subject: Killer Marketing Plans have Calendars! [print this page] Author: Joerg Sieber Author: Joerg Sieber
Just as goals are not complete without action items, Marketing Plans are not complete without Marketing Calendars. All the planning in the world will not help your marketing if you wont associate a detailed to-do list within a calendar to your marketing plan. Here is a three-step approach to effective marketing planning: Develop Lead Generation Goals: How many leads are you trying to generate per month/year with your marketing strategies? Develop a list of marketing (or lead generation) strategies: (examples are social media, e-mail blasts, direct mail, networking, etc) Write down all action items: List each and every step you need to take to complete your strategy and achieve your goal. Lets visit this in a little bit more detail. Marketing plans consist of a lot of market research, competitive research, messaging and positioning. Among other things marketing plans list all the different ways you plan to generate leads for your business. These are steps one and two above. But this is the level at which most marketing plans stop. They list the strategies for leads, but no more. This is also the reason why most marketing plans are considered useless by many people. Take your marketing planning to the next level and, for each strategy, list all the action items you need to do on the days you need to do them on a calendar. The resulting document will become your roadmap for all your marketing activities. If your marketing strategy for example states that you want to do a direct mail campaign. In the calendar you should list all the different steps you need to do to complete this campaign. On day one you develop your mailing list. One day two you write the letter, on day three you contact printers for quotes, etc. This will make your marketing efforts very clear and easy to follow. For more information on this topic or to download a valuable marketing plan template, go to http://joergsieber.com.About the Author:
Joerg Sieber, founder of Sieber Consulting has combined his 20 years experience as a Sales Trainer, Strategic Marketing Manager, and Entrepreneur with his MBA, BBA and Hotel Management Degree to help today's small business owners improve the operations of their companies.
His experience spans from Hotel Management, to Telecommnications and Business Coaching; from Fortune 500 companies to small start-up businesses; from Europe to the USA.
Joerg Sieber offers systems development for small businesses through Sieber Consulting. His book "Mastering Business Operations" provides business owners with 10 tools to get in control of their companies. He is also a sought-after speaker and has presented to audiences in over 20 countries. Visit his site at http://www.joergsieber.com
