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SO YOUR READY TO TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR MARKETING…

Planning and organization are the TOP 2 principles needed for marketing SUCCESS.

In my opinion the #1 thing is planning. The steps you take ahead of time to lay out your 2017 marketing plan and ensure you have all of the tools, are crucial to your marketing success.

Marketing is all about messaging and timing. Having a calendar for the year ahead will help you coordinate all of your efforts and reach your goals.

It can seem like a daunting task planning that far ahead, so below I’ve given you some steps you can take to make the process easier. And trust me, it’ll make the upcoming year go smoother. Breaking it down into steps will make your calendar creation more manageable. So here we go…

 

Where To Begin:

Reevaluate 2016

Reflect on this past year. Make note of the things that worked and that didn’t. Plan to continue to do more of what worked. Plan to change what didn’t.

Consider your audience

Did your market/audience grow or change throughout the year? Keep that in mind so you can plan to better reach that audience.

 

Next Steps:

Digital Marketing

With the increase in the digital arena, businesses are shifting more and more resources into digital. So you shouldn’t be putting this on the back burner. Most digital marketing revolves around your website. So if your website isn’t mobile responsive, it isn’t user friendly, or (dare I say it…) it doesn’t even exist, it should definitely be your top priority.

Content & Social Media

Content and social media marketing is becoming more and more important for businesses and should be a big part of your marketing strategy. In today’s digital age, there is no alternative for high-quality content.

No matter which way you choose to create content, you should create an editorial calendar. This allows you to create your content well in advance and help save you time coming up with topics. Reviewing those google analytics from 2016 might help you decide which topics are good for you to address in your blogs, videos, whitepapers, etc.

Social Media is a great place to market and stay top of mind with your customers, but it can also be intimidating and even a bit of a time suck if you have no plan and no goals in place. Mapping out those plans and goals will keep you focused and from going down the rabbit hole of posting cat memes.

 

Plan Plan Plan:

There’s always a cost involved with marketing your small business. Either in actual dollars or in time, energy & sweat. Being realistic and having a plan written out, makes that all clear. You can know by the month what your expense and time commitments will be, and it won’t be a surprise! Not to mention knowing your costs helps you realize where you’re getting a good return on that time and money.

 

To learn more about marketing strategies, or if you would like help in developing your small business marketing plan give us a shout here – Marketing Help

 

I’ve always been a visual person who needs to see my plan in writing. (I still use a paper daily planner 🙂 ) Along the way I’ve created some documents and spreadsheets, to keep my plans in order, so I thought that I could share some basic templates with you.

You can analyze, organize and plan for 2017 with the help of these items, and create your own marketing action plan and identify key marketing activities:

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