But without strategy, tactics lead to that famous phrase: "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The problem is, I don't know which half!"
If you jump into tactical execution without preparation—buying ads, posting on social media, sending emails, etc.—it’s easy to spend a lot of money without necessarily reaping the benefits you intended. There are much more effective ways to do this.
Business owners have tools at their disposal today that didn’t exist before – analytics systems, dashboards, conversion rates and more. The common denominator is knowing how to use them correctly. By “correctly” I mean taking the effort to figure out exactly what you want to accomplish, setting goals accordingly and putting a plan in place to achieve them.
Take the right path
Setting goals is simple:
“I want to make $XX in sales next quarter or find ## new customers next month.”
Planning is more difficult:
“I need to spend $XX in Google AdWords and get a YY% conversion rate to make $ZZ in sales next month.”
Defining a strategy is the most demanding thing:
“My target audience is women aged 34-45 who have a post-secondary mom database education, have 1.5 children and spend $XX each month on products like mine. These women typically spend a large portion of their time on social media A and B.
Therefore, I need to create content to introduce them to our new product lines, emphasizing our value proposition, and a special offer for new customers at a key stage of their journey to purchase. I need to allocate YY% of my total marketing budget to activities that will allow me to reach this audience and achieve the expected ZZ% conversion rate, as measured using analytics for our targeted campaigns.”
Plan first, act later
When times get tough, the first thing people cut is marketing , which is probably the last thing they should do.
If you have a marketing plan , you will tend to keep moving forward and implementing it. Without it, chances are you will stop promoting your brand and getting your message across to your customers. Or you will continue to spend precious marketing dollars and end up with nothing. Either way, you lose.
But how do you go about establishing a marketing plan?
Excellent question!
We have created a powerful template for you that will guide you through the process of developing your plan. It includes the questions you absolutely must ask yourself and the best practices you should follow. You can download your free marketing plan template here now.
Key points
In the planning stage, think about your customers and what they expect from a business like yours. How can you reach them? What channels should you use? What message should you convey to them?
Also think about your brand. Who are you? Why are you important?
What should your marketing budget be? (My article about customer lifetime value can shed some light on this.)
Incorporate all your ideas into your marketing plan, then set a budget and execute your plan faithfully. If it doesn't work, change it, but don't abandon it.
Do you have a marketing plan? How do you use it? We would love to hear more about your experience and the people who read us too.
