Marketing Planning
When Abraham Lincoln (bear with us) was asked what he would do if he had six hours to cut down a tree, he replied that he’d spend four hours sharpening the axe. Wise man. Planning, more often than not, brings better results than simply charging in. And planning your marketing activity is no different. Let’s be honest, marketing success isn’t guaranteed. But at Fivespoons we believe that you have the very best chance of success with a clear purpose and plan to guide you.
A good plan will bring to life your business’s purpose, vision and objectives to define your strategy. A good plan will provide a structure to any marketing activity you carry out, with clear definitions of what success looks like from the outset. A good plan will help sharpen the strategy for a business, or indeed even change it completely. And, perhaps most importantly, a good plan gives you a sense of control, with clarity on what you are trying to achieve and how you will get there.
No two plans are ever the same, but in a well thought out one you’d normally have most of the following:
CURRENT AUDIT
Sounds a tad dramatic, but it's merely an examination of your business, the markets that you operate in and your competition. It's always good to know where you are starting from.
SWOT
Knowledge really is power. Knowing your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats helps you decide the best marketing to undertake.
OBJECTIVES
Unsurprisingly, it's important to set out what you want to achieve. These will be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. Or as some bright spark once coined, SMART.
ACTIVITY
What you are going to do and what channels you are going to use. And of course for how long you are going to do it. That's pretty important too...
CONTROL
Armed with your objectives and a plan that defines how you will meet them, control measures keep you in check and make sure you are heading in the right direction.
Free two hour marketing consultation
Sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start when it comes to setting up a business or breathing new life into an established one.
With our free two hour consultation, we will talk to you in depth about your current situation and what you are hoping to achieve for your business. From this discussion we can pull together our thoughts on what marketing activity we feel you would be best to focus on and the costs associated with this.
If you like what you read, you can then decide how little or how much activity you wish to proceed with. Everything we do is clearly outlined with no hidden costs or catches. Just simple, clear communication.
Contact us to set up your consultation by phone, zoom or in person (socially distanced, of course).