Chapter 1.

Introduction to Account Planning

Introduction to Account Planning
Meaning & Definition of Account Planning
Evolution of Account Planning
Practices in Account Planning
Key benefits of Account planning
Key challenges in Account planning
Emerging trends in Account planning & Advertising
The major tasks & responsibilities of an account planner
Glossary of Account Planning

Introduction
Great work is what wins business, but it is great planning & servicing that helps one retain the
business.

William Bernbach once said – “Advertising is fundamentally persuasion and persuasion happens to
be not a science, but an art”. (Thiagarajan, 2015) Creating a brand campaign is not just about creativity,
it is about reading the client’s mind and giving him a solution that will fit his needs in the best possible
way. And the entire process needs to follow consistent processes, adhering to timelines and notto-
forget-client approvals.

Knowing what your customers appreciate and expect from your services is a strong
foundation for your marketing efforts. Marketing is not only about putting your work out
there but also about taking your audience’s language and communicating what they
actually need to hear. This is where account planning comes in.

Account planning helps any marketing team turn business data into effective creative
work that satisfies your customers and leads.
A marketing strategy aimed at transforming pain points into strong assets creates a
strong customer relationship based on value and efficiency rather than a plain sales
process.

Account planning is the process of mapping out important details about a new
prospect or existing customer, including information about their decision-
making process, the companies you’re competing with to close them, and the
overall strategy to win them over, retain and grow them.

Sellers aim to uncover buyer needs, problems, and pain points on an ongoing
basis and use that information to keep earning their business — by providing
valuable insights and solutions.

It’s important to understand that account planning is a continuous process of

researching, strategizing, and presenting solutions that speak to where the
account — and the market — stand today. Done right, account planning
boosts retention rates and customer lifetime value, and it helps orgs maintain
predictable cash flow.

Sales, marketing, and account management professionals utilise account planning as a

marketing approach to target their existing clientele. To better comprehend the demands and
motivations of their clients and build enduring relationships with them, they might develop
account plans. They frequently carry out research on their target market for this purpose and
include it into their marketing strategy. Strategic planning, often known as account planning, is
crucial. The team in charge of managing an account is known as "Client Servicing" or "Account
Planning." In marketing jargon, the client is typically referred to as "Account." Understanding
the precise objectives of the customer, communicating these requirements to other departments,
and coordinating the actions for successful implementation of the advertising campaign are the
core responsibilities of this department. In essence, client service is a pillar of the
communications industry, including PR, digital marketing, and advertising. The client service
staff works closely with the client, regularly coordinates to comprehend their demands, and
meets their expectations.
Account planning is a marketing strategy that sales, marketing and account management
professionals use to cater marketing efforts to their existing client base. They may create account
plans to better understand their clients' motivations and needs and to form meaningful
partnerships with their accounts. To do this, they often conduct research on their target audience
and apply it to their marketing strategies. Account planning or strategic planning as often called,
is very important. Account planning also known as ‘Client Servicing’ is the group of people
managing an account. In advertising parlance, the client is usually termed as ‘Account’. The
basic function of this department is to understand the client’s exact requirements, to convey these
requirements to other departments and to coordinate the activities for successful implementation
of the ad campaign. Client servicing, essentially, is a pillar of communications business – be it
advertising, PR, digital marketing firms and so on. The client servicing team is closely connected
to the client, coordinates on a regular basis to understand the client needs and delivers on their
expectations.

What is Account Planning?

Account planning is a discipline and occasionally a department inside advertising
agencies that collaborates with client servicing, creative team and media planning &
buying department. Account planning places the consumer at the centre of the advertising
development process. A campaign's success depends on account planning. It could be a
division or a procedure, but it is undoubtedly an important step in developing a brand
campaign that puts the customer first. An account planner's job involves conducting both
qualitative and quantitative research, including focused groups and interviews with a
group of consumers to learn more about their requirements, attitudes, and behaviours,
translating those insights into advertising, brand, and creative strategies.
Account planning is an advertising agency discipline and sometimes department that works
alongside client facing managers (account management), buying advertising (media), and
creating advertising (creative). Account planning brings the focus on the consumer into the
process of developing advertising.
Account planning is crucial for the success of a brand campaign. It can be a department or a
process but definitely, a significant part of creating a brand campaign keeping consumer at its
centre. The work of an account planner involves quantitative research to gather insights into
consumer behaviour, needs, and attitudes as well as qualitative research by speaking with a
group of consumers in focused groups and interviews. He acts as a bridge between the consumer
and various teams at an ad agency- creative, media and account and translated those insights into
advertising, brand and creative strategies.
Definition
Planning is the function that brings consumers and brands together with the help of research and
strategic thinking. It involves synthesising multiple feeds from life - popular culture, politics, history,
mythology, everyday behaviour by spending time with consumers and distilling it into a brand and its
communication.(Bapna, 2012)

Evolution of Account Planning

The two acknowledged fathers account planning, Stephen King of JWT (J. Walter
Thompson) and Stanley Pollitt of BMP (Boase Massimi Pollitt) , both worked for two
different agencies. It was them who proposed the concept of forming a new department and
restructuring the market research and media planning divisions. It travces back to 1964
when Stephen King was discontended with the way the media and marketing department
of his agency were operating. He thought of bringing change into xsisting system and
conceptualising a revolutionary system that would concentrate on blending customer
research and insights to produce more creative and efficient advertising.
Likewise, Stanley Pollitt in 1968 believed that the account management team was not
effectively utilising the consumer research data while having considerable discretion to
draft a creative brief. He believed that the voice of the consumer was of the utmost
significance and wanted the advertising process to be supported by a strong consumer
driven research. He made sure that each of BMP's three accounts was supervised by an
account director and an account planner when it was first established. In 2018, term
account planning celebrated its 50th anniversary. The "JWT style" of planning was
historically based on scientific rigour and facts, whereas the BMP School of planning was
more instinct-driven.
The two acknowledged fathers of account planning are Stephen King of JWT and Stanley
Pollitt of BMP who were working at separate agencies. (Account Planning Group, 2007)It was
them who brought forth this idea of creating a new department and reorganise the market
research and media planning departments. Let us look at their paths. It was in 1964 when
Stephen King got dissatisfied with the way the media and marketing departments were working
within his agency. He thought to develop a new system that would focus on combining consumer
research and insights to create more effective and creative advertising. Similarly, Stanley Pollitt
in 1968 felt that the account management team had a great discretion to write a creative brief and
they weren’t using the consumer research data competently. For him, the voice of the consumer
held paramount importance and he wanted the process of advertising to substantiate on the basis
of strong consumer-oriented research. He ensured that when BMP was formed, each of its three
accounts was managed by an account director and an account planner in line function. The term
account planning turned 50 in the year 2018. Historically, the BMP School of planning was more
gut-driven while the ‘JWT type’ of planning was rooted in scientific rigour and data.
In India, pioneers of the planning discipline were thinkers like Subroto Sengupta (an author,
academician and Kolkata-based Professor who was founder-director of Clarion Advertising,
which later became Bates), Sattar Khan (first designated planner in India, who took over the
planning function at Hindustan Thompson Associatesnow JWT- in 1977) and consumer insight
miners like Dharen Chadha (FMCG marketer turned planner hired by Sattar Khan). India has
seen planning change and evolves over the years. They have been data crunchers in the 1980s to
focus group obsessed researchers and the official interpreters and writers of creative briefs in the
1990s, to the intuitive cultural anthropologists in the early 2000s. Then, the planner suddenly
saw fame very closely when his/her input to the creative process increased radically and it was
often discussed how the creative-planner team has replaced the traditional art-copy team.
However, today demands and ways have changed. It is not a simple print, TV, and outdoor ads
prevailing scenario as it was once upon a time. These days, the media is fragmented with the
digital becoming mainstream. Insights today can be found anywhere given the kind of
specialized, independent creative talent available. The role of an account planner in the present
times, is far more diverse and critical than it used to be a few years ago.

