I know how fast the days roll by and sometimes we wish we were a bit more proactive on marketing matters. I got to thinking about the questions people ask me about my process so…I thought these 6 items would round out any marketing plan whether you have done them in the past or this might be your first one. I like to plan for the year but for you, just try it for 3 months at a time. Easy bite sized pieces for you to chew on. I hope it helps you.

1. Review Your 2021 Plan First– Did you write a marketing plan for 2021? Dust it off and review it.We have not completed 2021 just yet, but you should have enough information from your first, second or third quarter to make educated decisions about where you want your business to go. Did you meet your goals, or did you come up short? It’s important to review what marketing tactics you’ve already tried.
   • Look at what worked and what didn’t work?
   • What made the most bang for your buck?
   • Make note of what platforms you were using?

Don’t waste time on marketing campaigns that didn’t bring you results. Look to another resource or platform to help you achieve your goals.

2. Define Your Audience (or redefine it.) – Any marketing you create should target your clients needs. One idea is to create “Personas” to match your current clientele. A persona is a fictional character, which you create to represent the different user types that might use your products or services. If you have already created personas, review them. Make sure they still ring true.

Questions to consider about your Personas:

• What is their age range?
• Do they have children?
• Are they babyboomers?
• Are they in college?
• Do they still live at home?
• Are they Male, Female, They or Them

It can help you create marketing messages to speak directly to your audience. Use demographics to presume who would be a good fit for your products or services.

3. Set SMART Goals – After reviewing 2021 and moving forward to create a new plan, it’s time to create goals for marketing in 2022. Instead of choosing a vague goal like “I want to bring in more customers,” set SMART goals.

To make sure your goals are clear and reachable, each one should be:

• Specific (simple, sensible, significant). Who, What,Why, When and Where?
• Measurable (meaningful, motivating). How Much, How Many, What’s the end goal?
• Achievable (attainable). How realistic is the goal with your current means?
• Relevant (reasonable, realistic, and resourced, results-based). Is it worthwhile or the right time? Does it match your availability or efforts?
• Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive).When-today or 6 months from now? Create a deadline.

SMART goals will hold you accountable over the course of 2022.

4. What Marketing Tactics Will Support Your Goals? – Let’s say you need a boost in your brand awareness by February 2022, which tactics will get you there most efficiently?

Only you can choose the tactics that will work for your brand. It’s usually trial and error at first.

You might choose tactics like:

• Email
• Google/Facebook/Instagram ads
• Organic social media
• Search engine optimization
• Content marketing
• Video marketing
• Experiment with Influencer marketing

Use a few tactics at a time but always keep track of the dollars and time you spend on them. If you can’t measure, the actions become a guessing game.

5. Create a Budget– You can’t measure your return on investment (ROI) unless you know how much money you spent marketing your brand. That’s why it’s so important to create a budget annually as well as per-platform or per-tactic.

You should have an overall marketing budget, but you need to funnel that budget into chosen buckets to understand where your money is going to go. Let’s say you have a $5,000 annual marketing budget.You allocate $1000 to social media and another $4000 to other forms of public relations. If one is working better than the other, make adjustments but keep notes for the next year.

6. Hold Yourself Accountable – If you don’t, who will? Plan out your sales and special offers ahead of time. Keep a monthly calendar in front of you to remind you to hit your marks for the month. If you take the time to follow through with your marketing plan, you will have a baseline to measure month to month and then plan easier from year to year.

If you follow these six steps, you’ll lay the groundwork for a solid plan for marketing in 2022. To give it a try, plan for 3 months. See how it affects your pace, your mood, and your sales. I am speaking from experience here, if you wait until the month comes, you’ll end up trying to play catch up which can be both stressful and energy depleting.  Planning is the answer to most things in business. Being flexible helps too. Happy planning for 2022!