Did your marketing plan work for you in 2011? With the start of a new year, this is the time to evaluate your how successful your marketing plan was and make the necessary changes to improve it.
There were several things that worked well with my marketing plan and a few that I will plan to improve upon. My good intentions to blog twice a week sharing tips, business news, and successful projects with you, but were put aside as my work load grew. I know if I stop marketing then eventually the work flow will stop too. Marketing should not be ignored if you want to grow your business, the big question is how does a solopreneur find the time to do the billable work and market too. These are some tips that I plan to use and that you might find helpful too.
• Have a written marketing plan.
Your written marketing plan should be easy to read and follow. List the marketing tools you plan to use and how often will they be implemented. Put them on your calendar. The tools you should consider and a sample plan are:
- networking – twice a week
- e-marketing – quarterly newsletter
- online presence – website maintanence once a month, blog once a week, post on Facebook and Twitter twice a week, add people to LinkedIn page and comment on discussions twice a week.
- promotional materials – make to have a good supply of business cards and brochure handouts
The key is to plan small at first and grow into it.
• Get your information/resources in place.
- Build a library of resource materials to refer to with topics you would like to talk about.
- Use mind mapping
- Keep track of customer/client questions that you can answer. Chances are others have the same questions.
- Have 2 or 3 articles written in advance to relieve the pressure of meeting your deadline.
• Know how much time it takes you.
Tracking your time is invaluable. It allows you the ability to plan realistically and not overextend yourself. It also keeps you on task, when you know that the timer is ticking you are more likely not to get distracted. There are many ways to track your time:
- the kitchen timer
- timer on your cell phone
- use a software program, I use Function Fox.
• Track your progress
- Use google analytics for tracking your website
- Many social media sites have tracking available
- Where are your referrals coming from
• Delegate
There are many marketing tasks you can delegate or if you enjoy the marketing, delegate another task that you don’t enjoy.
- If writing is not your thing, hire a copywriter to write your newsletter or blog such as The Written Word.
- If social media is not your thing, hire someone to do posting for you.
- Hire someone to maintain your website for you.
• Success
If you make time for your marketing and you are consistent, you will be successful. Patience is the key. Creating relationships takes time, stay on task, track the progress and grow your business. Good luck in the New Year.
If I can be of any further assistance to you growing your business, contact me for a complimentary consultation.
