The two words “marketing” and “plan” can on their own evoke strange and uncomfortable feelings in many solo-preneurs.
It’s like, you know you need to do marketing and you know you need to do some planning, but it’s a constant battle to commit to any of them. Worst, if these two words are thrown together into “Marketing Plan” – then it’s enough to run away from.
The problem is that women are often afraid to create and stick to a marketing plan. They might feel:
- Creating an effective marketing plan seems messy and hard.
- They don’t know what will happen in a month, much less six months… and thinking ahead is kind of scary and mind-boggling;
- Committing to the actions they put on their plan today, can limit them in some way. Especially if something new or more exciting comes up in a few months’ time;
- Planning has just never work out for them. Even if they’ve made a plan in the past, they could not stick to it. So they stopped planning, period.
The truth however is, marketing planning should not be hard, messy or scary at all…and it is something you should do as much as possible – especially when you are still carving out your business success. And if you’ve found that planning didn’t work in the past – it is not necessarily the fault of the planning process. It’s often the strategy that you used to execute (or not execute) your plan.
So, to make your marketing planning and execution a bit easier, think about it this way. It is simply about creating an effective, step by step road map to relieve stress and make running your business easy and fun.
Imagine the amount of stress that will go away when there is no more guessing about what marketing activities to do when. Think about the relief when you experience more and more clients entering your client pipeline or contacting you to inquire about your services. Visualize freeing up your time and starting to earn a better income so that you not only can grow your business, but also create the life you want…
All because you’ve committed yourself to creating an effective marketing plan and to implement the things you’ve planned.
So let’s look at what an effective marketing plan is supposed to be.
Well, a marketing plan is NOT this thick, dusty “whoowhoo” type of document that you prepare once and then put in the bottom drawer of your desk never to consult again.
Your marketing plan should be a living document on your PC or up on the wall where you can SEE it and access it on a daily basis. It should be this road map (or GPS) that you consult daily to show you what you need to do today (or this week / month) to promote your business and get those clients.
Thus, for marketing planning to be effective you MUST incorporate the following 6 crucial elements:
1. The EXACT GOAL you want to reach. This can be for example earning a specific amount of money this year or selling x copies of a new product or filling a tele-class with x attendees or getting x new clients this month or whatever – just any specific goal that will bring money into your business and that you need to do some marketing for.
2. WHO specifically you want to attract as clients. In other words who do want to work with (ideal clients) or who you want to sell your products to. If you do not know who you want to attract with your marketing efforts, marketing can be such a waste because then you cannot make offers or reach the right people with your marketing.
3. WHERE you will find these people. It is important to “fish where the fish are”. If you can find your target audience in large numbers, it makes your marketing much more effective. It saves time, effort and even money and will results on higher returns on all your marketing efforts.
4.WHAT to say to your prospects once you’ve find them. It is all about getting their attention and then inspiring them to take some sort of action (e.g. clicking a link; getting on your list; calling you to set up an appointment; signing up to work with you).
5. HOW you will effectively reach them to put your message in front of them. Your target audience will mostly dictate the marketing methods you should use. So it is crucial that you know who they are and then use those marketing methods that will have the best positive impact for your business. Then promote and stay in touch consistently to give your audience time to get to know, like and trust you.
6. Scheduling daily, weekly, monthly ACTION STEPS to keep you accountable for implementing all your marketing and thus reaching the goal you’ve set in step 1.
Bottom line: Doing marketing according to an effective plan will have an amazing impact on your business. It will give you peace of mind and greatly relieve the stress and anxiety of getting more clients, because it provides clarity, purpose, and direction on what to do when.
Through your marketing planning you’ve taken care of one of the crucial and fundamental aspects for creating a thriving business.
Execution of an effective marketing plan can lead to many more clients. When you have clients, you have a long-lasting business.
Your assignment:
Could you identify which of the elements above is lacking in your marketing planning process? If so, make a commitment to yourself this week to incorporate it into your plan… and, if you do not have a marketing plan yet, then take time this week to create your plan for the next month, 6 months or even this whole year. It will be time well spend… I promise 😉
If you need help with this or someone to guide you through the whole marketing planning process, visit the information-rich page and go over all the details of my “Create More Marketing Momentum” course here.
To Your Success!
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