Have you heard the saying “Fail to plan? Then plan to fail!” Well, now’s the time to create your marketing plan for 2011. Don’t know where to start?

Seven simple steps to ensure your marketing plan is ready to roll out January, 2011:

1. Set goals and objectives…

Decide what you want to accomplish overall in 2011. It could be to sell X number of units, or increase sales by X percentage, or convert X number of prospects into customers. Best practice is to break these overall goals down into quarterly, monthly or even weekly goals to determine if your goal is practical and achievable.

2. Plan for seasonal adjustments…

Budget constraints, economic fluctuations, and new market trends happen, but it’s important to have a year-long marketing plan which allows some wiggle room. You may decide to weight your marketing initiatives more heavily in certain months to coincide with known holiday events and to cut back in other months, and still achieve your overall goals and objectives.

3. Conduct your own market survey…

Look up information you already have access to – i.e., your own best customers and identify their common denominators to help to target your marketing message. You should also research the current and forecasted markets for your industry in pertinent trade magazines or on the Internet. Evaluate what your competitors are doing to be successful and what you might offer to stand out from the competition.

4. Draft out your campaign strategies..

Include specific examples of what you intend to do to increase revenues. Do you need to target a new niche market? Identify which marketing tools you will use, print or broadcast media, website traffic, email campaigns, and cold calls. You should also identify and draft the specific holiday campaigns, time-limited discount offers, etc.

5. Connect with your networks…

Obtain feedback from your personal and business circles and mentors. If you have staff, enlist their help and ideas and get them to buy-in to your plan. Don’t know who your networks are? Then now’s the time to define them. You have clients (existing and prospective), close friends and family, colleagues, staff, personal acquaintances, neighbours, associations you belong to, sports you participate in, school chums, church groups, and on-line social networks you can tap into. Go one step further and write down each type of network and list the names which belong to each one. It will amaze you how many people you know.

6. Measure results against goals and objectives…

Always try to determine which strategy or campaign brought you those new clients or increased sales. Ask why they are buying from you – was it a certain ad? specials on your website? word of mouth? It’s the only way you can find out what works and what doesn’t. Check your website traffic after each promotion or campaign is launched to see if it reflects increased traffic. Keep records of the results, then you can apply this data to next year’s strategic marketing plan.

7. Maximize Your Return On Investment (ROI)…

Always cross-reference all your tools in your marketing plan. For example, be sure you put all your contact information, including your email address and website on your printed materials, business cards, magazine ads, and use your website to reflect your print or broadcast marketing campaigns. Then each marketing tool compliments and enhances the visibility of the other tools. Keep your brand imaging the same on all your tools so that your target market gets used to recognizing your brand and it sticks in the top of their mind!

As always, you are invited to comment/contribute to this post to improve this blog.

Are there differences between Marketing, Networking and Selling, or are they one and the same thing?

According to “The Networking Survival Guide” by Diane Darling,”marketing, networking, and selling are interdependent, like the beef, mushrooms, and red wine in a boeuf bourgignon. The three components are more powerful together than apart.

Marketing gets things started. It is an integrated promotional campaign that includes websites, advertising, public relations, and brochures designed to create awareness of your product or service. Marketing casts a wide net, educates a target audience, and creates awareness.

Networking is the next step; it narrows the scope. It is people-driven, not company or media-driven. It’s personal. It connects people who do things or solve problems for each other.

Sales defines the relationship between the party with the need, and the one that can meet that need. Essentially, sales says what each party will do in the transaction. It is far easier to arrive at this happy point (sales) with good networking, and the sales process itself is much easier when marketing has set expectations appropriately.

Networking is not Schmoozing…

Diane Darling says “Networking is sometimes dismissed as Schmoozing. Schmoozing has the connotation of creating a very superficial connection that benefits only the schmoozer. It’s a take situation. Networking , on the other hand, is an ongoing relationship based on mutual benefit.”

“No matter how smart and talented you are, you need the help of others to reach your true potential. Solid connections with the right people are just as important as being good at what you do.” says Darling.

