Bad Marketing Plans

Are you currently researching and planning your marketing budgets for 2025? If you haven't?started yet, now is the time to strategize your marketing spending. I have witnessed the wing-it approach from businesses that leads to bad marketing plans even after the marketing agency suggests a healthy marketing plan.

Why Do You Need a Marketing Budget?

Most businesses especially?small to medium size?companies?do not take the time to review and develop a marketing budget. When you invest time and resources into your business, you ensure long-term success. Any business, regardless of size, can benefit from it. Creating a marketing budget spreadsheet is a long process but?once you have created a basic outline, it gets easier to review and analyze each year.?

When you establish the amount of?budget and money you want to invest for the next year, now?you’ll?need to establish where exactly that money goes and the sales goal.?

Marketing Is The First To Be Cut

One of the biggest?issues that I?have witnessed over the years is when there is a decrease in business, the?marketing budget is the first to be cut. Most companies view it as a viewed as a "luxury" rather than a necessity. But it should be the first to be reviewed and adjusted. Every business no?matter big or small?has an increase and decrease in the seasons. Breaking it down by quarters and then by months to understand and adjust your budgets is one of the smartest moves in marketing. That way if?you have a great month, then?you can adjust?your spending and not feel the need to cut off your marketing.

What leads to bad?marketing investing? When your business is the strongest, that is when you are going to overspend and?other outside advertising is hit your pocket the hardest. You will receive an increase in opportunities and other outside marketing that catch into their contracts and?it leads to overspending. Review any potential new spending with your marketing agency to discuss the opportunities.

Niche Marketing

Develop content that does not target your potential customers and focuses on the services and products that you offer are?missing opportunities. Most businesses or companies?focus on services that clients don't?need at the time. Attracting new customers or existing,?ones?is important, as creating content that speaks to them and what they are searching for online.?Understanding the organic search for your business is one way to create niche content.

Adjust Your Marketing

Marketing is a strategy that?can fail if not studied appropriately, and attempting to be present on every social platform does not work for every business. The expectation?that your business will thrive on every platform is unrealistic.?It's essential to have open discussions about your business goals to clarify your branding vision. Social media should focus less on entertainment and more on maximizing your audience reach.

The key to developing a successful marketing campaign is to learn from successful campaigns rather than dwelling on the unsuccessful ones. Identify potential gaps or opportunities that you may be missing. Additionally, create?a buffer of funds to avoid being caught off guard, as not all ideas will work every year.?This preparation allows you to pivot or explore new marketing strategies that were?not part of the original plan.

You don’t have to wait until the end of the year to evaluate your marketing efforts. Instead, allocate time quarterly to review and make beneficial adjustments to your strategy. Engage in open discussions that enhance your marketing efforts and enable you to make changes that will be effective throughout the year. One effective method is to outline a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) to identify any?gaps or potential opportunities to invest in your marketing.