Marketing Activity Plan
I guess you knew this was going to come up sooner or later! However, you must have a marketing plan.
I prefer to use a “marketing activity plan” that shows what marketing tools you’ll be using and when you’ll be activating them. This way you know where you’re going and you know what to do.
Sailing a Ship without a Rudder
Without a plan is like sailing a ship without a rudder – you never know where you’re going to end up – and you might even capsize! You’ll move from side to side and rarely forwards.
Short – Medium – Long Term
Part of the plan must include your short, medium and long-term goals for the business. You should record all your results and measure the effectiveness of every campaign.
Roadmap
Your marketing plan is the tool you’ll use to drive your business forward. Often the best ways to create your plan is start with your goals for the year. Break them down into monthly goals followed by weekly goals. Now you know each week what you must achieve. Now work back and decide what marketing activity you require to generate the sales/profits/client acquisitions. What you’ll be left with is a ‘roadmap’ describing the activity you need each and every week to ensure you hit your targets. You don’t need to go into any more detail.
Long Marketing Plan
What you don’t want is a 40 page marketing plan that gets read once and then collects dust on a shelf. Your marketing plan should be a dynamic working document that is looked at weekly (sometimes daily depending on your operation).
Spend the time right now to plan your success. Mark my words, it will be time very well spent!
