Thoughts from Your Administrative Partner
Did you get the memo? Business is booming. How is yours growing? Do you have a pipeline of clients just waiting to purchase your product or service? What are you doing to bring the clients to you? With so many new marketing opportunities available (i.e. social media, other networking) it is important to have a plan so that it doesn't get overwhelming. Our feature article this month helps you through the process of writing a marketing plan.
Until next month - all the best in business.
Tamika R. Johnson, MBA
Virtual Business Manager
administrative partners, llc
tamika@administrativepartners.net |
How to Create a Successful Marketing Plan
Firms that are successful in
marketing invariably start with a marketing plan. Large companies have
plans with hundreds of pages; small companies
can get by with a half-dozen sheets. Put your marketing plan in a
three-ring binder. Refer to it at least quarterly, but better yet
monthly. Leave a tab for putting in monthly reports on
sales/manufacturing; this will allow you to track performance as you
follow the plan.
The plan should cover one year. For small companies,
this is often the best way to think about marketing. Things change,
people leave, markets evolve, customers come and go. Later on we
suggest creating a section of your plan that addresses the medium-term
future--two to four years down the road. But the bulk of your plan
should focus on the coming year.
You should allow yourself a
couple of months to write the plan, even if it's only a few pages long.
Developing the plan is the "heavy lifting" of marketing. While
executing the plan has its challenges, deciding what to do and how to
do it is marketing's greatest challenge. Most marketing plans kick off
with the first of the year or with the opening of your fiscal year if
it's different.
>>Read more
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Recap of last month's workshop
Last month I conducted a workshop on Increasing Productivity - Getting "Stuff" Done. The key takeaways from that workshop were:
- To be successful, you must gain control of your commitments.
- Identify and plan how to handle processes consistently.
- Think in terms of next action steps.
- Keep nothing on your mind that will distract you.
- Control commitments and projects by learning how to say "NO".
To see the full presentation, visit our blog. |
