Do You Have A Plan?

Posted July 3, 2011

"If you're not planning for success you're planing for failure."

When you build a house what is the first thing you need?

Before leaving on an extended vacation what do you prepare?

Your daughter is getting married and it’s going to be a huge event so who do you call?

Retirement is less enjoyable unless you have one.

Municipalities all have a Department of…

I’m sure you’ve guessed it by now...a plan. Planning is an essential part of everything we do. Some activities require more planning than others just as some outcomes are more important than others. Thus we spend more time planning for our most important pursuits. Or do we?

We will spend countless hours picking out the right house plan and thousands of dollars paying an architect to make upgrades and changes. We will plan every detail of our vacation each year to insure that our time away from home is enjoyable. However, when it comes to one of the most important and sustaining activities the tendency is to skip the planning stage and move directly to doing. Unfortunately, most small businesses and even some larger businesses don’t have a well written business plan and even fewer have a solid marketing plan.

If you did a little research before starting your business you know that only half of all new businesses are still around after the five year mark. That is according to the SBA. Do you think a lack of planning was a contributing factor to the 50% that didn’t succeed? At Crigital we have a saying. If you are not planning for success then you are planning for failure.

Marketing is about getting the word out. You have to reach and influence the people in the demographic that will buy your product or service. You have to tell them and tell them again, then tell them again in a different way! It's what makes a strategy work; continuous messages over multiple channels. That’s the big picture strategy. Most of you have some sort of strategy in mind but have yet to take the leap from strategy to plan. To understand why this is important you must first understand the difference between a plan and a strategy.

Marketing strategies are formed by your general business objectives. A marketing strategy is simply how well your products and services stack up against the competition and this forms the basic guideline from which a marketing plan is established. Just think of it as if you were getting married. The strategy is to be joined in matrimony and for everyone to enjoy the ceremony. The plan describes every action item that must be completed successfully to obtain the desired outcome according to the strategy. Therefore, the plan is the application of the strategy.

Your strategy is what you have to offer and how it appeals to the market. Strategy alone will drive some positive activity but without a plan, may eventually incite confusion, lack of focus and a waste of resources.

Call or email a Crigital Media Marketing Team Member today. We'll show you just how easy it is to get your marketing plan started with our unique mix of traditional and "new school" print and digital marketing products and services. 615.754.9430 Email a Marketing Team Member Now.