Four Steps For Planning Your 2018 Marketing Campaign Now

As 2017 comes to a close, so too does all of this years’ marketing efforts. The best thing you can do now is start building your 2018 marketing plan. Let’s begin:

Review:

Growth in a company comes from making mistakes and then learning from them. Find what didn’t work for your marketing plan last year and try new things. For instance, you found that using a billboard didn’t increase this years’ profits, instead try something new, such as, digital signage. The worst thing you can do for your marketing budget is continue to do things that don’t increase your businesses profitability and add nothing to your marketing ventures.

Budget:

After reviewing last years’ results, analyze the profits versus the deficits and then find your budget. Take away the things that didn’t benefit the company from last year and include those that did. For example, social media platforms, blog sites, point of sale advertising, etc. Once you have a baseline budget, you can move forward at looking into new advertising and marketing ventures. Tip: consider having a high and a low baseline—a best and worst case scenario.

Plan:

You’ve spent a whole year dissecting what did and did not work for your company, you’ve reviewed your problem areas and you’ve come up with a base budget after getting rid of the ideas that didn’t work. Now, you plan. Ask yourself these questions:

1. What are some new avenues you’d like to try?

2. What expenses are priority?

3. What other methods are there for advertising (think banquets, outings, digital signage, etc.)?

Implement:

Once you’ve answered those questions and you have a plan in mind, it’s time to put it into action. Start ordering materials now so that you don’t have to wait for them later. If you have new programs you’d like to input, start conversing with the people in charge now. The more information you have, the quicker the process will be to implement. Like they always say, “The early bird catches the worm.” A company that gets ahead, stays ahead.

It may seem like a lot to get done, but much like this year passed, it goes quickly. The hardest part is starting the process, but once you get over the necessary mountains like reviewing what did and didn’t work, creating a budget and coming up with a plan, implementing it is a breeze. Start now and your 2018 will be smooth sailing.