In my personal opinion, Networking is one of the crucial building blocks of the foundation of any successful business. English poet, John Donne, 1572-1631, wrote “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent.”
In today’s lexicon Donne might have worded this as “No man is stand alone computer, entire of itself, every man is a piece of the Internet.”

Today’s smart marketers are coming to terms with the necessity for establishing online social and business-to-business (b2b) networks in addition to traditional face-to-face networking opportunities, in order to grow their businesses. So, leave the networking tool out of your business building construction kit – at your own peril!

As always, you are invited to comment/contribute to this post to improve this blog

Mitch Joel’s book, “Six Pixels of Separation” identifies six social needs that entrepreneurs need to appreciate in order to connect with their potential consumers.

The six key points…

The six key points from a Research Brief entitled “Emotional Business Bonding on Social Networks” by Jack Loechner, lists them as follows:

“1. Online social networks provide people with the ultimate tool for defining and redefining themselves, as evidenced in profile pages on Facebook and MySpace.

2. The need for autonomy, recognition, and achievement are essential to our sense of self-worth and are fulfilled in online communities, blogs, and social networks that provide a way to develop and manage a virtual reputation.

3. People have a need to both seek (help from) and provide help to others. Mutual assistance between strangers is a phenomenon that has been uniquely enabled by the Internet.

4. Online communities are becoming the way people find, create and connect with others “just like me” – people who share similar tastes, sensibilities, orientations, or interests.

5. A sense of belonging or affiliation alone is not equivalent to a true sense of community. Achieving a real sense of community requires long-lasting reciprocal relationships and a mutual commitment to the needs of the community as a whole….

6. People want to be reassured of their worth and value, and seek confirmation that what they say and do matters to others and has an impact on the world around them. Meeting all 5 + [1} of these social needs generally requires the level of intimacy and facilitation that are the hallmarks of smaller, invitation only online communities.

These six points do illustrate that we are moving toward a world where online reputation and personal branding are taking hold.

More from Six Pixels of Separation…

The big idea in a world of Six Pixels of Separation is to embrace community as the new currency. Understand and believe that your business and how it is perceived in the marketplace are going to get increasingly complex in the (future). How you are positioned, how people see you, and how you speak back to them are going to be the global validation for your growth.

In a world where we’re all connected, one opinion quickly turns into everyone’s opinion. How you build trust in your brand, your business, and yourself, is going to be an important part of how your business is going to adapt and evolve.”

Social Networks are just fads…

Joel writes that many entrepreneurs consider online channels such as blogs and social networks to be “fads”, and have not paid enough attention to what the net result could mean: more and more people finding and making brand decisions based not on “corporate spin” but on what a mass of individuals have experienced and reported.

Embrace online communities…

Accepting these six key points, it makes sense that entrepreneurs embrace online communities as a platform for consumers to connect emotionally with a given brand, with the ultimate goal of turning such consumers into loyal advocates.

As always, you are invited to comment/contribute to this post to improve this blog.

We all know the saying “it’s a small world”. Well, exactly how small is it? There is a so-called “urban myth” that we are all connected by “six degrees of separation”, which theorizes that:

I know someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows you!

Six of one…half a dozen of another…

Six Pixels of Separation…

Well, there I was at the Winnipeg Airport on Friday, (Oct.15, 2010) searching for a resource book about connecting websites to potential customers and a book by Mitch Joel, entitled “Six Pixels of Separation” literally jumped off the shelf into my hand.

In this book, I was introduced to the original “six degrees of separation” theory and I decided to do more research on Google. What I found was absolutely fascinating!!

Six Degrees of Separation…

My Google research led me to a highly acclaimed BBC documentary video “Six Degrees of Separation” which I highly recommend to anyone who is interested how the emerging science of Networking can, and will, affect all aspects of our future, from personal to business.

I invite you to comment back about whether this is as much of an “Aha” discovery for you as it was for me?

I’m thinking of starting a blog/thread containing marketing tips, would anyone find this of value?