Practices in Account Planning

 1. Market Research: Account planning has evolved from the research function. Account
planners need to devise, conduct, analyse, report on and monitor surveys objectively and there
after judge their usefulness or commission them appropriately. Then cannot speculate or assume
anything when it comes to consumers. They will deal with both quantitative and qualitative
research to come up with an insight. Account planner needs to ensure that all data relevant to the
brand’s communication decisions are properly analysed, complemented with new research where
appropriate, and then brought to bear on judgments of the creative strategy and evaluation of the
communications.
2. Knowledge Bank and Application: Knowledge is the bedrock of the account planning
craft. The Internet has made it relatively easier for the current generation to read and gather
knowledge while their erstwhile counterparts had to go to libraries to read and be informed.
While the day-to-day job of a planner is hectic, it is important to continue having knowledge for
survival in the field. Having the knowledge and then applying it through qualitative research is
also important. Moderating your own groups is by far the best way of coming to grips with your
target audience, putting yourself in their shoes and seeing the world from their perspective.
3. Creative Brainstorming: An effective brainstorming session can help the brand move
forward with a creative solution that you can come up together with the team. A brainstorm
discussion can be challenging and exhausting with people like a brand manager and creative
director in the same session, however, it is also more rewarding with the diverse set of ideas that
you would get. A good account planning facilitates and directs the discussion in a positive way.
4. Media Planning: With the evolving media types especially the splurge of new media
communication channels and integration across media, it is important practice in account
planning to understand how consumers communicate through different media. It is increasingly
more important for the planner to understand the strategic role and effectiveness of different
media, by the target and by category, and thus to know when and how it is relevant to use them
to achieve the brand’s objectives. Since consumers are now moving seamlessly between online
and offline using combinations of resources to make their decisions, it is imperative to
understand how these media work together and how to assess their effectiveness which is
becoming more and more difficult.
5. Strategic Thinking: Along with the formulation of a creative brief, developing the brand
communications strategy is also one of the key practices of account planning. A well-rounded
strategy is a foundation of reaching the right mix of marketing and communications, ensuring the
whole team knows what needs to be done to create a campaign. Creativity in strategy is as
important as in media and execution, and a well-crafted creative strategy goes a long way in
creating a definitive impact on the commercial outcome of a campaign.
6. Consumer Insights: Good account planning needs to derive insights from consumer
data that will help transform a client’s business. These insights need to span across consumers,
their attitudes and behavior competition, changes in the brand proposition, product, and market
and so on. There has to be an overview of all these areas without losing sight of the big picture
and identify a key insight that can transform a client’s business.
7. Social Anthropology: As the world is changing at the blink of an eye with technology
and information moving at a breathtaking pace; account planning needs to be in track with the
cultural and social trends. These findings then need to be tailored into the brand and creative
development. There must be difference between mere fashion and genuine cultural trends so that
the brand idea is relevant to the target audience.

Benefits of AP
Reduces Acquisition Costs
Customer acquisition is expensive for several reasons. Some of the major costs are incurred
from the resources expended to discover customer drivers and challenges. Account planning
reduces acquisition costs because it allows you to focus more on creating business through
existing customers instead of looking for new ones.

Speeds Up Sales
Account planning reduces acquisition costs and makes it easier to close deals faster. In
addition, since account planning focuses on existing accounts, sales professionals already know
the key decision-makers in the buying process and understand how they prefer to buy.

Furthermore, account planning helps sales professionals observe customer behaviors that can
be disruptive to the buying process.
 Increased customer loyalty
Account planning focuses primarily on forming mutually beneficial relationships with your
clients and agreeing on an objective that satisfies the interest of both parties. Much of the
research associated with account planning focuses on the needs of your existing accounts and
how to best fulfill those needs. By offering beneficial value through a partnership, you may
increase client loyalty and retention.

Reduced acquisition costs

Finding and converting new accounts through marketing campaigns, advertising and client
outreach can be expensive and time-consuming. Account planning may allow you to focus more
of your efforts on generating business through existing accounts instead of trying to attract new
ones. This may help you reduce acquisition costs and focus more of your resources on
strengthening your current client relationships.

Focused efforts
Account planning may provide insight into which of your accounts and client bases have the
most growth potential. By focusing your marketing efforts on accounts that are most likely to
result in revenue, you may be able to more efficiently target and maintain relationships with
high-value clients.
Faster sales
Because account planning focuses on generating revenue from current accounts, it may result
in faster sales and increased efficiency. Many of the lengthy, detailed efforts of acquiring a new
client have already taken place, meaning professionals can focus more of their time and energy
on closing high-value sales with existing clients.

Continued education
Account planning offers an opportunity to continually learn about your clients' priorities and
may provide valuable knowledge that can help professionals more accurately position value
based on client needs. Account planning may also help to develop skills such as critical thinking,
decision making, research and data analysis.

Retains Important Relationships

Since account planning involves frequent communication between clients and representatives,
your sales professionals are positioned to get the real-time pulse of clients.

An effective account plan helps businesses nurture existing relationships with customers
while also providing a solid base for future marketing efforts. If account planning plays an
essential role in client retention outcomes and conversion rates, it affects the company's overall
number of clients (and revenue).

Working on your account planning will reduce acquisition costs while making it easier to
close deals faster. Since account planning focuses on existing accounts, sales professionals
already know the key decision-makers in the buying process and understand how they prefer to
buy.

When account planning is optimized, sales strategies will have a new foundation full of
valuable data. This will help sales workers ensure that all their efforts are going in the right
direction.

By reducing acquisition costs and speeding up sales, account planning can be the first step in
successfully using your business resources, especially time and money. It provides the
information needed to build solid foundations for your client’s relationships and your sales work.

Account planning can be a great way to level up your business sales and customer satisfaction
rates, but it can be difficult to start implementing its steps. Having the right guides and resources
is essential for any business process.
 Key Challenges
Sattar Khan, known to be India’s ¿rst of¿cial planner, who now runs a strategy consultancy in
Singapore, says, “The fundamental task for the account planner hasn’t changed over the last 50 years.
What has changed is the context in which the planner has to ply the trade. The challenge for the planner
today is to do better with less, in a context of more...”

Navonil Chatterjee, Joint President, and Chief Strategy Officer at rediffusion, says that the formats
are changing. From 30 second TVC to a short video clip on Instagram, the formats have been reinvented.
The planner’s role is to help brands decide what to communicate, to whom, how, and why. Since
content is the king, the job has become dif¿cult since there are numerous choices available. In the digital
context of today, it becomes even more significant to implore strategic planners to revive the old and
deep marriage between planning and research.

S. Subramanyeswar,Chief Strategy Officer, Lowe Lintas says that traditional planners who are masters
of filling the spaces between things, connecting the dots through deductive logic, will find it hard to play
in the new consumer republic. They might not like change but then they need to be relevant. There is an
evident need to reinvent old models that have created stiÀing brand bureaucracy and have become
confusing, contradictory or defunct.

Planners will be expected to run agencies and be responsible for not just insights but for revenue as
well. They need to take charge, have greater ownership and lead by example. They will be seen making
brands at client organisations, large consulting companies in the digital transformation space that take
on sales and growth objectives (not digital-creative), or established media and publishing houses on the
cusp of becoming brand publishers (not the engagement-chasing content creators of today).

Trends

There is a rise in digital and social media and lines are quickly blurring between various
communications disciplines with a change in the technological and consumer environment. The
communications industry is undergoing a radical change almost every day. The role of planning,
therefore, becomes dif¿cult in today’s times when clients are becoming demanding and unforgiving.
Account planners are not only a part of advertising agencies now but also PR consultancies, digital
marketing ¿rms and at times client organisations also. Planners need to move from being servants of the
creative product to leaders of the new agenda for brands and businesses.
 • The target audience has changed: Mobile-¿rst is the thing of today. We book a cab on our phones,
watch movies on NetÀix and Amazon Prime and shop on the apps on our phone. We tweet if we are not
happy with a product, we post pictures of our Out¿t of the day (#OOTD) on Instagram.

• Consumer decision journey has changed: Facebook and Instagram have made word-of-mouth
marketing a popular one. Everyone wants to create a video that goes viral. Remember, Kolaveri Di" Well,
it was made to go viral. These are the expectations from client servicing professionals of today.

The process has changed: To ¿nd out how many people are ordering their groceries online; you need
not commission a study. There are multiple tools that can help you get this information. The data and
metrics is not just about measuring performance differently. It is about starting with right consumer
insights which otherwise was not easily obtainable.

• Win big, in real time: Availability of data at every level of a marketing and advertising process helps
in knowing the impact of a brand campaign on the brand. If a certain set of metrics aren’t working, they
can be corrected and pretty quick without losing much hence giving an opportunity to correct the course
before it gets too late.

The major tasks & responsibilities of an account planner

• Knowing the difference between fact and insights
Merriam-Webster defines a fact as “something that truly exists or happens; something that has
actual existence; a true piece of information” and an insight as being “the ability to understand
people and situations in a very clear way; an understanding of the true nature of something.”
a fact is anything that is true; because an insight is also something that is true, it can be
considered a type of fact. However, while all insights are facts, not all facts can be considered
insights. As the Merriam-Webster definitions and Google image searches allude, an insight
involves deeper thought and implies understanding, whereas facts can be anything, even minor
surface details.

Insights are driven by careful observation, research and understanding of a particular topic.
While you may be able to discover a fact in a matter of seconds (“the sky is blue” for example),
it typically takes longer to identify an insight. This is because insights are made up of the
analysis of a collection of facts. For example, in order to discover an insight about human
behavior, you must first gather information (facts). You will only be able to identify an insight
from these facts by thinking about and analyzing them. Creativity plays a key role in this
process, especially in discovering, understanding and putting words to an insight.

To find an insight, we must continually ask ourselves “why” when confronted with a problem or
behavior that we want to understand.
In advertising, especially in Account Planning, the refinements between the definitions of these
two words are what separate a ordinary ad from a great one, an ad consumers pass over and
forget and one that they look at, identify with and may eventually drive a sale or form a
relationship. Facts are just the tip of the iceberg, but insights are the huge mass underneath.

It is especially crucial in advertising to find this insight, to discover what really drives people,
because in the end, most products are physically very similar. What drives consumers to buy or
interact with one brand over the other is more than the physical properties of the product they
are buying. Insights prove to consumers that brands understand them, what they want, need,
are interested in, and it is this that drives relationships instead of simply purchases between
brands and consumers.

