Mini Marketing Action Plans
Mini Marketing Action Plans
Some service professionals do have marketing plans for their business, but fail to actually put it into practice. This really isn’t much better than having no plan!
The secret to consistently marketing your services and products is to have what I call a “Marketing Action Plan”. A plan saves you time and money, brings in more prospects and clients, helps you keep customers, and helps you run a successful and profitable business.
As soon as someone mentions anything with the word “plan” in it, business owners usually cringe and most run for the hills! Marketing action plans do not have to be laborious and minutely detailed. In fact, if it’s too complicated, none of us will follow it.
Creating a marketing action plan and putting it into practice daily does require some thinking, time and commitment. However, it doesn’t have to be the overwhelming task that many business owners fear.
I strongly believe that the way to tackle anything that appears to be too big and unwieldy is to break it down into smaller steps or chunks. The same applies to a marketing action plan – break it down into individual mini marketing action plans.
Marketing encompasses several different areas and corresponding activities – each of which can have a mini marketing plan built around it. Examples of areas are: publicity, public speaking, publishing articles, referral, joint venture, direct mail, promotional, advertising, internet (website, ezine, blog), automated email communication, networking, social media, and so on.
Each of these marketing areas can be looked at as a mini plan – with action-oriented steps and activities for you to follow.
Here’s a simple and quick process to create your marketing action plan, by completing several mini plans:
1. take a blank piece of paper and draw a line down the center
2. write “Marketing Areas” on the left hand side
3. write “Action Steps” on the right hand side
4. list the marketing areas you want to focus on down the left column – leaving a few lines between each one
5. in the right column write your overall goal for each category
6. list each action step needed to achieve your marketing goals
7. put dates against each action step
8. transfer these dates into your Outlook, PDA or wall calendar
9. put the completed marketing action plan somewhere visible and DO IT!
To give you a better idea, below is an example of a couple mini marketing action plans:
Marketing Category: Publicity
Goal: send out a monthly press release
Action Steps:
* identify online press release services
* identify online and offline publications/newspapers that appeal to my target group
* find out the necessary contact information of publications
* figure out newsworthy stories or business events (product or service launch, new location, special event, etc.) and write a press release
* submit one press release each month using online and offline avenues
* keep track of whether or not your press releases are run
Marketing Category: Networking
Goal: attend a weekly networking event
Action Steps:
* choose a couple groups or associations that appeal to your target market
* look into ways that you can be a part of these networking groups: volunteer on board, host meetings, help out with newsletter, attend monthly breakfast meetings, etc.
* identify key contacts in each group and develop strong connections with them
* send out at least one thank you card to someone you meet at each meeting/event
* schedule time in your schedule after each networking event to do any follow up phone calls, send out materials and put contact details into your prospect database (or get your Virtual Assistant to do it)
The next steps would be to assign dates for completion for each marketing action step and transfer these into whatever system you use to keep track of your to-do lists and daily/weekly activities.
Start with about 4 – 6 mini marketing action plans and once you’ve got these up and running smoothly, then start adding additional marketing activities one at a time. Or you can also make each mini plan more comprehensive by adding additional goals.
For example, your internet mini marketing plan could consist of several goals like: do 2 blog postings each week, create and build a subscription list for an online ezine, add 4 new articles to your website monthly, and so on.
Remember, the idea is to do your marketing consistently and easily – so make sure you keep the number of mini plans manageable and be sure to take action on the steps you’ve identified. This is the only way that you’ll continue to get new and returning clients on an ongoing basis, and ensure success and sales.
Mini Marketing Action Plans - To learn more about this author, visit Jody Gabourie's Website.
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Most small business owners do not have marketing plans. This means that their marketing tends to be inconsistent, ineffective and inefficient.
Some service professionals do have marketing plans for their business, but fail to actually put it into practice. This really isn’t much better than having no plan!
The secret to consistently marketing your services and products is to have what I call a “Marketing Action Plan”. A plan saves you time and money, brings in more prospects and clients, helps you keep customers, and helps you run a successful and profitable business.
As soon as someone mentions anything with the word “plan” in it, business owners usually cringe and most run for the hills! Marketing action plans do not have to be laborious and minutely detailed. In fact, if it’s too complicated, none of us will follow it.
Creating a marketing action plan and putting it into practice daily does require some thinking, time and commitment. However, it doesn’t have to be the overwhelming task that many business owners fear.
I strongly believe that the way to tackle anything that appears to be too big and unwieldy is to break it down into smaller steps or chunks. The same applies to a marketing action plan – break it down into individual mini marketing action plans.
Marketing encompasses several different areas and corresponding activities – each of which can have a mini marketing plan built around it. Examples of areas are: publicity, public speaking, publishing articles, referral, joint venture, direct mail, promotional, advertising, internet (website, ezine, blog), automated email communication, networking, social media, and so on.
Each of these marketing areas can be looked at as a mini plan – with action-oriented steps and activities for you to follow.
Here’s a simple and quick process to create your marketing action plan, by completing several mini plans:
1. take a blank piece of paper and draw a line down the center
2. write “Marketing Areas” on the left hand side
3. write “Action Steps” on the right hand side
4. list the marketing areas you want to focus on down the left column – leaving a few lines between each one
5. in the right column write your overall goal for each category
6. list each action step needed to achieve your marketing goals
7. put dates against each action step
8. transfer these dates into your Outlook, PDA or wall calendar
9. put the completed marketing action plan somewhere visible and DO IT!
To give you a better idea, below is an example of a couple mini marketing action plans:
Marketing Category: Publicity
Goal: send out a monthly press release
Action Steps:
* identify online press release services
* identify online and offline publications/newspapers that appeal to my target group
* find out the necessary contact information of publications
* figure out newsworthy stories or business events (product or service launch, new location, special event, etc.) and write a press release
* submit one press release each month using online and offline avenues
* keep track of whether or not your press releases are run
Marketing Category: Networking
Goal: attend a weekly networking event
Action Steps:
* choose a couple groups or associations that appeal to your target market
* look into ways that you can be a part of these networking groups: volunteer on board, host meetings, help out with newsletter, attend monthly breakfast meetings, etc.
* identify key contacts in each group and develop strong connections with them
* send out at least one thank you card to someone you meet at each meeting/event
* schedule time in your schedule after each networking event to do any follow up phone calls, send out materials and put contact details into your prospect database (or get your Virtual Assistant to do it)
The next steps would be to assign dates for completion for each marketing action step and transfer these into whatever system you use to keep track of your to-do lists and daily/weekly activities.
Start with about 4 – 6 mini marketing action plans and once you’ve got these up and running smoothly, then start adding additional marketing activities one at a time. Or you can also make each mini plan more comprehensive by adding additional goals.
For example, your internet mini marketing plan could consist of several goals like: do 2 blog postings each week, create and build a subscription list for an online ezine, add 4 new articles to your website monthly, and so on.
Remember, the idea is to do your marketing consistently and easily – so make sure you keep the number of mini plans manageable and be sure to take action on the steps you’ve identified. This is the only way that you’ll continue to get new and returning clients on an ongoing basis, and ensure success and sales.
Mini Marketing Action Plans - To learn more about this author, visit Jody Gabourie's Website.
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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Jody Gabourie - The Marketing Plan Queen - Teaches small business owners and entrepreneurs how to take ACTION with their marketing in order to get more results and more profits! She helps people create simple, innovative and powerful marketing plans so that they can start reaping success in their business and their life.
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