The ONE thing you can do right now to ensure a successful 2019 (and 10 reasons why you should do it)

Our article today is from our friend Nichole who is helping us run our 30 day free marketing plan challenge!

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You have to work on your business, not in it. For those familiar with the book “The E-Myth” by Michael Gerber, this isn’t a new concept. I happen to believe that not following this principle is a big contributor to why so many small businesses fail. We get so entrenched in the day-to-day activities of making, selling, performing the service, etc., it’s hard to actually break away to do the things we need to do to grow the business.

Marketing is often one of those big-picture tasks that gets neglected any time a problem or a surge in business occurs. So how can this be fixed? One thing: A marketing plan! Every business that is looking to grow or make more money needs one. EVERY BUSINESS. Still don’t think that’s you? I’ll give you ten reasons why developing a marketing plan will help you crush your goals next year.

1) It encourages you to take stock. As the year comes to a close, it’s natural for people to reflect on their lives over the last twelve months and think about how they can make the upcoming year better. Consider a marketing plan a New Year’s resolution for your business. Taking stock of where you’re currently at and charting a course to be more successful in the coming year.Many business owners don’t regularly review their marketing efforts or even the state of their business in general, so developing a marketing plan is a good opportunity to do a deep dive on the specifics. All that being said, don’t think your marketing plan needs to be tied to the beginning of the year. It’s never too late to make a plan for success – both in life and in your business.

2) It establishes benchmarks. Everyone loves a good before and after. It’s always inspiring to see a success, and with a before and after you get to see the starting point, making it even more impactful. But even though you don’t always see it, there’s a “before” to every success. It’s starts with a desire for a better a result – a goal. Your starting point is the baseline and it’s how you determine whether you’re successful or not.Sometimes it’s easy to tell – you reach a certain number of sales, acquire a set amount of clients, etc. But many business owners don’t measure the success of the tactics it takes to get there. It’s great to reach that sales goal, but could it have been done faster? Or for less budget/labor? That’s where detailing the specifics in a marketing plan is helpful. It’s difficult to be successful without knowing exactly what’s working. And if you don’t know what’s working, you can waste a lot of time and money.

There’s a reason why the SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) method of goal setting is so widely used, and the measurement aspect is a big part of it. Not every tactic you use or campaign you implement will be wildly successful. But do include a way to measure success. Then, adapt and make adjustments as you go to develop a well-oiled marketing machine.

3) It creates clarity (and boosts morale). Very rarely can a team function well without its members being on the same page. When employees or contractors don’t know what their role is or the purpose of their work, efficiency can go right down the tubes – and with it oftentimes, your money.

Developing a plan for the growth of your business will create clarity on your goals and how you intend to accomplish them. The entire plan doesn’t necessarily need to be shared company wide, but it can certainly guide communication with those who participate in the day-to-day activities. Letting employees in on the overall company mission also gives them a sense of purpose and buy-in, which contributes to a happier, more productive team and less turnover.

4) It increases productivity. I’m a firm believer that plans and productivity are closely tied. Even if the “plan” is just a quick to-do list on a piece of scrap paper, or adding things to your calendar, the point is that your making a conscious effort to commit an item of importance to paper (or screen). Next time you go the grocery store, see how long it takes you without a list vs with one. If you’re getting multiple items, I can almost guarantee you’re quicker and make fewer mistakes with a list than without.

We make a plan for the grocery store, use recipes to cook meals, and instruction manuals to put together furniture, yet so many business owners don’t have a plan for the growth of their business. Having a marketing plan will focus you on the things that will get you where you want to go, and having that “to do” list each day generated from your plan will make the time you spend each day count for much more.

5) It improves efficiency. If you’ve ever found yourself doing things you don’t like or aren’t good at, chances are it was not the fastest turnaround or highest quality final product. When it comes to business, we all have our strengths and weaknesses (and for some, marketing is not a strength at all!) By using your plan as a way to define audiences, tactics and roles within your team (or outsourced help), not only are you being efficient with YOUR time (working on your business rather than in it), but you’re organizing your efforts into a system, which can be replicated and repeated in different ways to save time and money down the line.

You can also get a lot more bang for your buck for whatever tactics you choose. For example, writing a blog post (or hiring someone to do so) can either just sit on your website, or… it can be turned into a video, graphics with quotes for social media, copy for a email campaign, a template to give as an email list freebie, or maybe even part of a book or a digital product later down the line. Do something once, repurpose it over and over – that’s efficiency, and much easier to do when you have a detailed plan.

6) It gives you focus and direction. Remember what driving was like before GPS? I don’t know about you, but I don’t really want to remember! Getting anywhere is always easier when you have detailed directions, rather than just aimlessly wandering around, hoping what you’re doing will help you land in the right spot.

Having a solid marketing plan will keep you focused on your goals – both short term and long. Even if you have to take a detour now and then, having that roadmap to come back to will help you keep your eye on the prize.

7) It coordinates your messages and tactics with your goals. Many times we treat the various tactics in our marketing mix as their own thing, without too much thought as to timing, message, audience or even what we are really trying to achieve. But imagine if you could deliver the right message at the right time to just the right person? Or even better, be everywhere with consistent messages that all come together to get that customer ready to buy. That’s what a marketing plan, if done correctly, enables you to do.

The “Rule of 7” of marketing/advertising is that a consumer has to see a message seven times before taking an action. This is not an easy task without a plan (and great execution).

8) It integrates your long-term and short-term goals. The saying “you have to walk before you can run” seems obvious, but a big mistake business owners make is trying to do just that – too much too soon. It’s okay (even encouraged) to have big dreams and goals. But it takes time to warm an audience, establish trust, and truly build a loyal following that will support growth.

Having a marketing plan can help you develop a timeline that makes sense and will ensure maximum impact when you do make the leap into a new product, service, or even an expansion. A good plan integrates long term goals with shorter term ones, so even if the end game is several years down the road, you can still start laying the foundations for that transition in the coming year.

9) It encourages accountability. We all get frazzled from time to time. We get busy, or a problem within the business sidetracks us from focusing on the big picture. Without any plan in place, it’s easy to stay in that rut and push our goals to the side, staying in the “one day at a time” mindset.

But when you’ve invested the time and energy into a marketing plan, you’re way more likely to jump back in where you left off, or make the necessary adjustments to adapt it to the new situation. The ambitious, goal-oriented version of yourself laid out a blueprint for success, and you don’t want to let him or her down!

10) It increases your bottom line. If you’re still reading this, then it’s probably already occurred to you that the end result of every reason above is the same – money! Productivity, team harmony, efficiency, focus, organization – all of these things will either save you money or directly make you more money. And that’s what marketing is all about (and one of the main reasons we’re business owners!).The question is, will you make a plan or leave it up to fate?

Thank you to Nichole, our guest writer of this post!

BIO:

Nichole Rozendaal is small business coach and digital marketing consultant. Her passion is working with business owners to develop clear, strategic communications plans that will help spread their message to the masses. In her spare time, she enjoys meeting with entrepreneurs all over the country and blogs about their stories and other small business topics at www.smallbusinesssociety.co.

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