The creative pursuit of insights

The new economic reality combines hyper-competition, faster product lifecycles and
highly empowered consumers. For the companies that want to succeed, this will change
the game rules forever, and a new paradigm for business is needed to meet these
challenges. We are at the age where creativity wins. Creative ideas are essential to find
unique and effective marketing solutions, to build or maintain a competitive advantage,
or to defend against disruptive competitors.
Creativity and creative ideas don’t spring from nowhere. They need fertile soil to take
root in. For us, that means research, insight, and strategy. Strategy is always the first step
in the creative process. It incorporates three questions - Who’s the audience? What does
it need to communicate? And what is the context – what other brands and messages are
competing for the same audience’s attention? Those three questions guide the creative
pursuit of insights that helps to build that big idea.
The creative pursuit of insights helps to make the marketing strategy more targeted.
Viewing account planning through a lens of creative capacity suggests that planning is
about identifying and assimilating information about consumers to be use in the creative
process. Account planners thus need to search deliberately for insight and work hard to
convey it to the creative team, who then exploit it to develop powerful creative ideas.

• Identifying the true problem

 Simply put, market problems are the challenges and unmet needs of
the customer base. 

 it’s necessary to be able to distinguish problems (challenges and

unmet needs) from market desires and competitor capabilities.
Problems can be observed and are measurable. They’re qualitative
and quantitative. They’re what really drives a decision to buy.
to be successful over the long haul it needs to solve a core problem for your
customers. This problem needs to be real and easy to define and understand.

• Asking the right questions, in right ways

• “Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better
answers.”
• ― Anthony Robbins, Motivation Guru

As a strategic leader, the right questions are your best and most often
used strategy tool. Questions serve as your guide on your journey to
better understanding situations. Choosing your questions wisely often
determines the fruitfulness of your journey.  provided these are being asked in a
right way and on right time. Asking or answering the Who, What, Why, When,
Where, and How can provide the context people need to better
understand a situation. 
 • Setting objectives
The role of objectives in the business of advertising and marketing communication
planning is crucial. Therefore setting objectives is one of the crucial tasks in account
planning. The objectives drive outcomes, accountability and help in making metrics
of success. Specifically keeping in mind, the Return on Investment, the clients want to
know about spending envisaged on a particular campaign. It is imperative to have a
clear set of goals to be able to chalk out budgets and returns. Objectives provides
impetus to the account planning process for constructing an apt communication plan.
It guides and directs an agency in all aspects of developing an effective campaign. In
the absence of these objectives, agency’s advertising efforts and client’s advertising
expenditure can be a mere wastage as advertising objectives gives right direction for
what to achieve through promotion.

Related Account Planning Terms

Now, let’s talk about some of the common terms you’ll find while scrolling through any
account planning article.
 Account: An account is a company or department that is a customer or a potential customer of
another organization.

Account Management: Account management is the practice of providing customers with service,
support and improvement opportunities to increase their consumption of a product or service and
maximize retention, cross-sell and upsell opportunities within the customer base.

Account Planning: Account planning is the process of mapping out important details about a new
prospect or existing customer, including information about their decision-making process, the
companies you’re competing with to close them and the overall strategy to win them over, retain and
grow them.

A consumer insight is specific information about the opinions and behaviours of

consumers, that doesn’t just explain what they do, prefer or think, but also the reason
behind it. With this essential knowledge, it becomes easy to create more effective
marketing campaigns, better products and tailored services. Insights are simply the hook.
From there, the research needs to be mapped out and converted into a strong creative
strategy and a successful campaign.

CRM: A CRM is de¿ned as the strategies, practices and software that organizations use to improve
their customer service and increase sales.

Target Market: A part of the quali¿ed available market with common needs or characteristics that a
company decides to serve. Return on Investment: ROI in short, is a key metric indicating the ¿nancial
viability and pro¿tability of an investment. It is a ratio determined by the comparison between the
investment and the net pro¿t arising from the investment.

Sales Account Planning

Sales account planning is an alternative term for account planning. This account planning
approach process takes all the information about customer behavior and focuses on improving
sales processes. With a special focus on converting users into customers, sales account planning
will have a strong lead generation potential. However, customer retention strategies won’t have a
special place in this process.

Strategic Account Management

Choosing high-value and high-profit accounts to grow and nurture is called strategic account
management. Not all accounts or customers warrant a plan, so strategic account managers
typically spearhead these efforts. Thus, account planning and strategic account management can
go hand-in-hand.

Key Account Management

Key account management is similar to strategic account management and may also
complement the account planning process. Sales leaders and representatives build, maintain, and
nurture the business’s most profitable accounts. They do this by offering exclusive resources,
recurring meetings, and dedicated key account managers (KAMs).

Account-based Marketing
Account-based marketing is usually carried out after key accounts have been established and
account plans have been created. After these high-value customers are identified, the marketing
team will create campaigns, assets, and messaging that targets these accounts.

As you can see, account planning can be a huge asset to your business, allowing you to delve
in-depth into each customer profile.

By knowing the customer’s challenges, industry, and goals, you can position your product as
the solution in a much more specific and targeted way, which can help increase close rates.

Now, it’s time to create a plan that can help you jumpstart your account planning efforts.
 Module 3
Account Planning can also be referred to as brand planning or strategic planning. Client service managers are
responsible for all the objectives set out by the client. They connect agency’s creative efforts with advertisers’
needs, from leading the first meeting on a new account to researching media outlets for a campaign. Account
planning and client servicing are often interchangeably used. There is a rise in digital and social media and
lines are quickly blurring between various communications disciplines with a change in the technological and
consumer environment. This has led to placing demands to be multi-dimensional on the Planners so as to be
able to service the client well and do good for the brand. Digital is the new trend with the media converging
and the data being used in real time. Account Planners need to keep pace with these changes to remain
relevant.

Account planning process

 The process of account planning starts with understanding the client’s business. The
marketing department of client may provide the necessary information to the agency in
respect of client’s business and its marketing efforts. This data is further extended with
some other considerations to form Marketing Brief .These considerations are - current
market conditions, target market for client’s product, competitor’s strategy, existing or
future demand for product or service, client’s marketing objectives etc.
 SWOC analysis of client’s business is carried out at this stage, aiming to obtain
information about internal and external environment that helps to determine advertising
objective. This further leads to decide the advertising task to be performed and the
advertising message to be conveyed in order to achieve the objective.
  Accordingly creative brief will be prepared with the intent to send a message to the right
target group in the right manner. Creative brief is based on demographics and
psychographics of the target audience, what should be the message theme, what factors
should be stressed in advertising to reinforce the client’s message etc.
 Creative brief is then communicated with creative department for further development of
advertising. Creative department explores all its creative skills of visualizing and bringing
out the innovative concepts, which will catch the eye of target audience.
 Before producing the finished ad, it will be presented before the client for approval. Once
approved, it will be sent to production department.
 The finished ad is then placed in selected media. Timely execution of the ad is ensured.
The last but important step of account planning is to monitor the performance of the
campaign.
Key steps
Use an account planning template.
Summarize your customer’s business strategy.
Know your customer’s key business initiatives.
Understand your customer’s organizational chart and key players.
Audit your customer’s products and revenue.
Analyze your customer’s competition.
Outline the buying process and selling points for prospective contacts.
Establish a strategy for growing your relationship with your customer.
Identify sales opportunities, targets, and risks.
Create an action plan.
Review your plan with your customer.
What makes a good Account planner?
Account managers play a vital role in helping to establish the estimated costs for an
advertising campaign, which helps to set the project's budget. This requires strong analysis skills
when dealing with data, good organizational and critical thinking skills.

1. Creative & open mind for the Big idea and its execution: They need to think
strategically and conceptualise different aspects of a campaign as an account planner. It
 starts with the identification of problems that need to be addressed and then making a
clear judgment on the intended effects (role of advertising, target consumer, desired
responses). This also demands to have an intuition about people, brands and advertising.
With the 360-degree approach being taken by brands nowadays, you also need to know
both the potential and limitations of advertising and find alternative strategic routes for a
given problem at hand. There has to be passion for Advertising and Creative Process.
2. Curiosity about consumers: Since an account planners have to lie very close to the
consumer, it is the curiosity that will keep them well knitted to the profession. An
effective account planner has the curiosity about what makes people act and think the
way they do and is detailed enough to examine a problem from different perspectives
without losing sight of the big picture. They need to be logical and analytical, yet capable
of lateral thought with a pragmatic approach to problem-solving.
3. Effective Communication Skills: An account planner has to have good presentation
skills. You need to be able to argue a point of view coherently and concisely and they
should not be afraid of big or senior audiences. They need to ‘win’ an argument in a way
that it favours your client. Being a quick-thinker helps to be an effective communicator
since they need to come up with an argument quickly while presenting.
4. Aptitude for Research Interpretation: A good account planner must be able to
visualise the meaning and draw a conclusion from data retrieved from the market
research. It is always good to have a rationalistic approach and not to take anything on
face value. They also need to challenge assumptions till everything comprising of
quantitative and qualitative research, sales information, competitive information, etc. is
making sense
5. Be a Team Player: This is one of the major characteristics of being an account planner.
An account planner works with a lot of people within and outside the organisation and
peoples’ skills become very crucial, therefore. He/she needs to definitely be a team player
- someone who can appreciate and use inputs from others and work without letting
hierarchies come into play. He/she needs to be really involved and the involvement
should be genuine else people won’t give out what they are actually feeling. Occasional
criticism is definitely required without being territorial, defensive or paranoid.
 Role of Account planner
The Account Planner acts as the bridge between the customer and the agency’s account, creative,
and media teams. He/she gathers insights into customer attitudes and needs through both quantitative
research and qualitative research (that includes focus groups) and competitive analysis and then
translates customer insights into advertising, brand, and creative strategies.

