How's your marketing plan? What's that? You don't have one? Or maybe you have a plan that's a bit oudated (pre MySpace, for example). Or, perhaps you have a plan rattling around in your head but, as good as your staff is, they are not able to read your mind. A marketing plan is like a blue print to build your most important asset -- your customer base. Like a blueprint, it needs to be written down.
According to Mark E. Green, founder of Performance Dynamics Group, most business goals fall into three categories:
- “I want more revenue this year.”
- “I want more satisfied clients.”
- “I want to improve the quality of my team.”
One solution to help you reach all of these goals is to create a marketing plan. There are many tools to help with with this task ranging from super simple to super-sophisticated. Here are four suggestions to get your marketing plan off the ground.
- Use my FREE Five Minute Marketing Plan -- For the first time, I've posted complete instructions, as well as the necessary handouts for your to walk yourself and your team through the process. It's like having a virtual marketing trainer.
- Work a Book or Software - Whether you borrow from the library, buy from your local book store or order from amazon.com there are shelves of books and workbooks (some with software) related to all aspects of marketing planning. Some of my favorites are Guerrilla Marketing in 30
Days, Streetwise Marketing Plan and Marketing Plan Pro 6.0 and, of course, my book, 101 Marketing Essentials. - Take a Class - Look to your community college, adult eduation program, professional association or own agency for all levels of classes to plan and execute a marketing strategy. You can even take a marketing class online from the comfort of your desk or at home, in your jammies.
- Train your staff -- Marketing IS everyone's business! Bring in a professional marketing trainer (I can help) to walk your team through simple marketing principles that can be used in the field, at the front line, while planning programs and events and when developing promotional tools.
- Farm it out - In many cases, it may be prudent to bring in outside help to write your plan. Whether you look to a college marketing student or an experienced marketing professional, marketing planning requires some devoted time and expertise. You may not currently have the staff who can commit adequate time to this process. Don't fight it or put marketing planning on the back burner (again.) Look to marketing professionals who intimately understand the unique challenges and opportunities of your "business," target audience, staff, trends.
Good luck and keep me posted!
