You recognize that you have to market. At this stage, far too many people start throwing tactics at the wall to see what sticks. Instead, you want to do things the right way. That means having a clear, executable plan. How exactly do you create a plan that is strategic, effective, and feasible within your time and budget constraints? Follow these steps:
Know Your Market:
Conduct market research to learn what you can about your competitors, your industry, target market, unmet customer needs, expansion potential, and possible roadblocks. Interview your current customers, prospects, and industry professionals to get a very clear picture of your market. Even if you’ve been in business for years, this is your opportunity to take the blinders off and get a wholistic view of happening around you.
Know Yourself:
Now, turn the microscope on your organization. What are you doing well? Where could things be improved? What does your product lifecycle look like? Why do people buy your product/service? What are the reasons to believe in your product? How are you positioning yourself in the marketplace? Does your brand and your messaging convey this positioning or are things a bit muddy?
Determine Key Drivers:
Combine your market research and your internal evaluation to determine the most important things that will drive you forward. We recommend using a SWOT analysis:
- Strengths: What is your company particularly good at right now? These can be quantitative (i.e. profitability, sales numbers, growth) or qualitative (i.e. clear processes and procedures, strong messaging or branding). Narrow these down to your top 5-7 items that are moving the needle.
- Weaknesses: Where could you make improvements or see holes? These should be items that you’re currently experiencing that are under your control to improve (i.e. employee turnover, lag time in development, low margins). Again, aim for 5-7 items. This is not the place to beat yourself up, nor is it the place to die on a sword of perfection.
- Opportunities: Where is there potential to expand in your marketplace? These 5-7 items represent future expansion potential (i.e. products, target market expansion).
- Threats: What is going to prevent you from taking advantage of those opportunities or leveraging your strengths (i.e. competitors, legislation, regulatory environment, economic instability)?
The SWOT sets you up to determine what are your most important 3-5 drivers or critical issues because it will clearly indicate leverage points, vulnerabilities, constraints, or problems. Pick no more than five of these to tackle at once, or you’ll be spreading yourself too thin.
Set Strategic Imperatives:
Now, it’s time to make things measurable. Give each of your drivers 1-3 measurable, time-bound objective attached to it. You’ve likely heard the term SMART objectives. We like to take this one step further:
- Specific: You’ve clearly defined what you’re after and what done looks like.
- Measurable: You can track progress and completion. For example, rather than get the brand name out there, consider publish 3 new pieces of content on a weekly basis.
- Actionable: Is this driver controllable by direct efforts or is more of a platitude?
- Realistic: Are you shooting for the sky or is your goal attainable? We’re all for audacious goals, but this is not the place to outkick your coverage.
- Time-bound: An objective without a deadline is merely a hope.
- Ethical: Does your objective conform to your company and personal values?
- Resourced: What time, money, and people are you dedicating to the effort to actually get it done?
Fill in Tactics:
Address each imperative with at least 1-3 tactics. This is where the rubber meets the road. If you consider marketing as an iceberg, everything we’ve covered up to this point is below the surface, and the tactics are the shiny parts that everyone will be able to see.
Tying this all Together:
Your marketing plan is one of the most powerful documents in creating marketing success. If you’d like an expert’s insight in creating your marketing plan, be sure to reach out to our experts at Local Marketers to give your company the Business Edge it needs to increase your revenue!