When it comes to marketing, a lot of businesses take the scattershot approach.
They jump on every marketing opportunity. They get excited about new tools or social media platforms. They try one approach for just a few weeks before declaring it “unsuccessful” and jumping to something else.
Not only is it dizzying but it’s completely ineffective.
If that sounds familiar, it’s time to take a step back and invest in a strategic marketing plan. You need a strategy to guide your marketing decisions versus chasing every opportunity that comes across your desk.
The first step is a marketing strategy session. It might sound a bit intimidating, but honestly it can be a fun and thoughtful exercise that allows you to take a deep dive into your marketing and figure out what makes the most sense for your business.
OK, so what’s included in a marketing strategy session?
- It’s typically a full-day workshop with team members directly involved in or responsible for marketing initiatives.
- We do a marketing SWOT analysis.
- We discuss your marketing goals and/or the overall business goals and how marketing can support those.
- We brainstorm all the ideas. Every suggestion gets added to the whiteboard.
- We have lunch and might even engage in a few creative exercises.
- Armed with the SWOT analysis, goals and ideas, we start to narrow down the ideas and build a plan that makes sense for your business.
From that session, we might determine you need to work on your overall messaging. Customers are confused about what you do. It might become clear that your website needs an overhaul. Or maybe you need to launch an email marketing campaign.
That information is delivered in a comprehensive marketing plan and timeline that supports your goals, fits your staffing and budget resources, and aligns with the needs of your target audience.
Imagine accomplishing all of that in one day. Your business is armed with a plan of action for the coming months or year. You’re not wasting time and resources on tasks that don’t yield a return. You’re sticking to your plan, adjusting as needed, and seeing solid results.
If you’re still not sold on a marketing plan, here are the top 3 reasons your business needs one:
- Set goals. When was the last time you set marketing goals? What do you want to achieve? This strategy session gives you the time and space to figure that out and put pen to paper.
- Find a focus. Once you’ve determined your goals, it allows you to focus on the marketing tasks that directly relate to those goals. You won’t get distracted by marketing squirrels!
- Test and measure. When you’re methodical and focused on just a couple of marketing tasks at a time, you’re better able to test and measure. For example, if you start blogging twice a month, you can review your website traffic and organic search results over the next several months. On the flip side, if you’re trying a bunch of different things for a couple weeks here or a month there, it’s almost impossible to know which one is actually working.
Stop wasting time, energy and money on marketing efforts that don’t work.
Yes, there’s a cost to creating a marketing plan, but in the long run it pays off. You save time because you’re focused on the right tasks. You save money because you aren’t throwing money at every marketing opportunity that comes along. You and your team are excited because your marketing efforts are working this time. And that, well, it’s priceless!
Interested in booking a marketing strategy session for your business? Let’s do it! Brainstorming, planning and using big sticky pads is my favorite way to spend a day! Schedule a discovery call and let’s get your session on the calendar.
