Do you have your 2019 Marketing Plan ready? Here is a 5- Step plan to Get You Started
Small business owners know a thing or two about wearing multiple hats. Doing the core work of your business is only half the battle. Most likely, though, you are ready for 2019 with a shiny new budget and business plan. But what about your marketing strategy? One of the biggest mistakes a small business owner can make is to assume that a well-thought out marketing plan is a luxury or even a fluffy waste of resources. After all, if we put out a good product, people will surely know it, right? Not so much. The reality is that management of the marketing plan is just as important as any of your other annual, monthly, and weekly tasks. The key to keeping on top of it each week, however, is to develop an annual plan to use as a fluid working document to guide your routines and thought processes. It doesn’t have to be overly complicated. Here is our 5- Step Plan to get you started.
- Mission and Analysis of Current Realities:
Always start with your Mission. Your mission is a summary of everything you do and the reason for your business to operate. Reviewing your mission allows you to go back to basics and remember why you started your small business in the first place. Next, examine your customer profiles. Who are my current customers, what are their geographic locations, how did they find me, and what are they purchasing? Data is your friend if you want to understand where you are versus where you want to be. A third crucial step is a competitor analysis. Who are your primary competitors and what make you unique in your market? Get a true understanding of who you are competing with in your market and evaluate your current strengths and weaknesses.
Next, set your goals. You may have many things you want to accomplish, but don’t allow yourself to get overwhelmed. Set 3-5 key objectives for where you want your business to go in the coming year. Use the SMART format: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. Otherwise, you may not be able to measure whether you really accomplished the goal at the end of 2019. For example, don’t just say you want to increase the number of clients you work with. Instead, say that you want to increase the total number of clients in a geographic location by 20% within 6 months.
There are a million and one ways to promote your business. Your budget will heavily influence your strategy, so get an idea of what you can spend each month to help you to determine which channels you can use. Paid advertising and print materials are certainly part of the picture, but how about social media? Do you have a social media calendar developed to streamline the time spent doing posts? Is your website up to par? What are you doing in the local market to create brand awareness and get involved in the community? Explore opportunities with trade organization/printed
materials, sponsorship, cross-promotions with other businesses, and free event listings.
Plans are wonderful, but don’t mean anything if there is not accountability and execution. Determine your action plan for each of your SMART goals. Who on your team is responsible for each goal and what are the timelines? If you are fortunate enough to have help, be sure your team is accountable for action items and timely follow up. Otherwise, tasks get pushed back on the famous “PILE” on your desk. If you are a party of one, consider recruiting an intern or a contracted assistant to help you execute the strategies.
This step is often overlooked, but can be crucial to your success. You are spending valuable time and resources on your marketing efforts– how do you know which channel is getting the best results if you are not evaluating the data? Create a system to track your efforts so that you can directly correlate sales with the path you took to get there. For example, if you plan to focus on a monthly promotion in January, track every step you took to get there in a spreadsheet. If you attract a new client or customer, find
out how they heard about you?
Sometimes getting started is the hardest part of the process. 2019 is nearly here. Set a few hours aside to use this framework to start thinking through your plan. Once it’s developed, break your objective down into monthly and even weekly tasks. Your hard work will be well worth it in the long run.
Happy planning!
Contact us for a consultation.
Connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram
Merit Marketing Services
24 South 6th Street
Zanesville, OH 43701
(740) 607-7800
www.meritmarketingservices.com