Photo by Nancy Dowd.
With the new year started, many people are starting to think about their annual marketing plan. While it’s optimal to start thinking about this several months before the new year, any start is better than none at all!
Before you can make you plan, you have to know how much you can spend. You’ll need to know your monetary budget as well as how much time you can personally spend on marketing. Be honest about your skill set and hire an assistant or a freelancer to help you with things you’re not great at.
What types of activities go in the marketing plan?
Before you can make you plan, you have to know how much you can spend. You’ll need to know your monetary budget as well as how much time you can personally spend on marketing. Be honest about your skill set and hire an assistant or a freelancer to help you with things you’re not great at.
What types of activities go in the marketing plan?
You may not need all of these – just pick the ones which are the best suited to your business and budget.
Creating your plan
To create your plan, decide which strategies you have the skills (in yourself or a freelancer) and budget for in the coming year. Remember that low-cost sticker prices (such as Facebook being free) still may come with a substantial time investment.
Next, outline what you hope to accomplish this year. Do you want an increase of new customers? To encourage existing customers to buy more? Something else?
With your goals and strategies in place, it’s time to outline what you want to do, exactly. For example, if you decided to focus on social media, email newsletters and events, your plan might look like this:
Adjusting your plan
Remember to keep track of your efforts (in time and money) as well as the return on investments, so you can modify your plan later in the year. If you find you’re paying a consultant to maintain your social media, but you only have 50 Facebook fans and have never had a sale result from it, then you might scale that back. On the other hand, if you spent $300 on a networking group membership fee and got several new customers in a month, you might want to amp up your involvement in the group.
Write it all down!
You would never let your accountant keep your financial records in her head. You wouldn’t let your lawyer utilize only verbal contracts with vendors and clients. So why would you ever keep your marketing plan in your head?
Write your plan down, even if just in a notebook. Write down the tactics you plan to use, your calendar for rolling out new campaigns, and your goals for the year. Don’t rely on remembering it throughout the year.
What tactics are you planning to use this year? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll be sure to write some tips!
- Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Foursquare, etc.)
- Content marketing (blog, e-book, podcast, video, etc. — anything where you have to create the content.)
- Event marketing (planning events presented by your business, such as an open house event)
- Networking (remember to budget for membership fees!)
- Collateral (fliers, brochures, pamphlets, any other paper you hand to prospective clients)
- Direct mail
- Email newsletters
- Advertising (in print, broadcast, or outdoors)
- Speaking engagements
- Media relations
- Charitable marketing (such as donating to auctions at charity events)
- Conventions and trade shows (industry related or direct to consumer)
- Continuing education
Creating your plan
To create your plan, decide which strategies you have the skills (in yourself or a freelancer) and budget for in the coming year. Remember that low-cost sticker prices (such as Facebook being free) still may come with a substantial time investment.
Next, outline what you hope to accomplish this year. Do you want an increase of new customers? To encourage existing customers to buy more? Something else?
With your goals and strategies in place, it’s time to outline what you want to do, exactly. For example, if you decided to focus on social media, email newsletters and events, your plan might look like this:
- Post to each social media network daily
- Send one email newsletter per week
- Host one open house event per quarter
Adjusting your plan
Remember to keep track of your efforts (in time and money) as well as the return on investments, so you can modify your plan later in the year. If you find you’re paying a consultant to maintain your social media, but you only have 50 Facebook fans and have never had a sale result from it, then you might scale that back. On the other hand, if you spent $300 on a networking group membership fee and got several new customers in a month, you might want to amp up your involvement in the group.
Write it all down!
You would never let your accountant keep your financial records in her head. You wouldn’t let your lawyer utilize only verbal contracts with vendors and clients. So why would you ever keep your marketing plan in your head?
Write your plan down, even if just in a notebook. Write down the tactics you plan to use, your calendar for rolling out new campaigns, and your goals for the year. Don’t rely on remembering it throughout the year.
What tactics are you planning to use this year? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll be sure to write some tips!
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