· Patrick Rea · ABM · 2 min read
Why Marketing Plans Don’t Work
Have you noticed what happens to most marketing plans?
Why Marketing Plans Don’t Work
Have you noticed what happens to most marketing plans?
Those meticulously crafted 50-page documents that consume weeks of effort before being ceremoniously approved… and then promptly forgotten.
After working with over 300 enterprise businesses across the UK and Europe, I’ve seen a concerning pattern:
⏱️ Marketing leaders invest 40+ hours crafting comprehensive strategies 📊 Documents grow to 30+ pages with exhaustive analyses and projections 🥱 They receive nodding approval in leadership meetings, after a budget tussle 🚨 But then daily urgencies immediately take precedence 🤦♂️ Six months later, sales and marketing still operate from different playbooks
The problem is that the traditional planning process creates documents too cumbersome to guide daily decisions when they’re needed most.
This led us to develop something fundamentally different with a GTM plan for ABM—a visual, two-page framework, a summary that transforms how B2B companies align their sales and marketing teams: 🔄
Where traditional plans drown in market analysis, the ABM framework captures only the essential elements that drive action: clear ICP criteria, mapped buyer journeys, and multi-touch campaign plays that teams actually implement. ✅
Where conventional plans speak in marketing jargon, the visual framework ensures that sales teams intuitively understand and embrace the strategy and tactics. 🤝
Where standard plans become outdated within weeks, this framework serves as a living document teams reference in daily stand-ups and weekly reviews. 🔄
The best plan isn’t necessarily the most detailed—it’s the one that creates alignment to transform how your teams work together every day.
