Failing to plan is planning to fail and this is certainly true when considering online marketing. Blindly using social media means that you’ll never be able to truly measure the results good or bad!

The planning of your accounts starts by analysing your business and its target audience, then moves through to choosing the platforms and content that appeal to them. Finally finishing off with the analytics that shows the results of your actions. Tweaking and re-planning to enhance the results are implemented and then the process is repeated all over again.

This is a marketing plan in its basic form but failing at any level dramatically alters the results. No planning means it’s purely down to luck and chance, randomly posting content means that it’s not really appealing to anyone specifically but again is a chance item. Ignoring the results means you can’t see how you have performed and not tweaking means you’re not striving for better results.

Here are some hints and tips to get you back planning: –

  1. Recognise the importance of planning and make it a key tactic in your business plan.
  2. Put time into marketing and the planning of your marketing.
  3. Test & measure everything, the natural thing is to ignore marketing or ‘play at’ marketing especially if you don’t see immediate results.
  4. Create a content calendar, test and measure this too.
  5. Look to more platforms, your customers could be evolving, the question are you?
  6. Check the frequency of your marketing, do you send enough often enough?
  7. Make sure that you know what success looks like, it could be sales, impressions, followers, reach or engagement for example.

Are You Ready To Start?

All of the hints and tips listed above will help you get back on track, Be in the small majority of businesses that take the time to plan out their businesses and see better results because of the time invested.

Planning out your marketing will increase your success not only short-term but long-term too.

Oh, and don’t forget the marketing plan should form part of your business plan in alignment to revenue requirements and cash flow forecasting. Don’t have that either? Let’s talk and I’ll be happy to explain how this can all be achieved simply and easily on a daily basis.

Message me or leave a comment below – I’d love to hear your thoughts or join us for a planning day or see more on my LinkedIn page