Are you struggling to nail down a marketing plan for 2020? I have been working with clients on building out detailed, robust marketing strategies for 2020. No matter what size or type of business you are in, you should have some sort of strategy and plan going in to the new year.
Why a marketing strategy is so important
- It will help you make decisions: decision fatigue, analysis paralysis. Whatever you call it, there are so many decisions to make in business. Anything that can make it easier to come to a decision is welcome, right? With this strategy, everything you do will need to serve your overall goals for the year. You will easily be able to analyze whether or not something serves your goals for the year.
- It will give you permission to say NO. If something doesn’t serve your business goals, say no without regret.
- It will give you benchmarks to measure your level of success beyond just financial numbers. More revenue is great (and important), but what other achievements or milestones would be indicators of a successful year? This plan will help you outline and prioritize those non-financial milestones.
How to build a marketing strategy
The following framework will help you create a top level marketing strategy to help guide you into the new year.
Step 1: Prioritize your goals
As yourself: What 3-5 words do I want to represent and describe 2020 for my business? When you look back a year from now, if you felt your business epitomized those 3-5 words, you would feel you accomplished what you set out to accomplish.
During this step, look back on this past year, what 3-5 words would you use to describe this past year? Are you happy with those words? Do any of those apply to next year, or do you want to make changes?
These words are going to be your guiding principles throughout the year. When a new opportunity is presented to you or your business, come back to these words. Is the opportunity in line with any of these goals? Yes? Great, do it. No? Give yourself permission to politely decline the opportunity.
Step 2: Tactics to get there
Now that you have nailed down your 3-5 words, what tactics will help you get there? What would need to happen in your business to be able to use each of the words in step 1 to describe your year.
This is your chance to goal set and brainstorm. Some of these items will be non-negotiable in order to achieve your goals. Others will be blue sky “it would be so awesome if…” ideas.
Step 3: What’s missing?
Now that you have your goals and tactics to get there, what is missing? What skills or resources do you need in order to implement the tactics outline in step 2? Do you need to take a course to learn a new skill? Do you need to hire someone? Maybe you need a new website or new photos to promote your business.
How Bout An Example?
Want to see what this might look like with some examples? Here you go:
Let’s use a real estate agent for this example. A real estate agent might have these words:
- Connections
- Expertise
- Demand
- Presence
For each word, let’s outline some potential things that would need to happen to make those words a reality. When you are creating lists for your own business, these lists may be very long. These are all not necessarily things that HAVE to happen. It is a list of ideas and inspiration to motivate you toward achieving your overall objectives.
- Connections: Attend networking events, more active on LinkedIn, build email list, build relationships in collaborative industries
- Expertise: Create helpful advice/content to share with email list and on social, video marketing
- Demand: Social media advertising, professional photography
- Presence: Collaborate with other agents or partners, consistent social media posting
Finally, what resources or tools are needed to accomplish these tactics that you don’t currently have?
- Professional photoshoot
- Take a course/training on email marketing
- Learn social media marketing best practices
Ready to build your own strategy?
Download the template below to start building your strategy:
How do you plan out your annual marketing plan? This strategy will give you a top-level plan, but if you want a detailed, step-by-step, month-by-month action plan, book a 2020 planning session before the end of the year.
