FAQ's About The Marketing Escalator®


Who should use The Marketing Escalator®?
The Suite is designed to cater for the marketing plan needs of the new business, small business and the medium-sized business. Collectively, these are known as SME's. In addition, the Suite is designed for the lay person, who has no prior knowledge or skills in marketing. Having said that, people with marketing qualifications have already told us that they've learned a great deal from Escalator®, particularly in terms of practical marketing.

Why should I buy the Escalator® when I can download a free template from the Internet?
Go ahead! We even give you a template when you download a free sample marketing plan created using Escalator. A template is worthless unless you know what to write under each heading. And that's the value of Escalator.

Why should I buy the Escalator® when I can get a cheaper program that will help me write a marketing plan in a few hours?
Escalator® is Marketing Plan Creation Suite for people who are serious about writing a marketing plan to grow their business. And who realize that to do this the likes of quick-fix, answer 20 questions, fill-in-the-blanks types of programs don't work and are a waste of your time and money. To create a good plan requires skills, time and application. 

Will the Escalator® give me so called industry-typical templates that I can simply download and edit? 
There is no such thing as an industry-typical template - although you'll find plenty of programs that claim to offer these. If you download and edit these for your own use, you'll get a poor and worthless marketing plan. First, these are often too generalized to be of value to you. Second, they can mislead you into applying strategies that won't work for your business. A good marketing plan comes from matching the opportunities in the market place with the capabilities of your own business. And since every business is unique, every marketing plan is unique. Escalator® will help you write and show you how to write a marketing plan that provides the perfect match for you.

Why then do you say that the Escalator® offers sample plans that apply to my type of business?
In terms of writing a marketing plan, there are only four types of business: new business, b2b, b2c, and b2c via intermediaries (e.g., stores). The main marketing plan differences amongst these four is in the sorts of strategies you would select. In addition, the new business doesn't have historical data to build on so a different approach is required. Escalator provides a sample plan for each of these types. You can download, edit and use these from the "Example" resource.

Will I get any other plan templates that I can download and use?
Yes. Within the Resources Library you'll find selling strategy templates for over 100 different industries and types of business. You can download and adapt these as your own.

When I buy The Marketing Escalator will I own my copy of the program?
When you buy any software program, what you are "buying" is a licence to use the program - you never actually "own" it - and in this respect Escalator is no different.  So, when you purchase Escalator you are buying a licence to use the program. Because Escalator is an online program, the licence you purchase is for a period of three years. During that time, you will have unlimited access to the program and you will enjoy free program upgrades as these become available. With standard programs you would normally have to pay for these. After three years most standard programs will have moved on and you would be looking to buy the latest version, anyway.

What will happen when my three-year licence runs out?
You will be able to renew the licence - at a significanly discounted price. This would be based on the version in use at that time and, of course, subject to the prevailing terms and conditions.

Are any parts of the Escalator® downloadable that I can get to keep no matter what?
Yes. Lots. Of course, you can download and keep all the plans that you create - these are your property. You can also download and keep the 300+ pages of the planning manual, the sample plans, manual sections, examples, your SWOT and Sales Forecast Tables, all the tables, diagrams and spreadsheets in the Resources Library and all the help tools in the Skills & Techniques Library.

How do I access the program when I want to use it?
Simply go online to the Cluedup Marketing website, sign-in (bookmark this page). After you pass through security, this will open your account, which will take you to the program. Using this approach, you can acccess the program from any computer at any time, anywhere in the world and work on your plans.

What are the minimum system requirements for the Escalator®?
The program itself does not take up any space on your computer. It also works with any operating system and the most popular browsers. However, we recommend that, to obtain maximum benefit from the program, your Internet connection is Broadband. 

When I use the Escalator® is my plan data secure?
Yes. Your plans are held in a secure password protected database. No other user can access your plans. As with all password protected systems, please ensure that you keep your password private at all times. The program even has an automatic "security time-out" in case you're using it in a public place and accidently forget to close it.