Lisa Fortini-Campbell has outlined 5 broad roles for Account Planning:

discover and define the advertising task

prepare the creative brief

be involved in creative development

be present the advertising to the client

track the advertising’s performance

In most agencies, Account Planners spend most of the time with the ¿rst role i.e. discovering and
de¿ning the advertising task. This is taken over by everyone else later. There are very few Account
Planners who play an active role in creative development once the advertising task has been de¿ned. It
is also a function of the creative team seeing value additions from the Planners and actively seeking
inputs from them.

The key focus of an account planner should be to facilitate great, relevant and effective advertising. This
may come about through consumer research, everyday observations about life and people, a deep
understanding of the category. Rest everything is an add-on.

Therefore, planners need to re-focus on the Creative Brief and make them play an active role in creative
development, not just in number crunching. It is even more important in the context of new media
proliferating today.

Advertising Account Planning: Planning and Managing an IMC Campaign by Larry Kelley, Donald W.
Jugenheimer

Hitting the Sweet Spot: How Consumer Insights Can Inspire Better Marketing and Advertising by Lisa A.
Fortini-Campbell

The Art of Client Service: The Classic Guide, Updated for Today’s Marketers and Advertisers by Robert
Solomon Ɣ The Practical Pocket Guide to Account Planning by Chris Kocek
Account Planning Group, L. (2007). Retrieved from Colectivo
Planner:https://colectivoplanner.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/
whatisaccountplanning_nov2007revised.pdf

Bapna, A. (2012). Retrieved from The Economic Times: ‡ https://

economictimes.indiatimes.com/importance-of-account-planners-inadvertising-and-the-digital-age/
articleshow/11620064.cms

Gangal, A. (2018). Retrieved from Afaqs: http://www.afaqs.com/ news/story/53594_50-Years-of-

Account-Planning-Researchers-tobrief-writers-to-the-CMOs-brand-glue Ɣ Samosa, S. (2012). Retrieved
from https://www.socialsamosa. com/2012/07/the-role-of-account-planning-in-a-digital-world

Thiagarajan, S. (2015). Retrieved from Ad Age: http://www. adageindia.in/advertising/the-art-of-client-

servicing-is-it-a-science/ articleshow/48137896.cms

Preparation is a skill that can be learnt and which, with discipline and
experience, improves over time. For some, planning and preparation may
come naturally but for others, they invariably prefer to meet and deal with
challenges and problems as they arise. The difference between being reactive
and proactive is preparation.  And the advantage of preparation is that you
can manage problems more quickly and more efficiently because you will
already have the solutions at hand ready to be implemented.
The importance of preparation cannot be stated enough. Planning and preparation are
not always the most fun daily activities but, a certain amount of time and effort is
necessary to prevent stress and last-minute issues. You need to be active and plan to
deliver.

Preparation is about doing work in advance to be ready for the next step. Allow yourself
to approach situations with all the information you need beforehand. Your boss or client
has to make critical decisions and contribute to significant business discussions. They
need all the facts clear in their mind before they walk into a meeting to be effective in
their role.

Lack of preparation typically results in stress and anxiety because you have to provide
documentation or solutions without the time you need to do it properly. When you are working
ahead of time, you have time to do the job properly, think carefully about what you are doing,
and get any extra information you need.
1. Planning

Whenever a new task, meeting date, or project comes across your desk, schedule
some time in your calendar to prepare for it accordingly. Think about how you will
achieve your objectives, what you need from other people to help you, and any
challenges you have to deal with beforehand.

This might include a reminder to contact a colleague for a plan for a meeting. For
example, if you are involved in a new project, set aside time to read through the subject
matter and determine what meetings or information you will need to complete your
responsibilities.

2. Listening

You will spend much less time preparing if you learn to listen carefully to what your
colleagues are saying. Listen to their opinions about projects and how things are
working right now. You can then identify how this will impact your workload and the
requirements of your boss or client.

3. Problem-solving

Even with super-human preparation skills, you cannot avoid things occasionally going
wrong or issues cropping up unexpectedly. However, you can learn to be quick and
creative at problem-solving, so you are confident you can deal with any unexpected
events quickly. One way of getting more effective at problem-solving is making time in
your preparation to think about anything that could go wrong and what you will do if it
does. You will soon be able to identify likely issues and develop a list of ways you will
deal with them at the last minute.

4. Time management

The importance of preparation is so critical, and it can also help you find if something is
worth doing. Few things waste your time more than working on the wrong project. So it
is wise to check first if something is worth doing. Is it the best use of your time and
resources? Is there another project that can give you a better return on your
investment? Spend time to find out whether or not the project is feasible. The time
saved from not doing the wrong project far outweighs the time spent researching it.

5. Efficiency

Preparation helps you find the most efficient way to do things. Once you decide that a
project is worth doing, the next step is finding the most efficient way to do it. Virtual
Assistants who do not decide on the most efficient way will use the first method they
can think of or ones with which they are familiar.

The chance is there are other methods out there that can do things better and faster, so
do some research to find them. One good way is by watching how the best people in
your field work. Find several models and observe the advantages and disadvantages of
their methods. Pay special attention to methods that are radically different from what
you know. Then combine the best techniques to create something that suits your style
and situation.

6. Learning and Growing

Preparation prepares you for an opportunity, and you should not prepare yourself only
when you have a project ahead. You should keep building your skills and knowledge
even when there is no project. Keep learning, keep growing, and open your eyes. That
way, when the opportunity comes, you will be ready to grab it.

Avoid Being Over-Prepared

Danger: you could be over-prepared. Being over-prepared is dangerous because you

may take action way too late or never take action. Even worse, some people use
preparation as an excuse not to take action. Do not let this happen to you. Do only the
preparation that significantly contributes to your project and your personal growth.
Prepare well but do not over-prepare.

Remember: planning and preparation aren’t always the most fun activities in your day-
to-day. However, a certain amount of time and effort is necessary to prevent stress and
last-minute issues. You need to fulfill what you are accountable for in the workplace.

Preparation convinces you that you can achieve your goal or

the task before you. Once you start believing in yourself, you
will go ahead and also believe that you can reach excellence.

“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can
achieve.” ~ Napoleon Hill

Being prepared may be defined as making ready beforehand for

a specific purpose. It can be an event or occasion. It is a tool to
polish our abilities to react appropriately in an expected
situation or challenge.
Being prepared eliminates confusion and provides clarity. It also
quickens our response time. That is why every single military
force in the world has to carry out training every day.

This preparation keeps them ready and never get caught off
guard. Be it a veteran or a recruit, everyone has to be prepared,
every single day.

Being prepared is useful in personal or professional life. Well,

the latter is a tad bit more important. One has to be prepared to
face clients and answer all their queries.

1. Understand

It is vital to understand what you are preparing for and why you
are doing it. You should also know all the objectives and what
you are trying to achieve.

Understanding what you’re doing can help you get a clearer

picture. If you know where you want to go, then you will know
what to focus on.

2. Pace Yourself

Preparation is not all about how fast you can complete a task. It
is also about how accurately you can do it. Prepare for success
by pacing yourself.

In other words, you might need to go over a particular area

multiple times to understand it correctly. It might seem tiresome
but that is the whole point of prep time. You practice over and
over to master it by smoothing out the rough edges.
3. Focus

It is important to focus while preparing. You need to focus on

things that you need to do to become successful.

Initially, you might not be good in certain areas, but constant

practice and complete focus will make you competent in the
earlier deficient area. The work that you put in on bettering
yourself will also help you mentally and physically.

Being Prepared Enhances Self Discipline

In this sense, I am talking of the discipline of having a routine or habit,

not the discipline to control or regulate, although forming a good habit
is a form of self-control and regulation.

When we routinely prepare ourselves for the predictable or unexpected

events in our lives, we enhance our own self-discipline. In my opinion,
self-discipline is one of the foundations to living a happy life. The act of
becoming prepared means that we discipline ourselves to make the
time to prepare. We get over the feeling of “I don’t feel like doing this
now” we put off procrastination, we dump the excuses and we
become mindful with what we are doing and ourselves.

Being Prepared Enhances Our Strategic Thinking

If you’re like me, as you are preparing for that meeting, vacation, or
dinner with a friend you are having an internal dialogue with yourself.
You may be thinking of the meeting agenda, or the presentation you
have to give, you may be thinking of what you need to prepare for your
vacation all the tasks you need to complete, what to pack in your
suitcase, check your travel insurance etc.

The more complex the task, the higher degree of strategic thinking is
required. None of us is born master strategic thinkers; it’s a skill that is
born through practice and experience. Regardless of what you are
preparing for, you can hone this skill. Unbelievably as you look out
your window each day before you dress, your brain has already thought
a thousand strategic thoughts in preparation for getting you to your
destination appropriately clothed, dry, on time and in one piece. We
may not always recognise our thoughts as being strategic but each act
of preparation is honing these skills.

Being Prepared Increases Our Flexibility

If you are self-disciplined and open to thinking strategically there is a

possibility that your thought processes will expand with fluidity and
flexibility. Not everyone who is self-disciplined and thinks strategically
is able to be flexible in his or her behaviour but this is a skill that we
develop.

