Admit it. You, even maybe once, have committed a marketing blunder which you are (or may still be not?) aware of. In the advent of marketing solutions each season, each month, and even each pandemic (yep, we are in the new norm now!), we can’t blame anybody if people in business would scamper to do and follow each and we mean EACH advice we find available.
Don’t get us wrong. The advice is good. But like in the field of medicine, taking one medicine with another may cause contraindications. In this case, one marketing strategy may be good but if combined or done in a succession of another may cause more loss than gain.
Getting in the war zone requires preparation and careful planning. Although it would be good to take courses on marketing, best even to get a six sigma certification under your belt so you can say you got all the guns to survive, not everybody can do it or has the resources to do it. Thus, it is vital that you understand your business first before jumping on to do the seemingly “next big thing” for your business. Regardless of what courses are offered out there, or what advice you read online, knowing the basics will get you through every season, every month, and every challenge. We mean it.
A seamless marketing plan should follow these steps. Note that nearly ALL marketing plans have these. Some may have used different words, some may have removed some of the steps, some may have added a few more so it is imperative to read through it and understand what these mean.
1) Analyze what your goals are and look at what you have.
They say shoot for the stars. What they didn’t tell you is that you only have few arrows to use and that milky way has an estimate for 400 billion stars in it, with only roughly 5,000 stars that you can see. What we are saying is, know what you have against what your goals are for your business. Ask yourself “Is what I have enough?” or “Is it smart to drain my resources dry to achieve a big plan or is it smarter to revise my plans?”
2) Design the steps you should do. Map out your plan.
Now that you have already analyzed what you have and what your goals are, it is important you learn to “compartmentalize” and “categorize”. Train your mind to correctly place the resources where they would be most functional and where they could yield greater results to approach your goals. One resource would not be good to be used at the start of your marketing plans but it could be the only resource that could save you during the implementation phase.
3) Develop what you have. Know what you are good at and take advantage of it.
After you have placed your resources in its right places, pause. Remember that while some resources can be used as it is, there are some that you can develop or combine with other resources to create a better resource that could achieve more than what each can do alone. A perfect example is choosing an SEO team or finding a site that can link all your social media accounts and can synchronize your posts across all platforms rather than doing it on your own and one by one. You are wasting your time, effort, and resource when you do that. Imagine logging on to 10 social media sites and doing it one by one — this is even discounting the fact that you can get sidetracked by a cute post or funny videos on your feed while your intention is to work. Are you guilty?
4) Get it going. A plan is just a plan until you make it happen and turn it into a reality.
Do not delay success. Do not put for tomorrow what you can do today. Develop a healthy but functional routine daily. It is one thing to thing to be brainy but another to actually have the guts to say “Alright let’s get to work!”
5) Evaluate. Each success and downfall should be evaluated. You wanna know what works and what is just another waste to do.
Most people stop at step 4 without realizing that evaluation is necessary after implementation. This is where you see whether your business is earning or you are just wasting time. This is where you compute your results against what you have invested in. This is where you decide whether to keep going as it is or to change quite a bit before turning the wheels again.
6) Revise your plans based on your evaluation.
After evaluation comes revision. Think about how you did it when you were doing your thesis or when you were writing an essay. You write, you pause, you look at it again, and then you see mistakes so you revise after. Seeing the numbers in step 5, you will be smart enough to change, remove, or improve what you see as not as helpful as it should be.
7) Observe current trends.
Each trend has a major driver. It could be a global pandemic, it could be as simple as the weather or the changing of seasons. Be keen on which drivers are short-term like a monthly trend, and which could be long-term drivers like buying habits or consumer purchase patterns.
There is such a thing as a niche market in business planning. They are your crowd regardless of the changes in the season because they are the ones that believe in the product you specialize in regardless of whatever external factors they encounter. They stick with you through thick and thin. The greatest “however” though is, not every business has a niche market. Thus, it is imperative to always be on the loop of what’s hot and what’s not. A common mistake in marketing plans is in downplaying issues rather than taking advantage of it.
8) Measure if your revised plans worked.
This is a no-brainer. Of course, you always have to measure your ROI after the revisions you made in your business. Remember that some resources may not deliver the same optimal results on the second run because they are subject to wear and tear. It is important to be keen on ALL resources and not just those you had some revisions done.
9) Innovate based on the numbers.
After successful weighing of which works and which doesn’t, revision should be as continuous as it should be. You cannot stay stagnant when you are running a business. Get fresh ideas in, get new resources in too.
10) Repeat all these steps until you get the hang of it and until you get it right.
Repetition makes perfect. Repeating these steps would create the blueprint of a successful marketing plan that could get you through the seasons and changes in the global market.
WE are as honest as one can be. While others are still learning these steps, we are already masters of it. We don’t waste time because we know how to do it seamlessly. Join our Growth99 family.
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