Enterprise Nation

As the New Year approaches, are you beginning to think about what 2010 holds for you and the business? If one of your objectives is to raise profile, you’ll want to start with a marketing plan. Shelly Sharma offers some factors to consider in preparing such a plan.

Business Goals

Before starting work on your marketing strategy, define your overall business goals for the coming year. These may range from obtaining x new customers to gaining £x value more business from existing customers.  Based on the nature of the business you may be able to set multiple goals.  For example: an online shop may have an aim to increase number of new customers and increase the volume of sales at the same time.

Timeline

It’s important to know when you plan to market your services during the year.  Your business may require more exposure during a certain time of year based on higher demand.

Past performance

If you have placed any advertising in the past it is very useful to look at the results from the campaign.  The campaign results will help determine what has worked and what has not, giving you a head start with your marketing.

Budget

The amount of marketing budget available will help determine what advertising mediums and formats you can use. Budget will also decide whether an always-on campaign is an option or if marketing will happen in bursts over the year.

Success Measure

A measure of a successful marketing campaign can range from an increase in traffic to your website - to more enquiries - or sales in general.  How many more sales would you like to generate in the coming year and how much are you willing to pay for each sale?  How you measure your success again relates to your business goals for the year.  The success measure for your brand will help determine the effectiveness of your campaign.

Flexibility

A marketing plan for the whole year can be reviewed on a regular basis and updated based on results from activity - revise the marketing plan as you go along and as you measure the results.

Following these pointers will have you marketing magically throughout the year.

• Shelly Sharma, Myamagic.com
• http://twitter.com/MyaMagic