So think about it. You are preparing for a customer presentation, you
know what they expect, what you can offer and yet while hoping that it
will run smoothly you are aware that problems may arise. Therefore,
part of your preparation will be to look at those potential hiccups and
do some scenario planning. As you work through different scenarios,
you will prepare for different outcomes. This is flexibility and it is the
foolhardy who are unprepared for change or unwilling to be flexible. By
preparing to be flexible, we are also building a critical trait to have,
namely resilience.

Being Prepared Develops Our Resilience

Resilience is that ability to become strong, healthy, or successful again

after something bad happens. As we develop all our other skills, we
often spend little time developing that of resilience.

Unless you have done the preparation, thought it through, evaluated all
the known scenarios you will always be shocked by the unforeseen or
by failure. It is in preparation that we develop our mental resilience
and it is through failure that we develop a life of resilience. We all know
that not every plan leads to success and it is through failure that we
reach success, but often being unprepared leads to a bitter taste in the
mouth.

Having resilience allows us to stand up eight times after we’ve been

knocked down seven and to continue on our course, making
adjustments and realignments.

Before anything else, preparation is the key to

success — Alexander Graham Bell
Skills required

Research skills

Management skills

Problem solving aptitude

Technological skills

Interpersonal skills

Preparation on

Consumer insights

Market situation

Brand story

Stories have a great persuasive force because our episodic memory stores them effortlessly and brings
them back to us when we see or hear about the product again, unlike numbers and specific data (Wala
2015, p. 170). Therefore, products which tell stories are no longer foreign to consumers, since they
know a great deal about them and products people associate with emotions and stories are called
brands. Telling just any story would not have a lasting impact, because the content of the narrative, as
well as the style, are fundamental. The starting point of the story should be an item present at the core
of the brand, it should describe the brand and be in tune with its values. It is also crucial that such
narratives should not be used for image boosting at any cost. Ethical factors have to be always taken
into consideration. The experiments described in the previous chapter proved that storytelling can set
and even measure the value of a product. Told in a witty manner, by someone who has the talent to do
so, simple stories can have great power especially upon those audiences that can be immersed into
them due to their previous life experience. This study is of exploratory nature with the aim of a better
understanding of the process of storytelling in general and an assessment of its role especially in relation
to branding. It has taken into consideration some of the formulated theories, definitions and research
that has been carried out on the matter in different fields and has provided several examples from the
field of advertising and branding, in order to provide a larger picture. The ideas presented are by no
means an exhaustive elaboration of the theoretical and empirical potential, but the findings can be
taken into consideration for further research on the matter.
. https://www.statista.com/statistics/253349/brand-value-of-sports-businessesworldwide/,
(06.02.2018). 14. http://twixorigin.weebly.com/background.html, (25.04.2017). 15.
http://libertyblog.org/2013/07/politwix-are-left-and-right-really-different/, (25.04.2017). 16.
https://www.hipp.de/ueber-hipp/unternehmen/historie/, (25.04.2017). 17.
http://www.montblanc.com/en/discover/history.html, (25.04.2017). 18.
http://www.montblanc.com/en/collection/writing-instruments/great-charactersedition/111045-john-
f_-kennedy-special-edition-fountain-pen.html, (26.04.2017).

Elements

Your brand lives and influences customers as a part of an intrinsic relationship

that shapes the social story of the world. That’s why powerful storytelling
matters to the success of a brand in a highly competitive market.

Adding storytelling to your marketing helps humanize your brand. After all,
you’re not selling to goats — are you? Connect authentically with your
customers by utilizing these five essential elements of brand storytelling.

1. Unique Brand Narrative

Brand value is linked with its story. The benefits a company provides to its
customers are communicated in the who, what, why and how of brand
storytelling. Who are you? What are your values? What makes you unique?

What’s your origin story that makes you a superhero among brands? Think of
a brand narrative as your company’s strategic statement that you pull from to
create conversation and community with your audience. Find your
uniqueness, and create a narrative of up to 500 words. Touch on the brand’s
history and its evolution. Discuss future goals, giving back, essential products
and services and beliefs.

Pull quotes and relevant details from this narrative to integrate into
interviews, guest posts, campaigns and the company website. Use the power of
the brand narrative wisely.

2. Know Your Target Audience

Classic marketing truths never die — know your target audience. That means
more than demographics — although, those are part of the equation. Your
audience consists of more than numbers. They are flesh and bone, and you
need to get to know them like the well-rounded personas they are.

Start with one character. Who is this person? What do they need? How do they
go about their day? Defined personas help you fill out your storyline, so you
tell the right story to your target audience with the right timing. Knowing your
target audience ensures your message gets across.

Take a look at your present audience and competitor audiences. Use tools to
listen socially and collect brand mentions and other data to analyze sentiment
among followers. Look at what content delivers the best quality that converts
and creates conversation among influencers and audiences. Combine this with
your demographic and other qualitative information, such as age, location,
income, interests and more. You’ll have more than one persona to cultivate
stories for and reach, depending on your objective.

3. Data Plays A Supporting Role

Don’t make statements. Tell stories. Within brand storytelling, data plays a

supporting role. Interpret data with originality to make stories believable,
engaging your audience and converting them into buyers all at once. For
example, every photo on National Geographic’s social media pages tend to
come with a personal story, and they may also include data points to drive
home the need to care more for the environment and specific species.

This element evokes a wider range of emotions and reactions from your
audience, from humor to rational thought. The more deeply you engage with
your audience, the better — people like content that makes them pause and
think.

4. Campaigns Serve Roles In Audience Stories

Many marketing campaigns include themes, but they’re more of a plug-and-

play strategy. Powerful brand storytelling organizes campaigns so that they
serve roles in audience stories.

Teams return to their target audience and thoroughly imagine their stories.
They must ask where this particular campaign fits into the audience’s story.
What role does it serve? What persona is it reaching this time? Through what
medium? Then, teams outline their storytelling within the framework of the
campaign — there may be a series of stories that the audience follows over
time to reach the final objective, but they’re hooked. They can’t help it.

5. Make It Personal

This one is obvious — make it personal. You can list the amenities of a
beautiful hotel room with a display of panoramic views, but your storytelling
gets more mileage and reach when it gets personal.

THE SIX ELEMENTS

1) Clarity
Be clear and direct with what you want to say and how you say it. Tell your audience who
you are, what you do, why you’re doing it and who you’re doing it for – all while
remembering that you’re speaking as your brand.

2) Character 
Incorporate your brand’s voice and personality. People often see organizations as profit-
driven ‘its’, so use your story to change their mind. Show – don’t tell – your audience that
behind your organization are real people. Humans just like them, with real feelings, values
and experiences. Humanize your brand and show people that your organization cares,
empathizes and stands for something important.

3) Consistency
Keep your messaging consistent everywhere: not only with what you say, but how you act
and how the people in your organization present themselves. If your brand story clearly
dictates that you are dedicated to fighting climate change and keeping the world clean and
green, you can’t have your employees’ actions contradicting that. Consistency – among all
aspects of your brand – is key.

4) Authenticity
People can tell the real from the fake from a mile away. Your current and prospective
clients will be able to tell if you’re being genuine or putting on a show to increase
your organizations metrics.

5) Emotion
People are driven by emotion – often more than logic – so being able to evoke an emotional
response from your audience is a must. Emotion drives action and you want people to take
action.
6) Audience
Know your audience. Who are you telling your story to and why should they care to hear it?
Who is going to have the greatest response and benefit from what you’re doing?

What is a brand story?

A brand story is the core essence of a brand, expressed through simple
brand narratives and design, that evoke emotional reactions in the target
audience and helps them to connect to the brand.

The ’emotion’ part is very important because people don’t always buy
the lowest-priced item or make their decisions solely on logic. People
buy based on how they feel about a brand.

That feeling could be anything from familiarity, trust, or even personal

relationships (like you know someone who works there).

Your brand story includes factors like your origin, experience, mission,
product, pricing, quality, purpose, values, location, recommendations,
and the experience your audience has interacting with you and buying
from you.

Why is brand storytelling

important?
Think of any small business you buy from and evaluate why you buy
from them.

When I had to buy my son’s first walking shoes, for example, I ditched
the big brands to go to a small store that specializes only in children’s
shoes. The store owner used to work in the shoe industry. She explained
to us what kind of shoes we should buy to help my son walk better,  and
personally helped us to pick out the right shoes.

Brands build awareness and set you apart

A brand is a promise of value and experience that makes an impact. It is
a personality, a purpose, a message, a voice, a set of values and beliefs.
It is YOUR value, and it is unique. Brand life cycles are longer than those
of products.

Stories connect to the heart

Stories promise emotional experiences and benefits for consumers,
whereas products promise primarily direct functional benefits.

Research shows that people buy more based on emotions, then use

rationals to justify the emotional decision. So investing in brand
storytelling, instead of simply creating marketing messages about your
products, can move your target audience from considering your product,
to actually purchasing it.

A brand story can attract investment

Besides attracting clients and leads, a well-told story through a brand,
with a clear vision, not only has the ability to let your audience connect to
you and buy from you, but also gain trust and investment from venture
capitalists and other financial investors.

Essential elements of a brand

1. Customer Focus
A brand’s biggest objective should be to match its core offer with the
needs of its specific audience. So your customer should always be at the
center of all that your brand does.

