I’ve spent the last few weeks making sure I’m comfortable with my own marketing strategy and plan for 2022. They're also my super powers and what I spend most of my time talking about or working on, with clients! So, I thought I’d use this month’s blog to share a few tips to kick-start your 2022 marketing plan.
Marketing planning is all about the actions needed to meet your marketing goals - the ‘how’ and ‘when’. Before you tackle your planning though, you'll need to have your marketing strategy. Over the years, I've simplified this to The 4Cs Framework (see diagram below). The 4Cs are the non-negotiables that you need to have sussed to get real results from your marketing. (If you'd like to know more about strategy, check out my previous blog - Do you really need a marketing strategy?)
Here are my top 5 'must-haves' for an effective marketing plan:
1. A marketing purpose
What are you trying to achieve with your marketing that’s aligned to your overall business goals? This could be around raising awareness of your brand or increasing sales or building customer loyalty.
2. Marketing goals or objectives
Set around 3-6 objectives that'll help you meet your marketing purpose. I'd suggest you follow the SMART acronym – specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely - to make you more accountable and focused.
3. Active steps
Work out the smaller, active steps that you'll need to take to meet your objectives. If doing this for 12 months seems overwhelming then tackle 12 weeks at a time. This will also give you more flexibility to change or update your plan, if needed.
4. Timescales and deadlines
Decide how long it'll take to achieve each of these active steps – is it a few hours, a few days or a few weeks? It's unlikely you'll be able to work on all of these steps at once so start to prioritise and set deadlines.
5. Keep it nearby!
Whether it’s written on paper, saved in Excel or you use a project management tool, save your marketing plan and refer to it every day. Remember this is your guide for meeting your marketing objectives and supporting your overall business goals!
And a final few things to include:
budget/costs
who is responsible? (e.g. you, a team member, a department, outsourced help)
metrics - what can be measured to see the impact of your marketing activity? (e.g. social media insights, website traffic, response rates, enquiry levels, sales figures)
It’s not an easy task and you’ll need to carve out some time. But think about how you'll feel knowing you've a focused, aligned and effective marketing plan that helps gain visibility, sales and growth for your business!
If you'd like some help with your marketing strategy or planning, drop me an email jen@beltermarketing.com and we'll arrange a time to talk.