FAIL TO PLAN, PLAN TO FAIL.

I love this quote. It really sums up for me the importance of planning whether it is for your business or your personal life. A lot of businesses I talk to don’t plan their sales or marketing for the year and then wonder why they don’t achieve their results they want. How did 2013 go for you? Did you achieve everything or most of what you wanted to? Is 2014 going to be the same? I’m not saying a plan will ensure you achieve your goals but it will definitely get you thinking about your goals and putting small steps in place to hit them. And that’s a great start. A marketing plan for the year doesn’t have to be a complex detailed document. In fact you should get most of it down with 7 sentences

1. How do you intend to grow your sales this year?
2. Who is your target market?
3. What is your niche?
4. What are your benefits and competitive advantages?
5. What is your identity?
6. What tactics, strategies and weapons will you use to carry out your marketing?
7. How much will you spend on your marketing?
Take the time this December to write a plan and this time next year you could have all your goals achieved. Make 2014 the year it happens for you.