2. Uniqueness
A brand needs to stand out. Every brand should have a differentiated
positioning and a unique value proposition, even for a niche audience.
3. Simplicity
The core offer, positioning, and promise of a brand have to be simple,
clear, and easily understood. If your brand offer and messaging are too
layered, your audience will have to work hard to understand and connect
with you, in which case they simply won’t.

4. Authenticity & Heart

A brand needs to be honest, transparent, meaningful, and true to its
stated values. Only then can it touch the audience’s hearts with its
story. 77% of consumers buy from brands that share their values.

5. Credibility
A brand needs to have a reason-to-believe on why it can claim a
particular expertise. Your brand can claim that it creates the best or the
most low-cost product, for example, but how it does that, needs to be
believable to your audience.

6. Consistency
A brand should maintain the same tone and message at each
touchpoint. Together, all the messages will create a consistent image
subconsciously in the minds of the audience, about what the brand
stands for.

7. Fulfillment of the promise

A brand promise is the core offer of a brand, about how it can make the
lives of its audience better. To gain and retain the trust of your audience,
just ensure that your brand consistently delivers the value you promised.

How to craft

1.  Define your story

Identify what your brand truly and proudly stands for. What it wants to
achieve, why it exists, what value it offers, what its personality is like,
and how it wants to change the world. It is very important to be true and
authentic at this stage. Otherwise, your business journey may not be
impactful or sustainable.

2.  Design your brand

Develop an external brand identity that represents your story perfectly.

The brand identity, the tone of voice, and the customer experience will
translate the story from paper to a real-life existence.

3. Craft your message

Create the perfect way to talk about your brand. What your brand offer
is, the benefit you offer your audience, the actual story woven together
with a specific set of words, that you can share at any networking event
or 5 min conversation.

There are 3 kinds of messaging you could create for your brand:

1. Brand Message

2. Tagline

3. The full one-page story

1.  Brand message

The brand message is the direct brand benefit, the specific problem
solved by the brand. This you MUST have.

Here are some examples:

FedEx: The World on Time

Citibank: The Citi Never Sleeps

Subway: Eat Fresh

Your brand promise and message are very important as these would be
the first messages your audience will see on your website.

Brand story
The final step is about how to write a brand story, and the words you
choose to describe your business or brand are particularly relevant. See
the brand story framework below, for the different elements of the story
you should create, and which section of your brand story definition you
can draw inspiration from.

Element: Who the brand (the protagonist) is, and what are its
origins.

Inspiration: positioning statement

Element: Why the brand was launched: to solve which problem? For

whom? Why does it do what it does?

Inspiration: audience, brand purpose, mission, values

Element: How does it solve the problem now?

Inspiration: Unique Value Proposition, brand promise, marketing

message, brand tagline

Element: What is the character of the brand? How does it conduct

its business, and how does it behave when it offers the solution to
the problem? What does it believe in, and feel strongly about?
Inspiration:  Tone of voice, look and feel, personality, values, and
customer experience

Element: What does the brand plan to do in the future? What

change will it create in the world?

Inspiration: Brand vision

In the end, remember, that every single thing you say and do is a
reflection of your brand.

What makes a compelling brand

story
As you craft your brand story, remember that a story that connects best
with its customers will have the following aspects in common:

1. It is human
Stories that connect best are those that have a human(is) in the brand
background. After all, businesses don’t just appear in the world.
Someone, somewhere, starts one. A brand story that can talk about the
origin and value of the people behind a brand, is one that can easily
connect to the target audience.

2. It is simple
You don’t need to add layers of information to your brand story. The
simpler it is, the better. Simple stories are easier for people to connect
with.

Think of it simply in this structure:

 A hero has a problem or an inspiration

  The hero thinks of a solution or an idea
 The hero implements the solution

3. It is emotional
Don’t you remember and share with others those stories best that make
you laugh, cry, or be surprised? It is the same with brands. A brand that
has a powerful mission and vision, based on changing the world, making
a difference, and genuinely providing value, will draw at your customer’s
heartstrings and inspire more connection.

4. It is memorable
As mentioned earlier, a brand has to be unique. Otherwise, you’re just
one more entity in a sea of billions. And it is this uniqueness that makes
you memorable. You don’t have to be unique in all aspects of your story.
You could share a mission with another brand, for example.

Problems with story

The notion of brands telling stories, presumably stories that customers will
find sufficiently intriguing to motivate trial or cement loyalty, is both
admirable and flawed.

Admirable… in that at its best, storytelling is an irresistible marketing elixir.

Flawed… in that many brands simply don’t have interesting stories to tell.

Storytelling can illuminate the value proposition, help the consumer better
appreciate its components, evaluate its benefits, and determine its
appropriateness.

But not every brand was born in a garage and nurtured with a founder’s
foresight and grit.

And not every brand can backpack into rainforests in search of elusive and
differentiating organic ingredients.
 The three most common mistakes I see businesses make when it comes to brand
storytelling are described below.

Not understanding what brand

storytelling is
Many people think brand storytelling is about a logo or a tagline. Maybe even a slick
corporate video or a TV commercial. Some think it’s a timeline of your company or the
purpose, vision and values stated on a page. It’s not.

Brand storytelling is a deliberate and sustainable approach to authentically

communicate your brand, internally and externally. This is achieved by proactively
finding multiple stories and sharing them in a variety of ways.

Thinking it is only one story

You cannot communicate your entire brand in one story. Many companies make the
mistake that brand storytelling is all about sharing the story about why the company
started. While this is an important story to share, it’s essential to consider a variety of
stories. I encourage companies to look for five types of stories:

 Creation stories explain why a product was created or why the company was founded. Be
careful not to confuse a timeline with a story when telling it.
 Culture stories showcase employees living the company values or sharing what those values
mean to them personally.
 Community stories explain how the company or its employees are doing good things to benefit
the community.
 Customer stories present the diversity of your customers or what your employees are doing for
customers.
 Challenge stories reveal how the company has responded to specific challenges across the
business spectrum.

Not defining the brand

Companies need to be clear on their brand and how they want to be described by
employees and customers alike. If an organisation does not have a clearly defined
brand detailing things such as mission, vision, purpose and values, then it is very
difficult to know what types of stories to share.
 An Overview of the StoryBrand Framework

The StoryBrand Framework is a marketing strategy that helps businesses to

connect with their customers through storytelling.

Building this framework is based on the idea that all customers have a story,
and businesses need to understand their story in order to create a connection.
The framework consists of seven elements:

 A character
 Has a problem
 And meets a guide
 Who gives them a plan
 And calls them to action
 That helps them to avoid failure
 An ends in success

A Character

Your StoryBrand 7-part (SB7) framework should begin with a character, your
customer (or potential customer) who wants something. In movies, writers
identify the hero at the start of the movie and, within a matter of minutes, the
audience knows what they want. What does your character (your customer)
want?

For example, if 12 minutes into The Bourne Identity the audience still doesn’t

know exactly what Jason Bourne wants, they’re going to walk out.
When you define something your customer wants, you invite them into a very
specific story… your customer should be positioned as the HERO in your
story. Most businesses place themselves at the centre (about us… we’ve
been in business since 1977, we support charities, we do this, we do that….
Blah, blah, who cares?) Your customer is looking for you to invite them into a
story.

Ask: What do my customers want as it relates to my brand? Is my brand

known for one thing it offers?

You must summarise what you offer in just a few words, as simply as
possible. The entire SB7 framework is about simplifying and clarifying your
marketing message so customers connect. If you throw out multiple solutions
to multiple problems, you’ll be ignored. The human brain just isn’t made to
process that many storylines.

If your customer has to think too hard, you will lose their attention and they will
bounce to another website, or forget your marketing message entirely. You
have to be known for something, preferably one thing.

Has a problem

Each day we are bombarded by marketing messages and almost none of

them stick in our brain. Think about it, today alone, you will be served at least
3,500 pieces of marketing information.

 Social media ad’s

 Google Search ad’s
 Billboards
 Bus Advertising
 Television
 Radio
 Display ads on websites
 Storefronts
 Magazines
 Newspapers
 The list goes on…

Here is a challenge for you: from all of the ad’s you saw/heard today, name at
least three brands/products. I do this exercise all the time with my audiences
and I have yet to find someone that can name even two. This is why MOST
marketing is a waste of money. Get clear with your message, use the
StoryBrand framework so that it connects with your audience…. This SB7
framework is rooted in science.

If your message is clear and demonstrates how it can solve your customer’s
problem, people are more likely to keep this information stored in their brain.
The only reason people are calling you, going to your website, or walking into
your retail store is because they have a problem and they need you to solve
that problem.

When you define that problem for your customers and offer to resolve it, they
will be interested.
Ask yourself: Have you clearly defined the problem your brand solves?

And meets a guide

This is a big paradigm shift for most marketers.

Customers aren’t looking for a hero. They’re looking for a guide. If you
understand this important principle, you’ll change how you talk about your
business. Your potential clients don’t need another hero. They need a guide.

Donald describes in detail how to position yourself as a guide. But, the first
step is understanding your role in your customer’s story:

 You’re not Luke Skywalker. You’re Yoda.

 You’re not Katniss Everdeen. You’re Haymitch.
 You’re not James Bond. You’re Q.

