Creating a marketing plan is a big deal for your business. It tells you what activities need to be accomplished in order to meet your goals. It is, essentially, an extension of your business plan and a roadmap to reach your revenue goals. It’s important to remember that any marketing plan is better than no marketing plan at all. A marketing plan can provide you with the framework you need to scale your business and attract new leads. There’s no wrong way to approach setting it up, but there are pitfalls that should be avoided. To keep your plan running smoothly, we’ve compiled a list of common missteps in creating your marketing plan.
“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” That’s a quote our team uses to encourage us to aim high. While we do agree that setting high goals can help people accomplish great things, it’s not a practice that you should necessarily use with your marketing plan.
Marketing plans should be realistic outlines of your marketing activities for a specific time period. Setting goals too high or too low can be demotivating for your team. If this is your first time establishing a plan for your business and you’re unsure what realistic goals might look like, goal setting might be a bit of guesswork to start.
Use your best judgment for setting realistic goals and review your plan as soon as you have enough data to determine the validity of your goals and activities.
Imagine you’re on a ship with only a compass to guide your direction. If you never check the compass, how will you know you’re on course to reach your destination? Your marketing plan is your compass. It’s guiding you towards reaching your goals.
Reviewing your plan will help you determine if your goals are attainable. Course corrections will need to be made when it looks like your plan is under or overperforming. If you need help deciding the best steps to review your plan, read our blog about reviewing your plan successfully.
Do you consider yourself a chronic overthinker? Don't worry; you're not alone.
Your plan will rarely be perfect on the first go-around. Even having a marketing plan means you’re ahead of the game since 44% of small businesses don’t have one at all. Spending too much time focused on the small details of your plan will not offer many benefits.
Not happy with the layout of your plan? It’s probably fine. You’ll improve the layout the more you use your plan.
Unsure which marketing activities should take priority? That’s totally fine. You’ll learn what’s working and what’s not by consistently reviewing your marketing plan over time.
It’s important to remember that as you continue to perfect your marketing plan, you will find road bumps and shortcuts to help you streamline your process. You’ll also find that you’ll need to update your plan to account for any buyer persona changes, updated offerings, or new industry information.
Maybe creating a marketing plan just isn’t your thing. And that's okay. However, it’s still vital that your business has a plan. If you need help setting up and executing your plan, don’t hesitate to reach out for help. We've got you covered!
And if you want a little extra help getting more leads, schedule a free marketing audit with us. We'll review your current inbound practices and give you some pointers: