... And the Clients Went Wild!: How Savvy Professionals Win All the Business They Want

Chapter 7. Create a Playbook that Fits Your Business and Your Personality

Design Your Own Marketing Action Plan

Firms that implement marketing successfully and consistently usually start with a plan. Large companies typically require extensive and detailed marketing plans, and small companies often have something less formal. But no matter the plan's size, in order for it to garner results, it needs to be thoughtfully designed; written down somewhere; action oriented (with dates and people assigned to tasks); implemented; and reviewed monthly with performance monitoring.

A long-term business plan with goals and financing, alliances, and vision is important; however, a typical marketing plan should include one year of strategy and activities. For small businesses, a one-year time frame is often the best period to plan marketing. Some items may extend beyond or be achieved after one year, but it can be a waste of time to plan in detail for three or five years of marketing activities in a flexible and sometimes fast-moving small firm.

A marketing plan is designed for your marketing staff to implement, but it also provides direction and confidence to company leadership and the entire staff. Share your plan with the entire organization so that others can understand your activities and the growth that is on the horizon.

This chapter provides a template for building out your marketing plan by using the forms throughout this book, as well as more valuable exercises. At the end of this chapter ...