So in SB7, when your customers come to you, don’t talk about

what you’re trying to do or how great you think you are. Lay out your products
and services as weapons that will help them solve their problem and live
happily ever after.

Ask Yourself: Are you positioning yourself as the guide? Or like most brands,
are you the hero?
 Who gives them a plan

If you have answered the questions so far, this is farther than most companies
get with their customers, but it’s too soon to ask them for the sale.

If you ask for the sale now, there is still a gap between where they are and
where they need to go. Pulling out their wallet is scary. If they spend money,
they might lose money. If it doesn’t work, they may be embarrassed.

How do you overcome this? You need to give your customers a plan. Just
three or four steps that explain how easy it is to work with you.

For example, a financial advisor might say, I think you can probably retire
earlier than you thought. I have a really easy process that helps you to make
that decision.

1. We meet for an informal meeting.

2. We assess your goals.
3. You get a customized strategy to retire early. If you choose, I can help you execute that
strategy for the rest of your life.

When you give your customers a plan, you’re helping them overcome the
barriers to their success.

Because this element is so important, there’s much more information about it.
The book covers this in more detail, but I think you get the idea for the
purpose of this book summary.

Ask yourself: Do you have a simple plan that makes it easy for your
customers to do business with you?

And calls them to action

Finally, the time has come to ask for the sale or it may be a “transitional Call
to action” (where we ask for their information in exchange for something of
value… this can allow us to nurture the customer until they convert. Here’s
something useful to remember:

Your customers won’t take action unless they are challenged to take action.

As the guide in your customer’s story, you must challenge them to buy
something from you (or take an action) and this challenge must be very, very
clear.

That helps them avoid failure

This is storytelling 101, almost every movie ever written will have examples of
this. Heroes are compelled into action because something is at stake.

 Katniss volunteers for the Hunger Games to save her sister, Prim.
  A retired CIA officer must use all his past connections and skills to rescue his daughter
from an abductor in Taken.
 Michael is thrust into his father’s world of the mafia when his father is shot in The
Godfather.

None of these characters wanted to engage in the action of the story. They
were compelled to in order to avoid a tragic ending (failure).

Your customer is trying to avoid a tragic ending, too. What that means for your
brand is you must clearly communicate the negative consequences of what
will happen to your customers if they do not buy your product or service.

Ask yourself: Have you communicated what’s at stake to your customers?

What are the negative consequences of not doing business with you?

And ends in success

It is important to show customers how your products can positively affect their
lives. What is the “happy ever after”?

Both your website images and your sales copy should help your customers
envision life with their problems solved. Show them what their life can be like
without a dirty kitchen, with greener lawns, with a bigger tax return, or by
being the centre of attention with their new wardrobe.
People naturally steer toward a happy ending if you show them one.

The StoryBrand Framework: A Recap

Donald Miller’s big reveal is, “Your business is not the hero of your brand
story. Your customer is.”  In a world where everyone is spouting off their
features and benefits, Miller recommends you start from your client’s point of
view.

To combat this “me-too,” and “I’m the best” mentality,

marketers and business owners need to find other ways to get their
customer’s attention and break out in the marketplace—and the way to
effectively accomplish this is by putting in the time to think through their
messaging —a good way to do this is through the power of story. Story has
been around since creation. Story has been hard-wired into our brain as a
sense-making device. It helps us understand our environment, situations and
how to achieve our goals. Stories engage our imaginations and hold our
attention for hours on end. 
make your customer the hero and stand out in the marketplace to attract
more customers. This process if called StoryBrand.

The SB7 Framework is a powerful storytelling tool that allows brand owners to
create an emotional connection with their audience by focusing on the seven
universal story points.  SB7 framework (developed by Donald Miller) uses the critical
elements of great stories and provides a simple framework for crafting a brand story that
customers will listen to and helps the brand achieve its full potential.

1. A Character
Make your customer the hero, not your brand.
Every great story starts with a hero. The hero in your business is your
customer. As humans, we all want to become something better: better
hunters, better shooters, more fit, smarter and more wealthy. We also have
personality and character traits like age, income, values, beliefs and interests.
Define your customer as the hero in your ads, emails, website copy, and sales
letter. Once you start defining what your customer wants, they start paying
attention.
Q: How can you make your customer the hero?
Brands that participate in the transformation of their customers win in the
marketplace. 

2. Has a Problem
Every hero in every story has a problem that must be solved. Without a
problem to be addressed (a bomb to diffuse, a girl to rescue or a disaster to
prevent) the story would fall flat and you lose your audience’s interest. It’s up
to you to identify what the problem is and how the hero will overcome this
problem.
Q: What problem does your product or service solve?

A story gets interesting when the conflict is defined. (Source: StoryBrand)

3. Meets a Guide Who Understands
Them
No hero can solve the problem on their own. They can try, but it won’t be as
successful nor as exciting. Luke Skywalker had Yoda (and Ben Kenobi), Cole
Trickle had Harry Hogge, and Neo had Morpheus.

This is how your brand plays the guide:

1. First, you must show Empathy. Empathy means to relate. How can you
empathize with your customer’s problem?
2. Second is Authority. Heroes look to guides who have gone before them. If
you haven’t gone where your customer wants to go, how can you be the
guide?  How have you solved the same problem your customer is trying to
solve? This must be communicated clearly to establish trust.
Never position yourself as the hero in your brand’s story. (Source: StoryBrand)

4. Who Gives Them a Plan

At this point in the story, your customers find themselves at risk. This is the
point where most customers will bounce off your website or find themselves
confused about what you offer. The purpose of giving them a plan is to break
down the steps on what it takes to work with or buy from you. The plan eases
any friction points in the buying process and helps your customer move
forward.
Q: What are the steps your customer must take to work with you?
A plan alleviates confusion or hesitancy about the next step. (Source: StoryBrand)

5. And Calls them to Action

No story can proceed until the hero is called to action. Your customer will not
take action unless they are challenged. You must call them to do something.
 Buy Now
 Schedule A Call
 Sign Up
are all clear call to actions. This language must be repeated over and over
again to make it clear what it is you want your customer to do.
Q: Do you have a clear call to action on your website?
If we don’t have the confidence to ask people to buy from us, they assume our
product won’t solve their problem. (Source: StoryBrand)

6. That Helps Them Avoid Failure

Two forces motivate people: avoiding failure and experiencing success. Every
human being is trying to avoid a tragic ending. Your customer must know how
you will help them be successful.
Q: How will your product or service help your customer avoid failure.
Human beings are sometimes more motivated to avoid a loss than achieve
gain. (Source: StoryBrand)

7. Or Ends in Success
As the guide, you must cast the vision of what success looks like if your
customer uses your product or services.
Communicate through words and images that your product or service solves
your customers’ problems. (Source: StoryBrand)
By understanding these seven principles, you will be able to
 Stop wasting money on ineffective marketing
 Get and keep your customers attention
 Cut through the marketplace clutter of me-too products
 Attract more customers
a

1. CHARACTER (HERO):
Every story has a central character. Stories are engaging when people see themselves in
that character and relate to his journey. In the context of a Brand Story, the Customer is the
Hero, NOT the brand. It is a common mistake to portray the brand as the hero. Even
seasoned marketers fall into this trap often. Placing the customer at the heart of the story
by portraying her as the hero, makes the customer pay attention.
For example, Proctor & Gamble, the global consumer goods company in its “Thank you
Mom” campaign during 2012 Olympics tells a beautiful story with their target customers i.e.
mothers as the central character. The brand connects deeply with their customers
worldwide by telling the story about how mothers bring out the best in their children. The
powerful story garnered $500mn incremental sales for P&G worldwide. 
2. HAS A PROBLEM:
The Hero in the story is trying to achieve something. It could be survival, finding love,
conquering a challenge, finding answers to emotional dilemma etc. But there is somebody
or something which creates impediments on his way. That somebody is the villain. Every
great story needs a villain.
There are three levels of problem that the villain creates in the hero’s life: external problem,
emotional problem and philosophical problem. External problems are generally physical and
tangible in nature. Internal problems are the negative emotions that the Hero experiences
because of the external problem. The Hero might feel frustration, anger, anxiety because of
the external problems that the villain creates. The Philosophical problem in a story is about
something even larger than the story itself. It’s about the why. The philosophical idea that
drives the Hero could be justice, honesty, loyalty etc. The mistake most brands do is, they
 focus only on the external problem whereas what ultimately drives the Hero is the Internal
and Philosophical problems.
For example, customers buying used cars hate dealing with the salesmen and haggling for
the right price. The presence of the salesman is an external problem. Customers feel
dissatisfied even after getting a bargain, as they are not sure about the quality of the car.
This is the emotional problem. CarMax, a US based dealership chain solved this emotional
problem of their customers by eliminating the need to haggle with a car salesman. They
made the prices fixed and assured the customers of the quality of the cars by
communicating stringent quality check process. This improved customer satisfaction and
resulted in business gain.

