It’s hard to believe that 2014 is almost to an end. Although there are plenty of year-end tasks to keep us busy, this is the best time to get started on one of the most important plans for your business, the annual marketing plan. Creating a marketing calendar is a great way to help you stay on track with your marketing efforts throughout the busy year. Putting your marketing goals on paper is a great motivator to help you take action.
Here are some recommendations to assist in planning your 2015 marketing plan:
Results – Pay attention to which campaigns worked best for your business in 2014 and aim to put a new twist on something similar for the coming year. Let the customer know you are paying attention and trying to appeal to them.
Target Your Top Customers – Do not try and market to everyone. Market to your best potential client, the one that is most likely going to use your services and refer you to others. This will help make your marketing plan more effective and affordable.
Test and Tweak – If you start your plan early enough, you can test a new idea on a smaller area, and then make adjustments to the mail piece before mail is distributed to another area if needed.
Three Months in Advance – If an annual plan seems overwhelming, try quarterly planning. This will still help make your campaigns manageable and help avoid having to pay for rush jobs and mistakes resulting from hurried executions of great marketing ideas.
If your marketing plan is developed in advance, it will give you more time for development and execution. Which, can ensure that you are targeting the right audience, at the right time, with the right message.