Last week, we offered a downloadable Marketing plan to get you started on the right foot in 2024. Nothing will bring you more success than taking the time to create a plan. It puts you in the right frame of mind, focuses your time and energy, and creates better outcomes.
Now it’s time to build your action plan (Step 5 on the plan). How are all your ideas and plans for making more money in your business going to get done? How are you meant to run a business AND market it, especially when marketing is not your expertise?
Let’s break it down into a simple process.
From your plan, you know what monthly events you want to tie your marketing into. Now you need to decide the details of each event or campaign.
Your goal. What are you trying to achieve?
This will be specific and different for each marketing promotion you plan.
An example might be to get all the people visiting in the month to return again before the end of the month. Or it might be to book a specific number of appointments in the month. Or you want to host a special event and have 100 people attend. Determine how the goal will be measured – will it be based on sales, campaign redemptions, new additions to your customer list? How will you measure success?
Determine your target audience. Who are you trying to reach?
- Biggest spenders?
- Customers who haven’t visited you in a long time?
- Most frequent customers? Least Frequent?
- New Customers?
- Geographic region?
- Social Media followers?
- A specific demographic of people?
Choose your media. Which channels will you use to reach your audience?
We are proponents of using every media available to you – printed material, emails, texts, posters or table tents, washroom signage, digital channels and social media posts. Not everyone will react to each media – the more platforms you use, the higher your results will be because more people will see your message.
Who will do what and by when?
Who will inform your staff about what’s happening and how they need to handle redemptions or procedures? Who will write the emails? Who will create social media content? Who will purchase the extra product needed? Who will capture testimonials? Who will create the materials needed? Who will be responsible for replying to online reviews?
You DO NOT need to be the one who does everything!
Delegate tasks to specific capable people and give them a deadline. Then make sure it is written on the calendar so everyone can be accountable, and you can know what is happening when. You must follow up, and remind of deadlines and when people need your approval. Make it a priority to provide feedback quickly so they can finish their tasks.
Execute and Measure.
As the campaign unfolds you will need to make sure you are monitoring its execution. The biggest problem we see is that staff aren’t clear on how to handle a new process or offer. Which will lead to inaccurate results. Measuring marketing is the only way to know what works and what doesn’t, so that your marketing dollars aren’t wasted.
Review what worked, what didn’t, and make notes for the next time. If it was a winner this year, it will work next year, or can you tweak it for a different month to repeat the success.
Don’t be daunted by this!
Planning ahead will make your marketing run smoothly and reduce the stress of wondering where sales are going to come from each month. With an effective marketing action plan in place, you’ll be able to execute your marketing tasks with ease. Keep it simple so that it doesn’t lead to frustration. The secret is to plan ahead, set goals, and stay focused on your objectives. Don’t wait until the last minute – start planning today!
One of the perks of joining Royalty Rewards® is that you are assigned a personal Coach, who’s always a phone call away. Right now, they are all working with their clients to help them build out this plan, fill in the blanks and schedule marketing campaigns that support their goals. We are experts when if comes to managing a loyalty and marketing program for Independent Local Businesses. If you want to outsource your marketing to us, book a call by clicking the button below and see how we can help you meet and exceed your sales goals.
Ring In The New Year With A Plan
The benefits of planning ahead are clear: increased revenues, better customer service, improved productivity, less stress, more time off – the list goes on! By taking the time to create a comprehensive plan, you ensure that you have all the tools necessary for a successful and profitable New Year.
Choosing A Loyalty Program
Learn what makes customers stay loyal, how to pick a program with the right features, and how to give your business that extra edge.
Are You Leading the Way… or Just Catching Up?
Imagine you’re at the start of a race. You’ve trained, mapped out the course, and can practically see the finish line. You start strong, you’re ready, and you’re in control. Now picture jumping into a race without any training or map. You might catch up, you might miss a few turns in the road, and each step feels like a scramble to keep pace.
This is exactly how marketing can feel when you’re either taking action with a clear plan—or just reacting to whatever happens.
