Writing a marketing plan isn't a one-time job. It is something that needs to be evaluated and updated on a regular basis. As your business grows and changes, your marketing plan will grow and change. The following is a list of areas that you should be examining in order to determine ways to improve your marketing strategies:
• Are you targeting your intended market audience? Look at your current customers and compare them to your intended market. If you are not reaching your intended market, you may need to find new strategies to reach them.
• Are you achieving your sales goals? Compare what you projected to your actual sales.
• Do you need to change your strategies? You may find that your strategies are no longer meeting your marketing goal. For instance, if the demographics of your buyers change, then your marketing strategies will need to change so you are reaching this new group.
• Are you remaining within your budget? Look at your return on investment and re-assess how you spent your marketing dollars. You can then get rid of strategies that had a low return on investment and allocate that money to strategies that are getting better results.
• Is everything current? If you have updated or changed your products or services, make sure your marketing plan reflects this.
• What is your amount of new leads? Look at the amount of leads you are receiving from each marketing strategy separately so you can compare which ones are working better.
• Determine your cost per lead. Does it make sense to be spending that amount to get a new customer? If not, you need to find ways to lower this amount.
• Determine the conversion rate. This is the amount of potential visitors who perform the desired action. It is measured by taking the number of sales and dividing it by the number of visitors. The larger the conversion rate, the more successful your campaign is.
• Are you targeting your intended market audience? Look at your current customers and compare them to your intended market. If you are not reaching your intended market, you may need to find new strategies to reach them.
• Are you achieving your sales goals? Compare what you projected to your actual sales.
• Do you need to change your strategies? You may find that your strategies are no longer meeting your marketing goal. For instance, if the demographics of your buyers change, then your marketing strategies will need to change so you are reaching this new group.
• Are you remaining within your budget? Look at your return on investment and re-assess how you spent your marketing dollars. You can then get rid of strategies that had a low return on investment and allocate that money to strategies that are getting better results.
• Is everything current? If you have updated or changed your products or services, make sure your marketing plan reflects this.
• What is your amount of new leads? Look at the amount of leads you are receiving from each marketing strategy separately so you can compare which ones are working better.
• Determine your cost per lead. Does it make sense to be spending that amount to get a new customer? If not, you need to find ways to lower this amount.
• Determine the conversion rate. This is the amount of potential visitors who perform the desired action. It is measured by taking the number of sales and dividing it by the number of visitors. The larger the conversion rate, the more successful your campaign is.
Businesses have the tendency to write a marketing plan once, when they are first starting up and need to get funding, and then either forget about it completely or continue to use it even when it becomes outdated. But this will likely result in wasted marketing dollars and ineffective marketing strategies. By routinely evaluating your marketing plan, you will be able to see which efforts have been successful and which have failed. Then you can make the necessary changes so that all of your marketing dollars are being spent on the most successful strategies.
This article was written by Steve Litzow, CEO of Marketing Lantern. Marketing Lantern helps businesses create marketing plans that work. Visit Marketing Lantern now to learn more about writing successful marketing plans and for a free 30 day trial account.
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