It is very likely that when I say, “It’s Time to Party”, you don’t automatically think, it’s time to start writing a Marketing Plan. However, that is my version of a party today.
Walking small business owners through the joyous process of developing their first marketing plan is my idea of a celebration. To see the relief on their faces when the before, during, and after the process really makes my day. And I want to be able to share that joy with you.
Today I am going to share with you my 3-Step Marketing Plan Framework. This is a process that really helps to make creating a workable, action-oriented Marketing plan an actual joy to complete.
Step 1 – Start with what we Know
A Marketing Plan at first glance can seem to appear very overwhelming. For instance, the average Marketing Plan that I develop with my clients has approximately 17 pages. That is a lot of content. So my goal is to break the process down into easy bite-sized steps. The first step is to start filling in the basic details that we already know about our business. These basic sections, like addressing your team members, business locations, and company mission statement should be stuff you already have nailed down and we are just copying and pasting.
Step 2 – Get Creative
The second step is to address the parts of the Marketing Plan that you haven’t explored and need to produce. This is where the fun begins because I get the opportunity to introduce some new marketing tactics and strategies that many small business owners either have never tried or haven’t even heard of. We get to dream big on where their business could be if only they were to try something new with their marketing. We also get the chance to explore what it means to study their competitors. Many small business owners skip this step completely, not really comprehending the advantage this practice brings them.
Step 3 – Bring it all together
This step is where the magic really happens. I get the opportunity to take the stuff we know with the creative dreams we explored and marry the two together to come up with a beautiful actionable plan that we can move forward with to increase their marketing results. A fluid Marketing Plan is developed here that is meant to grow with the company and become the guide that all future marketing efforts should follow to ensure goals are being achieved.
The unspoken understanding here is that for any of this to be effective, we must ensure that the plan that is developed is followed. Follow-through is key for Marketing Plans. Money spent on marketing tactics that don’t align with your Marketing Plan is money wasted. You either need to adjust your plan to make it fit, or re-evaluate if the marketing tactic you are about to execute is really helping you to reach a goal, or does it just look cool.
Are you ready to start this journey of creating a Marketing Plan that works for your business? Schedule a Free 45-Minute chat with me to share your business story with me so we can get started.
