At Blaze Marketing we’re really passionate about planning, and that’s because effective marketing and planning are absolutely inseparable. The most successful marketing activities are strategically designed and planned to target your key audience and deliver the message and call to action that gets them to buy from you Without a plan, there is no coherence or consistency in your messaging and it’s nearly impossible to build a distinct brand and brand awareness. Ad-hoc marketing efforts, which are often off-target, can be a waste of money or at least not fully optimised to get the most from the experience, and can sometimes even damage your brand. So before you roll out any marketing activities, it’s absolutely vital to invest quality time and money into developing a comprehensive business marketing plan to clarify your thinking, your focus and your efforts. However, if budgets and busy-ness are preventing you from investing the requisite time and dollars (as they sometimes do) in professional marketing advice or planning, then any plan is better than no plan. Don’t know where to start? Blaze Marketing has developed a quick one-page marketing plan template, designed to help you put pen to paper and nut out a fast, focused marketing strategy – something to get you started and keep your marketing on track until a more comprehensive plan can be put together. A one-page marketing plan is just that: one page, quick and easy. The template will steer you through the planning process, focusing on the following details:
- Objectives – make them realistic and quantifiable.
- Analysis – understand your business landscape – analysis your own business, your competitors and the market.
- Target market – who do you need to get your message to? Where are they and how will you reach them?
- Your Brand – describe your brand strategy? What should come to mind when people see your brand? Is your brand identity clearly articulated and applied consistently?
- Your message: this includes your unique selling points, . Consider where you sit in the market in relation to competing businesses and what makes you different.
- Budget – know how much you’ve got to spend, then you can allocate funds to maximum efficiency.
- Now plan marketing programs/activities/tactics to focus on to get some momentum.
- Put together an action schedule so to ensure all marketing activities are rolled out on time.
A plan addressing each of these points will eliminate the waste and potential damage that can result from ad-hoc marketing attempts. It doesn’t have to be complicated and at this stage, you don’t need to get bogged down in the detail. But even drafting a one-pager, and plotting where you want to go and how you’re going to get there, will bring focus to your efforts and ensure that every dollar invested in marketing is firing at the right target and generating optimum results. DOWNLOAD the Blaze Marketing 1 Page Marketing Plan here If you are unsure or need a bit of guidance completing your plan, then book in for a quick one hour marketing mentoring session and we will help you kick off on the right track. Happy Planning!
