4 Smart & Sensible Marketing Tips for 2010!
Are your eyes much bigger than your wallet, or your ability to focus and execute effective marketing in 2010?
Has your New Year’s Resolutions come and gone already? How can you ensure you’re not biting off more than you can chew with your aspirations and actions?
Here are four tips that you can apply to a fresh, doable mini plan in 2010!
Be Realistic: The list of what could or should be done is always long. As much as you want to do it all, be realistic about what can get done today, and in the near future. Make sure you have your plan on paper, and do not over plan. Be realistic as well about the resources you have to get things done.
Be Measurable: For everything you commit to do, make sure you know how to measure the outcome of your efforts. The closer you can measure success back to revenue, the better. I know that is harder said than done, just make sure your not shooting so high that it is not measurable. Still, if you’re going to choose something on your short list of focus areas, make sure you know how to measure success, and make sure your team knows what that the goal is from the beginning.
Be Diligent: Many efforts fade away because there’s little discipline in you to keep the ideas on task, and keeping them moving. Schedule regular check-ins, at least with yourself, to gauge progress and next steps on every commitment you’ve made. Keep yourself accountable at all times for outcomes and performances.
Be Flexible: Everything chances, you have to be flexible enough to change with it. That goes for your marketing plan as well. If you hit roadblocks along the way, be flexible and creative to find new ways to still meet your business goals. The more flexible you are, the more likely you are to find and stick to alternative paths to success. Alternate paths are the most likely paths most business end up going down; we always plan for the best, but sometimes accept the unexpected…..
January 28th, 2010 at 1:06 am
Great article. I especially agree with the tips you left on being flexible. Change is something that I am constantly encountering. Over time I have learned how to deal, but it did take some getting used to.
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January 28th, 2010 at 11:09 am
Good tips. I think some of us get overwhelmed with our own goals. Being realistic and flexible helps.
January 29th, 2010 at 1:24 am
Exactly Carol. You took the words right out of my mouth.
January 29th, 2010 at 10:41 pm
I would add as a footnote to being flexible to not forget to try things that did work in the past. Don’t change what has been successful just for the sake of change. Leverage your past successes and make sure you do changes for a good reason. When you’ve got an idea that works, run with it.
February 1st, 2010 at 4:22 am
Points are very clear and precise. Its vary useful info.
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:54 am
Thanks for your words of wisdom.
One golden nugget can be priceless.
Keep on spreading news to help people soar you will be rewarded well!!
Faith
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February 2nd, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Great tips Kim! I to have learned that the last one, “Being Flexible” is very, very important. Things rarely go the way we expect them to.
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:36 pm
Perfect advice Kim! Very timely too as I was just talking about this very thing with a friend yesterday. There is so much that you can do, but you need to be realistic in what you have time to do and what you can stick with. And when trying new things, set a time frame and measure results against it. If it’s not working for you or your business then do something else and take it off your list.
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:43 pm
I feel like this post was written for me. Point 1: I have just done a detailed analysis of my running goals, and how much time and money they would require to achieve them. I realised that some of my goals were unrealistic in my current position, I do not have the time needed to meet them and I don’t have the money to employ another member of staff to free up my time.
Point 2: This has always been one of my main focuses. I always measure what every step of expansion has brought to the business, and let it all bed in before taking the next step forward.
Point 3: I took note of the statement about not overplanning things, I do that I suppose — a bit. However, you should also have mentioned back-up plans if parts of the plan don’t go exactly how they should, if you fail to meet a part of the plan, for a reason anticipated, do this to workaround it etc. Yes, this is covered in another way in Point 4, but I reckon it is better to try and anticipate the roadblocks if possible, - overplanning again - maybe.
February 9th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Marketing Objectives
Your first step in developing a marketing campaign must be to determine the objective of the campaign. These objectives are stepped and a prospect needs to reach one step before he can move to the next: Awareness, Understanding, Desire, Transaction, Retention, and Referral. In other words, prospects will first be aware of your product, then know the benefits, then want it, then buy it, then use it, and then recommend it to others. Your marketing campaign should only attempt to achieve one of these objectives at a time