Waikato Business News October/November 2022

Five-page plan or
back of an envelope?
Are you going with your gut when planning
your marketing activity or following a
detailed plan?
A
few years ago, when
we only talked about
‘HR’ people and ‘People
and Culture’ was a fledgling
concept, the fabulous Anne
Aitken spent the day with my
old team. Through a range of
hugely entertaining exercises,
we soon understood more
about what made each of us
tick.
One particular task that
stuck with me was designed
to help us understand our attitudes
to planning ahead, using
the analogy of how organised
we are for our holidays. We
gathered in the courtyard and,
through a series of questions
and discussion, put ourselves
in order.
At the front of the queue
was the person who needed to
have carefully researched lists,
calendars and itineraries. She
wasn’t going to go anywhere
without detailed scenarios and
back-up options, all carefully
documented.
At the back was the person
who would book last minute,
throw a few things in a bag and
see where life took him.
Back then, I was closer to
the front than the back. OK, I’ll
be honest, I was second from
the front. With number one, I
looked at the tail of the queue
with a mixture of horror and
admiration.
Nowadays, I’d definitely be
further down the line. But why?
Is it that I know I can benefit
from what I’ve learned from
experience? Or that I have a
bit more confidence to be able
to deal with whatever might
knock my plan off course? Or
that I care less about the worry
of facing challenges – so long
as we’re all safe and well, let’s
just go with the flow. If I have
the funds to get out of most
situations, surely, so it’s all
hunky-dory.
Recently, I’ve been comparing
this analogy to that of
marketing planning, and how
attitudes and expectations vary
across my range of people I’ve
been working with.
For some, the fear of getting
tripped up is driven by
the need for high levels of
accountability. Responsibility
to shareholders or funders,
mixed with reputational risk,
sees many organisations have
planning processes that sink
into infinite levels of detail.
This is all well and good, but
some fail to acknowledge the
need for flexibility because, as
the Covid years have taught us,
sometimes things just change.
Being able to write a robust
comms and marketing plan
is a valuable skill. Understanding
and documenting
all the parameters, making
TELLING YOUR
STORY
BY VICKI JONES
Vicki Jones is director of
Dugmore Jones, Hamilton-based
brand management consultancy.
vicki@dugmorejones.co.nz
recommendations to achieve
goals, setting budgets and timings
for tactical activities – all
that’s essential to the smooth
running of any marcomms
activity.
A detailed plan
feels like it will
give you the
reassurance of
having looked at
the options from
every angle
But sometimes I look at
monster-sized plans and baulk
at the thought of the work that
would be needed to change the
plan if any aspect needed to
change, or if one idea didn’t
quite work as expected.
If you run a small business,
WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS, OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2022 15
you probably have personal
pressure and responsibility
for making sure your marketing
money is spent effectively,
so a detailed plan feels like it
will give you the reassurance
of having looked at the options
from every angle.
Planning ahead as far as
you can gives you comfort that
your marketing will maintain
your presence in the minds
of your potential customers,
but maybe don’t carve it into
a block of wood unless you’re
prepared to do some sanding.
Having the knowledge
and confidence to react to
new opportunities or walk
away from ones whose appeal
has waned are vital components
of successful marketing
and communications. A
simple over-arching plan for
your business, with top-level
goals and strategies, is best
supported by a series of tactical
plans, with plans for more
focused initiatives that can be
more bendy in their reaction to
the prevailing winds.
Our holiday-planning
example might see you booking
six weeks in America and,
with a few weeks to go before
you get on the plane, firming
up details of a couple of places
you want to be on certain days.
What happens in between?
Well, those gaps get filled in
closer to the time.
Social media marketing
allows us to be like our colleague
at the end of the line,
and act immediately. But even
our spontaneous traveller
needed passport, visa, access
to cash, just as on over-arching
top level plan should be your
organisation’s essential marketing
guidebook.
Travel well.
Government completes
immigration
re-balancing act…
The recent re-opening of the Skilled Migrant and Parent
residence categories largely constitutes the completion
of the Government’s plans to “re-balance” New Zealand’s
immigration policies, and it is certainly helpful to have
had the uncertainty surrounding these categories
finally addressed.
The Skilled Migrant category (SMC)
has been the main job-based residence
category through which, historically,
more than 50% of all migrants gained
New Zealand residence. The SMC has been
suspended from when New Zealand closed its
borders in April 2020 and there was no resident
visa pathway for migrants until the 2021
Resident Visa began in December 2021 – and
this visa only catered for migrants already
in New Zealand and holding certain types of
work visas. The Green List straight-to-residence
visa, which began in July, also only
caters for some 90 roles and migrants must
additionally meet very particular eligibility
criteria. At least many nurses can now apply
directly for SMC residence and do not have to
go down the Green List 2 year work to residence
route!
The resumption of the SMC was long overdue
because it is an absolutely critical piece
of the immigration puzzle. Many of the skills
that New Zealand desperately needs would
bypass us for other countries as no-one is
going to relocate across the world with their
family if they do not have the security that
they can stay long term. They also need New
Zealand residence to buy a house! The SMC
will resume with the first Expression of Interest
selection draw on 14 November. The Government
has also released a consultation
paper promoting a significant simplification
of the SMC points regime from around mid-
2023.
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586 Victoria Street
Hamilton 3204
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586 Victoria Street
Hamilton 3204
Level 3
50 Manners Street
Wellington 6011
07 834 9222
enquiries@pathwaysnz.com
pathwaysnz.com
The Parent residence category, which
enables parents to join their children in New
Zealand, has been closed since 2016. While
firstly, the Labour opposition, and then the
Labour Government, ran election campaigns
promising to re-open the category this has
been a very long time coming. Some 2,000
parents who have Expressions of Interest
already submitted, and who meet the revised
eligibility criteria, will be able to be approved
for residence in each year. At this rate it is
expected that it will take 3-4 years to clear
the present queue. In addition, new Expressions
of Interest, submitted after 12 October,
will now go into a ballot draw from which 500
parents a year will be able to gain residence.
Children must sponsor their parents for 10
years and need to evidence taxable income
of at least 1.5 times the New Zealand medium
wage – the level of actual income required
also depends on the number of parents being
sponsored and the number of sponsors.
Because every family’s circumstances are
very different there will never be a parent policy
which is “fair and equitable” to everyone,
as it is simply not possible to quantify all of
the humanitarian considerations involved,
and weigh these alongside a family’s financial
standing.
The Government originally announced a
“re-set” of New Zealand’s immigration policies,
and then later amended this to a “re-balancing”.
However, for many of us working in
the immigration industry it just feels like we
are back to where we started!
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50 Manners Street
Wellington 6011