You don´t plan real-time marketing initiatives.

It´s like saying you´re going to make a viral video. Forget about tactics. It´s more important to first of all do the right things rather than doing the things right.  

To achieve marketshare growth it´s important to place the brand in the hearts and minds of as many people as possible.  Here´s a few cents on how to do it: 

1. Know who you as brand are and what you stand for. This answer  - one sentence -  should act as your Marketing 101 for everything you do. I.e Pedigree who´s not in this world to feed dogs. But to aspire to loving dogs. That´s their 101 that guides all their marketing initiative decisions. 

2. Observe culture/the brands target group 365 days a year - their interests,what people do - and identify how the brand can lead and add value. I.e Red Bull with everything they do (Helping people to be passionate about their interest for high energy lifestyle activities through content/events etc), Home Depot with their different marketing initiatives(Helping people to create homes), Intel IQ (Helping nerds to show of and facilitating a forum for exchanging ideas, NIKE Fuelband (Helping people succeed in sports - or as a minimum helping people pretending they take care of their health and are suitable mating prospect,  a signal shown by wearing the band on their wrists) 

3. Set goals and main objectives. Collecting data to get more data is useless. Set goals. THEN start collecting the data you need to understand more. 365 days a year. 

4. Create magic. Discovering potential for enhancing the storytelling of the brand that can increase marketshare by observing/analyzing data without acting upon it is useless. Create one or more stories which are always aligned with what the brand stands for. The marketing 101 used as guideline for decisions 365 days a year. 

5. Publish and start develop these stories where people are. Transmedia planning. (The model of a media neutral planning with one idea being executed differently throughout various channels is dead…) Focus on something people can bring to their networks or enhance the possibility of them contributing to it, by creating something of shared interest. Use whatever works best for your story:  Ads on TV, Apps, Sponsoring, Social ads, Mobile, Sites, Social moderation and activation, Events, Print etc.  

You co-create a story with the market. 365 days a year. I.e Mondelez who gathers data(mPulse lab), creates and publish(done by professional storytellers/creatives) stuff 365 days a year (Planning it for all their 65 brands - 10-20 is up and running already. I.e Oreo)  Here´s where most brands fail however. And the reason for it is, beyond that they focus mostly on tactics, is that they do not have professionals who proactive develops and enhance the brands crafted initial storytelling.  Many are good at customer service but the same people seems to be behind really bad attempts at storytelling that worst case can ruin a brand. Especially when it comes to content and real-time marketing. Brands can create their own TV commercial, but understand the importance of letting professional creative storytellers develop and produce it. This understanding is not present when it comes to storytelling in social media. 

It´s important to plan and activate people so that they continue to influence their networks both on- and offline. So that we can operate more meaningful than our competitors in the marketplace.  Which implies that the quality of the STORYTELLING is the most important factor for success. To become part of the stories between people. To resonate emotionally and rationally. The right story. Only then you can start with tactics. Do things right. Also when responding to something unexpected on paid, owned or social media - in real-time.