The thrill of working in marketing is that you are rarely doing the same thing every day. While it can be rewarding to be jumping from task to task, putting out fires and brainstorming new ideas, the rapid speed sometimes means that the planning phase gets skipped altogether. Oops.
Having a Marketing Plan is so important for any organization. Not only does it help the company succeed, a plan enables you to quickly make decisions and direct action based on its framework.
While a plan has a bunch of benefits, let's look at 5 ways making a Strategic Marketing Plan can make your job easier.
1. Mission & Vision Prevents Silos
No matter the size of your company, it's easy to get wrapped up in your own ideas and how to execute them. By first identifying your company's mission and vision, you ensure that the rest of your plan is mindful of the rest of the organization's work. Keeping your focus narrowed to only actions that support the mission and vision simplifies your job because you're not getting caught up in extra work.
2. Target Audience Sets the Tone for Content
Who is your target audience? A common response is "everyone". While it may be true that everyone can, in theory, buy your product or service, your target audience should be your ideal customer. A fitness trainer can be a customer of a fast food restaurant, but they are less likely to want the product and will take more work to convert them to make that purchase. As you are writing social media posts or designing a new slide deck, you will have a clear idea of who you're talking to and what would appeal to them because you have described your customer in your marketing plan.
3. Goals Help You Focus
When a runner begins a race or a driver starts a car, they do so with a destination in mind. Setting marketing goals gives you a destination to work toward. By taking it a step further and making your goals SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound), you are providing a framework for judging if your actions are worth the effort and time.
4. Measuring Proves Value
Executing the tactics of your marketing plan is fun and, more often, the step marketers jump to first. But, you need some way of showing off how all of your hard work is contributing to the success of the company. Measuring the results of your goals gives you evidence to share with your boss and helps solidify why they need to retain you, value your opinions, and maybe even give you a raise!
5. Evaluating Gives Opportunities to Pivot
As you periodically check in on how successful your efforts are in reaching your goals, you have a chance to evaluate if your tactics are helping in the way you thought they would. Is an Instagram ad driving record traffic to your website while the email campaign is lacking engagement? Maybe you can reallocate some of your budget to the Instagram ad and rewrite the Call to Action for future emails. Trying new tactics to support your goals helps you maintain or increase momentum so that you can reach the outcomes you want.
If all of these benefits sound great but you're not sure where to start, use our free Strategic Marketing Plan worksheet to easily create your own plan. We'll walk through each step of the plan so you can feel confident that your work will help you be more efficient and effective.
