Have you fine-tuned your marketing strategy for 2015 yet? If not, you need to take action ASAP.
It’s really important that you give some serious thought to how you’ll attract new customers and clients over the next 12 months, and it could make a huge difference in how your business performs. If you’ve ever tried searching online for a template for a marketing plan though, you’ll know that these documents tend to be long, boring, and highly technical. The good news is that you don’t have to spend hours carrying out various different tools and techniques – you just need to have a simple document that covers what you’ll do and when. In this guide, we give you some pointers that you need to think about.
Work out what you want to achieve
What do you want to achieve in 2015 in terms of your figures? Do you want to make €20,000? €50,000? €100,000? Or more? Whatever the number is, get really clear on it and write it down. Committing your goals to paper is the first step towards achieving them, and it gives you a good idea about what you’ll need to do to get there.
Establish what you need to sell to achieve that figure
Based on your current offerings, what exactly will you need to sell to hit your income goal for the year? So if you have just one package that sells at £100, and you want to make £20,000, you’d need to sell 200 of those. Consider whether that feels realistic for you. It should be a challenge and it should be stretching, but it shouldn’t feel impossible. Of course, you might decide that you want to add new products and services this year, so include those in your calculations and consider what you can do to ensure a successful launch.
Get your big dates in the diary
Many people start out the new year with intentions to attend events like trade shows and exhibitions, but this often doesn’t come to fruition. You can have the best intentions in the world, but if you’re not taking big action, you’re going to struggle to get there. So sit down right now and put the dates in your diary. Once you’ve made the mental commitment to making them happen, you’re much more likely to see them through and do everything you can to make them a roaring success. If possible, book your tickets so you know that you won’t miss out, and buy any necessary merchandise.
Keep your plan in the front of your mind
Don’t just put your marketing plans away in a drawer and forget all about them. You need to refer to them on a regular basis and assess what’s working for you and what perhaps needs to be tweaked or changed. This will help to ensure that you’re always making progress and linking your activities back to your big goals. Schedule regular updates, at least once a month, and make sure that you always make time for them. It could be useful to get your whole team involved, so everyone is focused on the bigger picture, and they understand their contribution to the business.
As you can see, your marketing strategy doesn’t have to be difficult or complicated. It’s just a case of mapping out where you want to be in business and planning your steps to get there. If you’re serious about growing your operations in 2015 and attracting more customers and clients, set aside some time to focus on this before the year really kicks into full swing.
