A marketing plan gives you a basic guide for your marketing for the year.
By looking at your marketing 12 months at a time you can plan for seasonal and holiday promotions, work to combat any traditionally slower times for your company, and keep your business supported by always having at least one or two forms of marketing working for you.
Once you’ve put your plan together be sure to review it monthly and look ahead so you’re ready for what you’ve planned.
Click here to download a free marketing plan template, then you can just fill in the blanks:
Short Version – https://michelleshaeffer.com/downloads/ShortMarketingPlan.doc
Long Version – https://michelleshaeffer.com/downloads/LongMarketingPlan.doc
Start with your marketing plan template. Using what you’ve already considered in the last few articles of my newsletter write a paragraph or two for each section. (If you’re a new subscriber, you can find the articles online at michelleshaeffer.com)
* About Your Business
* How You’re Unique
* Your Business Goals
* Your Target Market
Next, for the marketing activities section and calendar, think about last week’s article about choosing the right marketing activities for you. Choose a few marketing strategies you want to try and add them to your plan. Add a note of how often you’ll do each marketing activity. Blogging, social networking, newsletters, and similar activities need to be done consistently to get results. Others like charity donations or attending a specific event will be one time activities.
Don’t be overwhelmed by all the possibilities. You don’t have to use every marketing tactic out there, or even half of them, to succesfully market your business. Just choose the ones that resonate with you.
Once you have the various activities planned for the year, put your marketing plan somewhere you will see it regularly. Add the activities into your planner or calendar so you don’t forget to follow through on your plan.
P.S. If you need ideas to help you market your business, or want more help creating your marketing plan, you can find 130+ ideas with step by step guides on how to implement them in the Marketing Brainstorm Workshop. It’s an 8 week workshop that breaks down how to create your marketing plan into easy weekly action steps you can complete without overwhelm and confusion. Details at https://michelleshaeffer.com/workshops/marketing-brainstorm-workshop
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