When you plan a vacation, you likely do some research online to decide where you want to go, when it’s the best time to visit, how much it will all cost and what to bring with you.  These are pretty basic things to ask yourself.  And if you answer all these things, you will likely have the tools to take a good vacation.  However, in order for you to get the best bang for your buck, experience the best attractions, see all the sights, eat at the best restaurants and enjoy a good night’s sleep every night, you will need to do a little more digging and research. 

In many ways, marketing for your business or organization is much like planning a really great vacation.  You’ve probably already had an idea on what you want to sell, how you plan to make money, how much it will cost you and the hours you will have to work.  However, the details and the specifics of these things are what will actually drive your business from good to great. So, let’s dive into why you need to create a marketing strategy and how to go about drafting one up.

• Set Concrete Goals

As with all plans, there is usually a goal in mind.  Something you strive for.  “Being successful in business” is not a concrete goal.  You will need to create solid, targetable goals for your business that can be used to track and record your progress.  Perhaps you want to pay off your house or go on vacation?  What are those actual numbers? Even small goals for your business success are really important to your marketing plan.  You need to turn as many of your goals into metrics.  For example “grow my Instagram page” is not an actionable goal.  However, “grow my Instagram page by 50 followers” is an actionable goal. 

• Factor in All the Marketing Channels

This is where things will get a little overwhelming.  There are SO many avenues to marketing your business you will need to brainstorm which ones you can utilize and narrow down those channels you can actually achieve either on your own or with the resources you have.  Do you want to grow your email list?  Do you want to rank higher on Google search queries?  Do you want more leads from your website?  Are you eager to promote an event on Facebook?  Are you wanting to create solid content on your blog?  Perhaps you want to design a killer logo for your business cards?  All these are great things to think about and will be important to add to your marketing strategy.

• Get Real About the Time On Your Hands

If you’re a business owner, blogger, influencer or organization – you need to be putting your time and energy in doing what you do best, which is supplying your customers with your product or message.  Which that said, you need to be realistic with the time you have available and what you can actually get done.  If you are putting all your effort in marketing, your product and message will likely decline in quality.  You can’t do all the things.  Brainstorm and research which marketing channels you will benefit most from.  Also, decide if there are things you just don’t enjoy doing.  If posting on social media is a total drag and waste of your time, look into hiring it out or finding someone on your team who can help you.  If working on your website is causing you extra time to chisel out the learning curve of technical trial and error, pay a freelancer to help you with the technical stuff or have someone on your team trained to do it for you. 

• Write it All Down.

Creating a Marketing Strategy involves taking all your goals, making targeted metrics to attain and then figuring out which marketing channels will you help you achieve them.  Creating a 1-2 week plan and then a couple 1-2 month plans as well are going to help you stay on track and keep your focus. 

You will have to reassess your metrics as you go along and see what is working and what is not.  This is why a marketing strategy is integral for the growth of your business.  Concrete goals can be itemized into actionable plans and these can be tracked with the tools of digital analytics on your website, social media and automated platforms. These steps will keep your business running smoothly, focused and successful.

We offer full marketing analysis, and strategy packages for any level of business or organization.  We can help you drill down what your company needs to work on most and how to go about getting it done.  Even if you are a new business owner, just starting out solo – we also offer training and consulting to help you and learn the ropes of marketing so you don’t have pay an agency to do it all for you. Check out our marketing services and shoot us an email today!