In the old days, marketing consultants would prepare a business growth plan as long as 500 pages, which covered every detail for the approaching five years. This used to be a good way to develop an effective marketing plan, but times have changed. Now, marketing tools have a lifespan of under two years (sorry, sometimes only two months!), and planning must be focused and efficient! To develop an effective plan, you must be open-minded and prepared to make frequent adjustments according to what is happening on the market.
Don’t get me wrong—you still need to work on developing a plan! But you need a high-level go-to-market plan that draws on reliable, short-term research. So, what is the best way to develop such a plan?
1) Ask yourself, what is the best target market and why? In order to develop an effective business growth plan with focus, and with successful results, you need to define your audience.
2) Set yourself apart from competitors. You need to know how to successfully represent your company and product/service to make sure you stand out from the crowd.
3) Developing an effective marketing plan means establishing the best marketing tools to generate demand. Isolate which lead generation tools are best suited to sparking the interest in your product/service.
4) Determine what kind of alliances or partnerships would accelerate awareness and facilitate demand for your product/service. This would allow you to move beyond your company resources and have collaborators help push your offering. For a more healthy relationship, be prepared to help them push their solutions as well!
5) Determine how you will measure the effectiveness of your marketing activities. If you work on developing a strategic plan without being able to track results, you’re working in the dark.
Developing a plan is crucial to business success. Keep in mind that marketing has evolved incredibly over the years, and now you need to combine traditional with digital marketing tools – it’s a whole new ball game. If you have questions regarding building a business growth plan, schedule a call with us to receive a free consultation.
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