3. MEETS A GUIDE
“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants” – Sir Issac Newton
In all critical junctures in our lives when we ourselves are emotionally too overwhelmed with
the problems to think for ourselves, we have received guidance from someone who has
helped us calm our nerves and inspired us to take action. Every Hero needs a guide. The
guide, through display of empathy and authority brings emotional resolve in the Hero to take
action. The brand should always position itself as the guide in the story. Many brands make
the fatal mistake of positioning themselves as the hero. This alienates the customers as
they don’t see themselves in the story and they tune out.
For example, Jay Z, the famous rap musician, founded a company which was to be owned
by musicians rather than music studios. The intent was to cut the middlemen and make the
artists keep a larger cut. The stated mission of the company was “getting everyone to
respect music again”. By framing the brand story this way, the brand portrayed itself as the
Hero and showed lack of empathy for its customers. Customers felt there was nothing
about them in the story. Of course, the venture was a failure.
In addition to empathy, the brand should also display authority the brand story, for
customers to trust its advice. Testimonials and awards communicate authority of the
brand.

4. WHO GIVES HIM A PLAN

Once the guide establishes trust with the hero, through display empathy and authority, he
shares his plan for next course of action. A plan instills clarity in the Hero’s mind. In the
context of a brand, plans are of two types: Process plan and Agreement plan.
In a Process plan the brand communicates clearly the step-by-step action that the customer
needs to take to move forward in resolving the problem.
In an Agreement plan, the brand communicates the commitments that they make to the
customer.
A Process plan in the marketing collateral for a B2B IT solutions firm might look like:
1. Schedule an appointment
2. Allow us to create a customized plan
3. Let’s execute the plan together
Spelling out the process plan this way gives the customers clarity on what to do next
without having to spend mental effort to figure out the next steps.
In the Agreement plan, the brand allays the fears of the customer by explicitly mentioning
the commitments the brand is making. An Agreement plan for a retail chain positioned as
‘best deal shop’ could look like – 100% money-back if you find the items cheaper than our
price.

5. AND CALLS HIM TO ACTION:

At this point, the Hero is ready for taking action. He has felt understood and he trusts
the guide’s advice. At this point, the guide must specifically and clearly call him to
action. This final call to action breaks the inertia and jolts the Hero to action.
For example, Amazon has “Buy now” button on every product page. Not having a “Buy
now” button prominently displayed on screen hugely reduces the critical action by
customer which is to BUY.

6. THAT HELPS HIM AVOID FAILURE:

Loss aversion is a powerful motivator. Loss of money or material causes far more
psychological pain than happiness caused by gain of similar amount. This is a well-
established principle now which was the core insight of Prospect theory proposed by Daniel
Kahneman. Hence, communicating what the customer might lose out if she avoids the
suggested action, makes it more likely for the customer to take action.
For example, when Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th President of United States, faced
opposition from a particular conservative politician in passing the Civil Rights Act, he
explained to his opponent that he has to choose on what side of history he wants to be.
Either he helps passing the bill and end up preserving his legacy or be remembered as
someone instigating hate. Spelling out the stakes involved and making the negative
consequences of not taking action clear to the customer, tilts the balance in favor of the
action that the brand wants the consumer to take.

7. AND ENDS IN SUCCESS:

Many a times the brand story-tellers assume that people understand how the suggested
action will transform their life. Hence, they do not specifically mention how their brand
transforms the customer’s life. Painting a vivid picture of future helps people be
motivated to take action. Ronald Reagan shared the vision of making America a shining
city on the hill. Bill Clinton promised to build a bridge to twenty first century.
If brands can include a compelling vision of future for their customers in the story, they
inspire the customers to take action.
CONCLUSION
Story-telling is as old as human civilization. Every age-old human tradition has used
stories to communicate deeper moral and philosophical messages. Hence, embedding
the brand message in a story is the best way to communicate with customers. Using the
SB7 framework outlined above, brands can craft compelling stories, which helps them
break the clutter. It also makes customers pay attention to the brand message. Brand
story allows customers to connect with the brand at a deeper level and customer loyalty
ensues. Use this framework to craft compelling stories and grow your brand.

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1.   Identify your existing accounts. First, list all your current customers. Add any
details you have about them regarding their purchasing habits and company profile.
2.   Caculate potential revenue and success rate. Figure out how much more these
clients may spend and the likelihood that you’ll be able to convert the new sale. You
can use this information to prioritize which accounts to pursue first.
3.   Determine the points of contact and decision makers. Have a detailed
understanding of the persons you have to accommodate throughout the sales
process. That way you know who to address at each stage, especially since new
stakeholders may be involved in each subsequent purchase order or service
agreement.
4.   Understand their needs and motivations. Ask questions about each stakeholder’s
goals, as well as the recent pain points they’ve experienced and the challenges they
anticipate. Learn how they define success in their particular roles so you can offer the
perfect product or service that can help them accomplish that. Also, investigate recent
organizational developments that you can leverage to your advantage, such as
budget shifts or leadership changes.

5.   Compare what they want against your available product and service offerings. In
such complex sales processes, it’s important that business owners adapt their pitches
to focus on the solutions that are among the highest priorities for prospects. The more
insight you have on your buyer’s goals, the easier it is to speak directly to their needs
with a personalized proposal and help them influence a positive purchasing decision
among decision makers on their side.
6.   Evaluate the competitive landscape and risks. You should also analyze and
observe external pressures your clients may be facing, such as increased competition
and loss of market share. The more you know about the elements helping or hurting
 your customers, the easier it becomes to use that information to your advantage to
trigger urgency in purchasing your proposed solutions.
7.   Define current customer concerns. Discover each buyer’s biggest reservations
about your product or service. Whether it’s price, compatibility, training, or something
else entirely, it’s crucial that you know any reasons they would say no so you can find
ways to make a more compelling business case.
8.   Address buyer reservations and close the sale. Use data and illustrate win-win
scenarios that can help customers recognize the additional benefits your company
has to offer. Help your client understand how purchasing a new solution or premium
upgrade can help them achieve more of their organizational goals.
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1. Account Overview

The first step for beginning the key account planning process is to state the basic
information about the key client.

Identify your existing accounts. First, list all your current customers. Add any details you
have about them regarding their purchasing habits and company profile.

 Client name
 Main contact method for client
 Client since: [date]
 Account plan last reviewed
 Relationship strength: It’s advisable to add a rating to remind yourself if a
partnership is solid or shaky. Choose your values (e.g. bad, good, excellent).
 Period of the plan: Don’t assume that it’s annual. It could be quarterly or half-yearly;
remember to align your account plan with your business review cycle.
 Summary overview: Write a couple of sentences detailing any other relevant client
information such as; their industry, major industry news, buying process, and primary
objective.
3. Solution

Now that you have a vision of exactly what your key client wants to achieve, it’s time to
determine what potential solutions you can offer them. To do so, ask yourself these
following questions:

1. How are your offerings currently supporting your key clients’ objectives? (Are they
making the best use of them? If not, what could you do to promote better use?)
2. What else do you offer that could help create the impact they desire?
3. What would be the return on investment for the key client?
4. Can you anticipate any objections they may have to the proposed solution? 
5. What other advice or assistance could you offer to help the client achieve their
goals? 
4. Action plan

We’re halfway through the account planning process. At this point, you know what the
problem is and the solution – now you just have to determine how you’ll make it transpire
into tangible outcomes for your key client. To achieve a robust action plan for your clients,
you’ll need to:

1. Review your client’s objectives.

2. Identify the actions required to achieve said objective.
3. Determine the result of completing said actions. 
Moreover, at this stage, you’ll want to consider what data you can bring to help your client
understand the impact of your action plan. Here are four of the best ways to measure
success that will show an impact you can quantify with data: 

 Cost avoidance: How to improve results without your client spending more.

 Cost reduction: How to achieve the same result but spend less.
 Satisfaction: How to improve the quality or user experience. 
 Efficiency: How to reduce the time involved to achieve objectives. 
5. Change management

Before committing to your action plan, you need to gather support from other stakeholders.
To do this, you need to consider whether the pain of change is worth it and inspire action. 

To get the answers to these questions, you can use Kurt Lewin’s Force Field Analysis. The
analysis model uses Newton’s law of gravity that there is an equal and opposite reaction for
every action. In simple terms, the benefits of taking action have to outweigh the risks of
doing nothing.
For this stage, take your action plan and create two columns; 1. why change is good, and 2.
why change is bad. Below each, write down all your proposed actions’ positive and negative
consequences and assign a strength score to total them up. Once you have the totals,
subtract the good score from the bad score. Ultimately, if the overall score is greater than
zero, your key account plan has a good chance of success. However, if it’s zero or less, your
key account plan is likely to fail.

6. Implementation

Time for the fun part! It’s time to bring your key account plan to life and achieve your
client’s objective. However, first, you must gain some form of accountability, so ask your
client to agree to: 

 The goals (including measurement and actions of your plan)

 Specific task owners, time frames and deadlines. 
 The preferred format of the key account plan (e.g. Excel, Word, google sheets?)
 How it will be accessed (on the cloud or attachments?)
 How often you will update it. (e.g. Bi-Weekly, Monthly Quarterly)
7. Review

Lastly, how often will you review the overall key account plan? We all know things change
over time, and adjustments will be needed as you learn new information about your client
or new valuable opportunities arise. Consider using this review schedule when it comes to
evaluating your key account plan: 

 Bi-weekly: Send clients brief critical activity updates to keep them aligned with key
account plan progress. 
 Monthly: Use a brief 30-minute call to update your client (possibly more if your
client has many objectives)
 Quarterly: Usually a 1-hour key account plan progress report to your client. Include
all success to date, hurdles, unexpected events, new opportunities and outline the
decisions needed to propel the plan ahead.
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