creating a marketing plan

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Writing the Roadmap for Your Business

Creating a Marketing Plan

http://www.napkinmarketing.com/

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Fear of Planning• Fear of failure• Fear of not sticking with your plan• Fear of not being perfect• Fear that planning will stifle your creativity


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What is Planning?Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.”Gloria Steinem, Feminist and Author

“A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan next week.” General George S. Patton, American General WWI and WWII

"Commitment is what transforms promise into reality."Abraham Lincoln, American President


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Why Plan?• Pros

• Helps you clearly express your business purpose and core values• You’re working on the business, not for the business. • Figure out your strengths and weaknesses• Gives you action items • Makes you more market aware• Helps you target the right prospects• You’re clearer about what you want from employees and vendors


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Why Plan?• Cons

• Much of traditional planning is outdated, social media not incorporated• Too much focus on things you cannot control: market conditions and

economy• Analysis Paralysis• Plan sits on a shelf


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Marketing Planning = Market Research + Marketing Mix


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Planning your 2016 Marketing Plan

• Step 1: Evaluate your previous Marketing Performance and ROI• Step 2: Set Your Goals• Step 3: Evaluate Your Options• Step 4: Schedule• Step 5: Execute• Step 6: Keep measuring

1:Research 2:Set Goals 3: Review Options

4: Make a Schedule/ Calendar

5: Execute 6: Measure Performance


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1. Evaluate where you were


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For Existing Businesses: Key Questions to Ask? How Much $$ Did We Make Last Year?? How Much Profit Did We Earn?? How Many Customers Did We Get?? Who Were My Biggest Spenders? ? What Was My Average Order Value?/ Average Sale?? What marketing activities did we do?? How many leads did each activity create?





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For New Businesses: Key Questions to Ask? How Much $$ Do We Want/ Need to Make in Yr 1?? How much do we need to sell to be profitable?? Who are we targeting?? Who is our competition and how are they marketing themselves?? How will we generate leads?? What are key trends in our industry that will affect us?





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Market Research: 3 Main Ways to Gather Info:

1. Internal Info• Sales Revenue• Top Customers and Average Spending• Website Visits• Social Media Statistics• Lead Sources• # of Customer contacts and email addresses

2. External Primary• Customer survey• Talking with people in your industry: Facebook Groups/ Linkedin groups for your industry

3. External Secondary• Competitor research • Industry research

• Google Adwords KW report• Economic research





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Internal Research Examples• Gathering Sales Revenue Info/ Forecasting Demand

• Existing business: Accounting/ Invoicing Software Reports• Create a budget and forecast





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Past P&Ls

How Much Did I Make? Am I Profitable?

Where this comes from:Quickbooks/ Freshbooks/ Excel

Get a Bookkeeper!





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Future: Creating a Sales ForecastHow Much Do I Need to Sell?




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http://jasonswenk.com/playbook/


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Looking up Lead Sources1:Research 2:Set Goals 3: Review

Options




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Web Analytics1:Research 2:Set Goals 3: Review

Options




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Where does My Traffic Come From?1:Research 2:Set Goals 3: Review

Options




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External: Primary and Secondary Research• Customer surveys• SEMRush: Competitor SEO• Google Adwords• Industry Research





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Step 1: Research | ChecklistBudgetForecastWeb analyticsSocial analyticsCompetitor SEO reviewIndustry Review





2. Create Vision & Goals

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Questions to ask yourself? What is my vision for this business?? Who is my exact target market?? What is my market positioning?? How do I plan my marketing campaigns?





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Creating a Vision/ Mission Statement1:Research 2:Set Goals 3: Review

Options



“Producing and selling locally sourced cakes and pies that are so delicious and satisfying, that every customer who leaves our store does so with a smile.”

Vision FormulaStep 1 – The outputStep 2 – The twistStep 3 – The quantificationStep 4 – The human connection

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https://www.executestrategy.net/

https://www.executestrategy.net/


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Create a Customer Persona1:Research 2:Set Goals 3: Review

Options




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Researching Your Target Market: B2C• Target Market

• Consumer: • Geography• Age• Income• Gender• Family Stage• Media habits

• Psychographic• Leaders? Followers?• Conservative? Liberal





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Researching Your Target Market: B2B• Business

• Industry• Job Title• Size of Company• Geography• Frequency of purchase• Media habits





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Researching Your Target Market: B2B• Where to find this info:

• Statistics Canada• Industry associations• Google• Media tracking statistics

• Neilson Ratings – TV audiences• Comscore – Web audiences• Environics data• eMarketer• Media kits for magazines/ publishers





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Determine Market Positioning1:Research 2:Set Goals 3: Review

Options




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Create your marketing strategy• These are the baskets your work will fall into• 3 approaches:

• The Seasonal Approach:• New Year/ Mothers Day/ Back to School/ Christmas

• The target market based approach: • I’m going after 3 main niches: doctors/ lawyers/ education

• The “3 big goals” approach: • retaining existing customers, • winning new customers• Launch in US market




http://www.inc.com/guides/writing-marketing-plan.html


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2016 Canadian Objectives & StrategiesDeliver $63.0 million (+38%) in revenue, and drive audience engagement leadership growth targets for:

Awareness : Unaided Awareness(36% +3pts)UV/Reach UV (+17.8M +3%), Reach 72% +1ptsEngagement Time Spent (+2,701MM +2.3%) and PV (2,891 MM +4.7%).

