Marketing Plan

Do you have a marketing plan? Is it working?

Most small business owners do not have a marketing plan. Instead, they move along “intuitively,” guessing and changing constantly based on what they think they should be doing rather than following a clear plan and measuring their results.

A marketing plan can mean the difference between limping along and flying. A professional, expert marketing plan will reduce your total marketing expenses. It will also allow you to assign marketing activities to one of your existing employees vs. hiring a senior-level marketer or an outside firm.

A good marketing plan covers the following three elements:

1. Strategy: This is the high-level strategy driving your plan. It should include an analysis of your target customer, what you want them to do, and hard revenue and expense numbers against which you can measure success.

2. Tactics: This is where you incorporate specific marketing tactics that need to be done, including in-house promotions and specials, events, social media updates, web updates, fliers, ads, coupons, etc. Ideally, your plan should provide weekly to-do lists for each tactic so that whomever is doing the marketing knows exactly what he or she should be doing (and you do, too!).

3. Measurement: Now for the most important part of the plan: how will you measure success? This section should provide some simple checklists and financial checks and balances so that you can see at a glance whether your marketing plan is a success or not.

A formal plan that covers these three elements will make a massive impact on your marketing efficiency and effectiveness. Don’t leave your success to chance - have a plan!

Did you know that I write marketing plans for small business owners?
Let me know if you want to talk about how I can help you!
- Virginia Ginsburg
310-453-7008