Are you getting ready for 2010?
If you're not, what are you waiting for? It'll be here sooner than you think and you want to get out of the gate on January 2nd running at full steam! What should you be doing? Here's a good list:
1 - Customer surveys and reviews. Now is the perfect time to ask your customers what they think of you, your product/service, etc. Let them give you a review. Also, use this time to ask them questions about how you can market better. For example, what publications do they read; where do they get info on the product/service you're selling; are they online and if so, where... etc.
2 - Marketing results review. Yeah, remember those goals you set last year? Well, how'd you do? Did you meet them? Exceed them? Fall short? Here's a chance to analyze what worked and what didn't and WHY. It's also a chance to oust projects that aren't measured, or make them measurable. In other words, if you always send a newsletter twice a year but never ask for any response, you need to find out if the effort is worth the return. Could time/money/staff be better spent in other areas? If you don't know the results of a project, it could get killed.
3 - Investigate the market. With this economy, things are changing every day. What are your competitors doing? What are the trends in the industry? How have the players and offerings changed? What is the consumer demanding of the industry? What's the forecast for the industry? What can you do to become/stay a leader?
4 - Making a plan. After you've completed steps 1-3, it's time to start finding out where to invest your time and money to keep the pipeline filled. This inevitably involves more research but this time into publications, reporters' beats, trade shows, associations, speaking opportunities, editorial calendars, etc. etc! This will take the bulk of your time but hopefully, you will have gotten some good clues by talking to your customers and investigating your industry and competitors.
5 - Create a timeline and budget. Make sure you don't just come up with a lot of great ideas but that you also put it into a schedule that makes sense financially and resource-wise. You can't do all of it in January, nor would it make sense to do so. Plan it out and make sure that you put regular evaluations into your schedule. There's no sense executing three direct mail programs if the first one failed miserably.
If you aren't jumping on this now, you really won't be ready, come January. There are way too many distractions in your daily work life as it is and the next two months are ripe with holidays and vacations. Just remember, if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten.... maybe.
1 - Customer surveys and reviews. Now is the perfect time to ask your customers what they think of you, your product/service, etc. Let them give you a review. Also, use this time to ask them questions about how you can market better. For example, what publications do they read; where do they get info on the product/service you're selling; are they online and if so, where... etc.
2 - Marketing results review. Yeah, remember those goals you set last year? Well, how'd you do? Did you meet them? Exceed them? Fall short? Here's a chance to analyze what worked and what didn't and WHY. It's also a chance to oust projects that aren't measured, or make them measurable. In other words, if you always send a newsletter twice a year but never ask for any response, you need to find out if the effort is worth the return. Could time/money/staff be better spent in other areas? If you don't know the results of a project, it could get killed.
3 - Investigate the market. With this economy, things are changing every day. What are your competitors doing? What are the trends in the industry? How have the players and offerings changed? What is the consumer demanding of the industry? What's the forecast for the industry? What can you do to become/stay a leader?
4 - Making a plan. After you've completed steps 1-3, it's time to start finding out where to invest your time and money to keep the pipeline filled. This inevitably involves more research but this time into publications, reporters' beats, trade shows, associations, speaking opportunities, editorial calendars, etc. etc! This will take the bulk of your time but hopefully, you will have gotten some good clues by talking to your customers and investigating your industry and competitors.
5 - Create a timeline and budget. Make sure you don't just come up with a lot of great ideas but that you also put it into a schedule that makes sense financially and resource-wise. You can't do all of it in January, nor would it make sense to do so. Plan it out and make sure that you put regular evaluations into your schedule. There's no sense executing three direct mail programs if the first one failed miserably.
If you aren't jumping on this now, you really won't be ready, come January. There are way too many distractions in your daily work life as it is and the next two months are ripe with holidays and vacations. Just remember, if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten.... maybe.
Labels: 2010 planning, marketing plan, strategic planning
posted by Jan at
12:13 PM
