for keeping your strategy visible at all times. This example [http://www.mindmappedia.com/?id=121847551] may be used as a template. A company’s strategic plan must be broken down to department and individual levels. If this is not done, the company’s strategy may never be effective, as participants will not understand their roles.

“If the building blocks are clearly defined, the essence of even the most complex strategy can be expressed on one page.” ----An excerpt from, Execution. The Discipline of Getting Things Done.

At CS Odessa our version of this quote is:
“If the building blocks are clearly defined, the essence of even the most complex strategy can be expressed on ONE MIND MAP. “

Mapping Strategy Implementation
Many times strategy, after the initial planning stage, is elusive in its identification and implementation. Mind mapping is a great starting point to sort through this, as many of our customers use ConceptDraw Office to assist them in attaining their goals.

ConceptDraw Office is a business solution that combines business productivity methods and data visualization with project management technologies. There is no other product on the market equipped enough to enable one to observe and analyze accomplishment processes inside and out. ConceptDraw Office makes it a snap to plan, develop, manage, and document quality processes. ConceptDraw Office is comprised of ConceptDraw MINDMAP, ConceptDraw PROJECT, and ConceptDraw PRO and is packaged as one seamless software tool kit.

ConceptDraw MINDMAP
ConceptDraw MINDMAP is an excellent tool to record observations and development of goals. Moving from observation stage to early process development is as easy as dragging-and-dropping items or objects that can be used to structure a process and then immediately assign resources.

ConceptDraw PROJECT
With a single push of a button, all observations and task information are automatically moved over from ConceptDraw MINDMAP to ConceptDraw PROJECT. From a project vantage point it is then easy to manage all the resources available to you and ensure proper management of all the processes put into place.

ConceptDraw PRO
ConceptDraw PRO is a professional business graphics and drawing tool that is an integral part of ConceptDraw Office. ConceptDraw PRO is well known for its ability to produce eye popping business graphics and flow charts in professional formats, and to build score card documents that report on project status.Plan, Do, CommunicateConceptDraw Office is a proven and powerful software solution that can assist you in the common challenges you are faced with when working towards accomplishing your company’s defined goals.

Works Cited
Bossidy, Larry, Ram Charan, and Charles Burck. Execution The Discipline of Getting Things Done. New York: Crown Business, 2002.
Hunger, J. David, and Tom Wheelen. Essentials of Strategic Management (4th Edition). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2006.

Strategic Accomplishment Mapping with ConceptDraw MINDMAP

Business is all about moving ahead; in one word it is all about ACCOMPLISHMENT.

To accomplish something, is to bring about a desired result with effort. Completion. Accomplishment comes in many forms. I like to break accomplishment down into tactical and strategic accomplishment.

To be tactical is mostly viewed as relating to small-scale actions serving a larger purpose, while being strategic is more focused on the integrated whole or planned effect. A good friend of mine who is a wiz in public relations once described the amount of interest she was able to generate for her company by using a tactical strategy. She understood the market dynamics well and was utilizing such knowledge to bring attention to her company.

Of course tactics are just as critical to any company as strategy. The difference is the potential leverage you can take advantage of with strategy. Tactics is most similar to using a sledge hammer to tear down a brick building where as strategy is most similar to using a wrecking ball to break down the wall barriers. Strategy also comes in different formats and with different levels of impact. The one given is that attaining strategy attainment is critical to businesses of any type or size.

I have built a sample Strategic Accomplishment Map (SAM) using ConceptDraw MINDMAP that can be downloaded from MindMapPedia. http://www.mindmappedia.com/?id=121847551

With this map being used as a template your strategy is visible at all times, this enables you to focus more accomplishing your goals. All company strategic plans must be broken down to department, group and individual levels; if this is not done the company’s strategy may never be realized.

“If the building blocks are clearly defined, the essence of even the most complex strategy can be expressed on one page.” ------------- An excerpt from the book, Execution. The Discipline of Getting Things Done.

My own version of this quote would be

“If the building blocks are clearly defined, the essence of even the most complex strategy can be expressed on ONE MIND MAP. “

What Is Mapping Strategy Implementation?

I find that tactics are easy to identify and measure, but many times strategy after the initial planning can be elusive in its implementation. Strategy implementation is the inventory of all of the activities and resources that need to be identified and organized so that a strategic plan can be put into practice. Implementation always follows strategy formulation, and I find mind maps to be an excellent way to keep the strategy in view and at the same time be focused on the right implementation plan to accomplish the strategic objectives.


Works Cited

Bossidy, Larry, Ram Charan, and Charles Burck. Execution The Discipline of Getting Things Done. New York: Crown Business, 2002.

Hunger, J. David, and Tom Wheelen. Essentials of Strategic Management (4th Edition). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2006.