Marketing Plans for 2011
Start planning for next year now.
With many people on vacation and kids out of school, summertime tends to be a quiet time of year in the office. Use this extra time to start planning your marketing efforts for next year.
Now that we're six months into the year, you should have a good idea of what's working and what's not. For marketing initiatives that are working, do some research via the web, trade publications, blogs, etc. to figure out how you can improve what you're already doing. If the answer is more budget dollars, you'll have an easier time getting a bigger budget approved if you have good metrics and research to back it up.
In areas where you haven't been as successful, go back to square one. Think about what you envisioned you would get from this effort? For example, if you started a blog to get more people to buy your product or use your service, chances are you were disappointed. Not because starting a blog isn't a great marketing tool, it's simply not a tool that usually results in direct sales.
With so many different channels out there like digital marketing, email, direct mail, social media, etc., planning your marketing efforts is no easy task. Add on top of that the pressure to produce positive results, and you've got quite a daunting task on your hands. But, if you give yourself ample time to plan and research, the picture of what your marketing campaigns should be will become much clearer.