Spring Clean Your Marketing Plan for 2008 – Plus, A freebie!
So we are nearing the end of the most painful month of the year, January. This is usually the month where UK PLC pays the price for shutting down early in December for Christmas and on top of this business is generally quite slow for those in retail.
I find January is a great time to take a moment to jot ideas down for what you want to achieve for the year and how you intend to do so. Taking time out and planning is what leads me onto this months sermon… ladies and gentlemen please turn your marketing hymn book to page 145, the Year Long Plan.
In previous newsletters I have talked about the frustrations some business owners have of trying to sell a fabulous product or service but not actually planning how they will get customers. So, in this one I am going to be helping you to actually get a plan down on paper and there is even a freebie to help you through the process by way of a downloadable gantt chart to plot your path to success.
So, what do we need to do first… well, everyone is different but I always start by deciding on the parts of the Marketing Mix I am going to be using throughout the year. I will list them so you can see what I mean
Newsletters
Do you write these? If not why not? Maybe do one a month or one per quarter and send to existing customers and alike. Also a good way of attracting new customers and helping with SEO of your web site.
Direct Mail (DM)
Writing sales and introduction letters – always a good idea to start with small batches so you can tweak your messages to get a better return on investment.
Tele Marketing (TM)
This is essential if you want your direct mail to work. Your Tele marketing campaign should be used to generate leads and appointments after a sales letter has been sent out.
Flyer hand out
Easy as anything – you and a friend get flyering a few times a month or alike.
Press Release (PR)
You should be aiming to try and do one press release per month.
Print Advertising
Are you going to be placing an ads? If you have a small budget to start with maybe write these into the plan for later in the year when you have generated some revenue.
Blogging
Do you have a blog? These are now an important part of your marketing weaponry and similar to newsletters they help with SEO.
Pay Per Click Ads
Have you got a campaign running? Trialling one in 07 may be a good idea.
Forum Subscriptions
These are another vital area that is also classed as marketing
Banner Advertising
Will you tower or skyscrape? Choice is yours
Event & Expo
Even if you are not taking a stand why not go along and take some flyers.
Networking events
Do you go to 4 Networking, FSB or Ecademy events?
Event sponsorship
Is there an event or sponsorship opportunity in your local area you can put your company name to?
I imagine that some of you will have other marketing activities to add to this list, but hopefully this covers the majority off and gives you enough to work with.
The next step is to plot this all down on a gantt chart. A gantt chart is a posh way of saying a planning map where you plot your market activity and the time it will be taking place.
Below is an example of a marketing campaign plotted in a gantt chart. As you will see, there are columns on the right hand side where you should write the cost of the campaign and then once it is completed you should enter the resulting sales (ROI).
The ROI is vital and it also means that tracking where your sales leads are coming from is equally vital. If you don’t track you can’t measure and if you cannot measure you don’t know which campaigns are proving successful and which are proving to be a waste of money.
The document needs to remain fluid so that you can extend or increase the number of successful campaigns, tweak those that need it and ditch the ones that are just plain old pointless.
Here is the example Gantt chart –costs are indicative to give you an idea
So from this you should get an idea as to how it works.
To some SME’s the figures used may seem quite expensive but the beauty of a Gantt chart is that it is not here to judge your marketing spend. You may only have £50 a month to start with, but you will still have marketing ideas and if you plot them down it will make your whole attitude and outlook to marketing more professional.
People like us can help with every stage of this, from preparing a marketing campaign to brainstorming ideas that you can use.
Now, if you click HERE you can get a free downloadable Gantt chart complete with our pretty logo that you can use to plan your business growth and success.
That's all folks! See you next month