Your marketing plan is the Holy Grail for getting prospects to KNOW, LIKE, and TRUST you, and then TRY your product or service. Creating a plan may sound complicated – but don’t panic. Following these five steps can help you create a plan that delivers marketing success:
Step #1: Seek input from others. There are two types of people you must talk to. First, talk to your best, or ideal, customers – those you’d most like to duplicate. Ask them: Where did you find out about us? What made you decide to hire us or buy from us? What was your situation before you decided to work with us? How is your situation better now that you’re working with us? This is all important input to your marketing plan.
Second, talk to a trusted advisor who knows you – and understands your industry and competition. This is a person who can help you develop and fine-tune your offerings based on the input from your customers.
Bonus tip: Use AI, such as ChatGPT or Gemini to help you research your ideal customers and their pain points. Contact us for AI prompts you can use.
Step #2: Put it in writing. This may be hard – maybe you’d prefer to talk through it instead. In which case, get someone to listen and write while you talk. The point here is – if it’s in writing, you have a clearer picture of what you must do. You will also be more likely to follow through.
What should your plan include? Your goals, to start. What is it that you want to accomplish with your marketing? For instance, do you want to clarify your brand messaging? Or, perhaps you want to generate more high-quality leads? Once you have your goals nailed down, add these elements:
- Ideal customer profiles. Read more about defining your ideal customer.
- Brand messaging. In other words, what makes your company’s product or service stand out, and why your ideal customer should choose them.
- Tactics. The specific actions you will take to achieve your goals.
- Budget. How much money you’ll allocate to your marketing efforts.
- Timeline. When you will implement your plan.
- Measurement and evaluation. How you will track your progress and measure the success of your marketing.
Step #3: Keep it simple. A simple 2-page written plan that is executed with excellence will outperform a detailed, but poorly executed plan every time.
Step #4: Schedule your tactics. Set up a marketing calendar so that you know each quarter what you need to get done. Then you don’t have to think – you just have to do.
What tactics should your calendar include? After your messaging and website are polished and customer-focused, these are the typical tactics you will execute each quarter:
- Email marketing and/or SMS (texting) campaigns
- Social media posts
- Blog articles
- Digital advertising
- Landing pages for valuable content such as ebooks
Bonus tip: add video or podcasting to your tactics for extra visibility.
Step #5: Execute. Follow the schedule you set up. Professional marketers know that it’s also important for you to evaluate what you did so that you learn what was effective. (This is where the measurement and evaluation parts of your plan come into play.) Then it is simple to do more of what worked and less of what didn’t.
Bonus tip. Get it done for you. Savvy business owners don’t go it alone when it comes to their marketing. They partner with seasoned professionals who can lead the marketing charge. Learn more about how our fractional CMOs and strategists tailor marketing strategies and tactics to your organization’s vision and goals, and build towards your success.
Don’t miss the previous articles in the Building Your Referral Engine series:
Part 1: 3 Important Building Blocks
Part 2: Warm up your pipeline
Part 3: Make it easy for others to make referrals
Part 4: Move prospects through your sales funnel
Special Offer! The Referral Engine Workbook
