Happy New Year!! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and enjoyed some time off.
Now, it’s time to get down to business.
The New Year is a great time to revisit your marketing plan, review your goals and see what has worked for your business and what hasn’t. Taking the time to plan is vital to any successful business. Without a clear vision, you may be wasting valuable time and money while getting unwanted results.
Your marketing plan should include where you want your business to be at various times and how to get there. For example:
Assume you are a home contractor and your goal is to increase sales by 15% for each of the next five years. You first will identify your market and your marketing strategy. Then you choose marketing tools that include personal selling, print ads, web marketing and a referral program. You will also set price, possibly create service packages and cover any other marketing issue.
Next, you will develop a DETAILED plan of execution; what your message will be, promotions, schedules, due dates, tracking methods, budgets, etc.
Every decision or action you take in your business should be geared to attain the goals you have set in your business and marketing plan.
So get organized and review what your business did last year. Did it meet your goals? Did you do what you planned on doing? What worked? What didn’t and should be improved or abandoned? How has the market place changed? How will this affect your business?
Of course for those who don’t have a marketing time I have to ask, “Why Not!” The only reason not to have one is if you have all the customers and sales you need and your market never changes. In over thirty years of business I have never run into a business that didn’t need or want more profitable sales.
Call us if you have questions or need help preparing a marketing plan.