2016 Business

Objectives

3.0 Contribute to ABC’s Business

Globally

1.0 Increase User Engagement

4.0 Influence Advertiser Ecosystem

2.0 Reinvigorate the ABC Co. Brand

2016 VisionABC Co. is Canada’s #1 online destination fulfilling all consumers & advertisers needs.

1.0 Leverage Product 1 launch to grow Brand & reach

2.0 Conquer Quebec

3.0 Expand Sports Division as the #1

destination

4.0 Establish B2B leadership

2016 Marketing ObjectivesDrive increased audience visits targeting new/ competitive users to Metro

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Step 2: Set Goals | ChecklistWrite out goals and visionMake a Customer PersonaADVANCED: Figure out your positioning Create a marketing strategy/ campaign





3. Review Options

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Questions to ask yourself? OUTBOUND ADVERTISING

? How many people do I need to reach to actually make a sale?? Where should I advertise to reach them?? How much will it cost?? What is the best ROI for my marketing dollar?

? INBOUND ? What can I do to make my site stickier?? What kind of content do I need to create to attract the right customers?

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How many people can I reach for $XX?

Medium Audience Size/ Impressions

# Clicks Cost/ Month Cost Per Click

Google Adwords 170,509 300 $1900 $6.60

Linkedin Sponsored Posts 128,512 439 $1479 $3.37

Facebook Ads 86,8450 815 $567 $0.70Trade Magazine (Business Card Sized Ad)

30,000 (circulation/ readership)

N/A $850 FLAT FEE

Website 100,000 $2000

Trade Show table 250 25 $250 $10 per lead

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Some Sample Advertising Costs


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Don’t forget to budget for: Research Writing Agency/ Designer fees:

strategy, graphic design Email service fees Staff time fees Opportunity cost for not

advertising or doing it unprofessionally

Press release service Web design: strategy/

design/ programming/SEO and advertising


Making your website sticky

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Making Your site Convert Better: Blog Important contact points

up on top Responsive Free content giveaways


Blogging for dollars: Attract prospects with blog content• Blog about what your clients are searching for:

• Daycare: “best daycare in Vaughan”, “nanny costs”• Chiropractor: “back pain”, “chiropractor Thornhill”• Divorce lawyer: “family law”, “visitation rights for cheating spouse”, “child

support payments”

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Step 3: Review Options| ChecklistDecide on where you will advertiseDevelop your marketing budgetReview your site for improving conversion

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4. Create a Schedule

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Questions to ask yourself? How can I spread out marketing activities throughout the year?? When do I schedule:

? Advertising? Social: ? Email/ Automation ? Events

? Am I going to run out of money to advertise at key times of the year?

? When is it crucial to advertise?? When am I “going dark”?

(not advertising anywhere)39





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Social calendar: hootsuite


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Email Automation: A great time saver


Step 4: Create Schedule| ChecklistMake a 30/ 60/ 90 planMake a marketing calendar 30-60 day time horizonPlan your blog posts and social contentResearch and book tradeshows and eventsADVANCED: Set up Marketing Automation

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5. Execute

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Questions to ask yourself? How do I organize my day?? What are my biggest priorities?? What do I/ my staff need training in?? Where do I get the help I need for specialized tasks?? What can I outsource vs. do myself?

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Online Project Management

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Step 5: Execute| ChecklistRun Your Campaigns and EventsReview Staffing Requirements ADVANCED: Online project management

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6. Measure Results

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Questions to ask yourself? How did we do with our sales?? Which campaigns converted best?? What processes/people do we need

to do marketing we can’t do now?? How can we do even better next year?

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Numbers to track• Monthly P&Ls• Advertising performance• Web traffic and conversions• Email campaign performance • Social engagement

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Step 6: Measure| ChecklistReview your campaign resultsTrack your leads and conversions Work your learnings into the next plan

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Marketing Planning = Market Research + Marketing Mix


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Do Not Fear!• Planning is guessing• For most small businesses, decisions you make are temporary and can

be undone• Your planning timeframe should be short: 30-60 Days


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Stay in Touch: Free eBook: York Region Marketing Guide

Google “York Region Marketing Guide”ORhttp://bit.ly/yorkmarketing

http://bit.ly/yorkmarketing

http://bit.ly/yorkmarketing


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Don’t Want to Do It All Yourself?• Consulting brainstorm from $299• Mini Marketing Plan from $499• Marketing and advertising plan & budget from $1500

Learn more: [email protected] | 289.842.7180 |


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napkin marketing | what we do• marketing strategy and planning• responsive web design• email marketing• google adwords• search engine optimization• Social media management• print advertising and design

[email protected] | 289.842.7180 | @napkin_mktg

mailto:[email protected]


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napkin marketing | let’s connect

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