Marketing Playbook: What it is and how to create one

A marketing Playbook is a strategic document that is used to plan, execute and evaluate the marketing actions of a company or a specific campaign .

In this article, I will explain what a marketing Playbook is, what it is for, how to make one, and what benefits it has.

What is a Playbook and what is it for?

A marketing playbook is, essentially, an instruction manual that contains all the information necessary to carry out marketing activities effectively and consistently.

A marketing playbook can include:

• The objectives and goals of the company or campaign.
• The target audience and the buyer persona to whom the marketing actions are directed.
• The key messages and value proposition of the brand.
• The channels, tools and resources that will be used to disseminate the content and generate traffic, leads and sales.
• The assets, templates, and tasks that must be performed to create the content and launch it.
• The performance indicators ( KPI ) and the measurement and analysis methods that will be used to evaluate the results and the return on investment (ROI).

A marketing Playbook serves to:

• Align marketing objectives and strategies with those of the company and other departments.
• Facilitate collaboration and communication between members of the marketing team and other actors involved in the project.
• Maintain quality and consistency of content and brand tone of voice across all channels and formats.
• Optimize marketing processes and practices, taking advantage of previous experiences and learning.
• Save time, resources and money, avoiding errors, duplications and unnecessary actions.

How to make a marketing Playbook in 4 steps?

There are various methods to create a marketing Playbook. The easiest way to make one is to start with the structure, then choose the main topics, and then define who should collect what information.

Here I propose an example of how to do it in 4 steps:

1. Company details : It is a good idea to include in your marketing Playbook an introduction that explains the company's mission, its mission, vision and values, its history and its current situation in the market. This way, you will be able to contextualize the purpose and scope of your marketing actions.
2. Target audience and buyer persona : For your marketing representatives to reach their greatest potential, they must know exactly who they are targeting and what their needs and pains are. Therefore, it is important to define your target audience and your buyer persona, that is, the ideal profile of your client, with their demographic, psychographic, behavioral and motivational data. You can also include the empathy map and the customer journey of your buyer persona, to better understand how they relate to your brand at each stage of the purchasing process.
3. Key messages and lead qualification : In this section, you must establish the key messages that you want to transmit to your audience, both at a general and specific level for each channel and format. These messages must reflect your value proposition, your differentiation and your positioning in the market. Additionally, you must define the lead qualification criteria, that is, the attributes that determine the level of interest and maturity of your potential clients. This way, you can segment and prioritize your marketing actions according to the type of lead you want to capture, nurture or convert.
4. Marketing KPIs : Finally, you must establish performance indicators that will allow you to measure the success of your marketing actions and the return on investment. These KPIs must be aligned with the objectives and goals you have set for yourself, and must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and temporal (SMART). You should also define the methods and tools you will use to collect, analyze, and present the data, as well as the frequency and format of the reports.

Which has benefits?

Creating and using a Playbook has multiple benefits for your company and your marketing team. Among them, the following stand out:

• Improve the planning and organization of your marketing actions, having a global and detailed vision of what you want to do, how, when and why.
• Increase the productivity and efficiency of your marketing team, by having a reference document that guides them and makes their work easier, avoiding confusion, delays and misunderstandings.
• Enhance the creativity and innovation of your marketing team, by having a strategic framework that inspires and motivates them, and by being able to take advantage of good practices and learning from previous campaigns.
• Increase the satisfaction and loyalty of your customers by offering them quality, relevant and personalized content that responds to their needs and expectations, and that provides them with value.
• Generate more traffic, leads and sales by optimizing your marketing actions to attract, convert and retain your target audience, and by continuously measuring and improving your results.

Written by Moises Hamui Abadi : I am an entrepreneur, founding partner of Viceversa and SoyMacho. After leading several digital businesses and advising several other businesses; I decided to form MHA Consulting, a digital marketing consultancy dedicated to growing and enhancing digital businesses in more than 7 countries and generating more than 1,500 million pesos.