Have you started writing your 2011 marketing plan yet?

Have you started writing your 2011 marketing plan yet?

Go on, admit it, have you started thinking about your marketing plan for next year yet? Every December, I take a day or two out to write my marketing plan for the new year. Well to be honest, I do a little more than that, I write my business plan for the year.

Last year, my plan looked pretty exciting: launch our design and marketing agency, Flourish, grow the turnover and profit, and cement our position in the marketplace. And you know what? We’ve done it! All of it and then some…

For me, one of the key differentials has been getting Suzanne, our fabulous book-keeper to get involved in the financial plan from the outset. You don’t often think of a book-keeper as being someone that has much to do with a marketing plan – but surely the role of the marketing plan is to help you achieve your business goals? And if your goals are financial, well then you need to write down a proper model.

Step One: Identify your goals for the year

Last December, for the first year ever, I told Suzanne how much profit I wanted the business to generate, and she went away and created a realistic model for me. I know it sounds obvious, but to me it was a revelation! And it made such a difference. It has focused my mind and we’ve achieved our goals.

In the past, I’ve hoped that we might achieve a certain profit level, but I’ve always been a little unsure about exactly what we needed to do — month on month, to achieve that.

A couple of years ago my goals were very different — I was pregnant and I simply wanted to get the business to a “safe place” where we could continue to deliver the level of service we were known for,  whilst I enjoyed five months of maternity leave following the birth of my son.

We all have goals for our businesses, and I find it really helps to sit down and focus on them. It doesn’t matter what your goals are: financial, personal, intellectual — but you do need to work out what they are.

Step Two: niche, niche, niche!

My next job of planning my marketing is to re-examine the market, what our customers value about our offering, where our strengths lie and whether our niche is still as relevant today as it was last year. The launch of Flourish in February was all about putting a name and a brand to a service and an expertise we were already delivering, and it really has paid off. But markets change, companies grow and customer needs shift — is your offering today as compelling as it was last year? Last month?

Step Three: Own your space

Once you have a space in the market that you’re confident that you can deliver and that your clients want, you need to own that space. Build a marketing plan that communicates what you do, that helps you own your space. Mix up the low cost and no cost marketing activities with a few things that you’ll need to invest some more in, but will pay off.

Step Four: If it doesn’t get written down, it doesn’t get done

Write yourself out a calendar of events — what are you doing when? I often write myself Macro Marketing Plans (xyz in February, abc in March etc) as well as Micro Marketing Plans with very detailed lists of jobs for each campaign. Sounds like hard work? It is, but it’ll pay off in the long run, I promise.

Fiona Humberstone is an expert contributor to Marketing Donut and managing director of Flourish.

• Need to write a marketing plan, but don't know where to start? Download our marketing plan template and use it to guide you as you create your plan. Find out more in our guide to creating a marketing plan.

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