Your 2009 Marketing Plan ... Where To Start? - Rod Moore

Many of you reading my weekly newsletter will soon be turning your ATTENTION to the creation of your 2009 Marketing Plan. This is something I highly recommend especially in light of the changing economic environment we are faced with.

My personal belief is that we are entering a vastly different economic environment for small business than we had for the most of 2008. So while you may have a marketing plan in place it may well be time for you to review it and update it accordingly.

But the big question of course is ... Where do you start?

Well I have always been a great believer in the idea that you begin with the end in mind. You must first know what you are looking to achieve before you can begin to develop a plan to achieve it. So it is important to get really clear on a few things about the end for your business.

So here is a few things to consider when reviewing your Marketing Plan for 2009:

1/ Exit Strategy - Most small business owners never stop and think about their exit strategy from their business. They are way to busy focusing on where to start the business rather than how they will get out of it. However it is worth giving some consideration to because how you grow and develop your business will be determined by how you plan on getting out of the business. Questions to ask yourself include ... 'How long do you plan to be in this business?' ... 'Is your plan to build the business up and sell it?' ... 'Are you looking to keep the business and have other people run it removing you from the need to be involved?'

2/ Vision - The next thing to consider is your VISION for the business. Where do you see your business at the end of 2009? What about in two, three or five years down the track? Developing an empowering vision for your business is one of the most important things you can do. Those businesses that change the world do so because they have had a vision to do so. So what is your VISION for your business?

3/ Personal - In developing your marketing plan I believe it is critical to consider what you want out of your business. What is in it for you personally? Without knowing what you personally want out of your business many business owners wind up working long hours, enduring excessive stress and achieve few rewards. So decide right up front what do you want out of the business. Is it to work less hours and make more money? Do you want your business to fit around your lifestyle? What is it you want out of your business?

4/ Reputation - Next it is important that you consider what it is you want to be known for. What is the reputation you want to develop in the marketplace? Give careful thought to this. One thing is certain ... we all develop some sort of reputation in the market so why not make a definite decision about what this reputation is going to be.

5/ Who - I am a great believer that we can ATTRACT the type of clients we want to attract ... if only we know who they are. A great exercise is to design your IDEAL CLIENT on paper. Make a list of all of their qualities and why you like working with them. By making this conscious decision you will automatically begin to attract more of them.

6/ How - Once you know who you want to ATTRACT then the next obvious question to ask is HOW ARE YOU GOING TO ATTRACT THEM? This is perhaps the single most important question that any business owner is faced with ... where are you going to find your next client? Obviously this is what the Attraction Marketing System is designed to do ... give you a systematic approach to attracting new clients. This is all about deciding on your STRATEGY.

7/ What - Your final consideration then is to decide on what SPECIFIC MARKETING TACTICS you will employ to ensure you follow through on your strategy. It is worth the exercise of developing a twelve month implementation plan where you decide on the specific tactics you will employ each month.

If you follow these 7 key areas when developing your 2009 Marketing Plan you will develop a solid plan of attack to kick start your business into the new year. In January I will be launching a 4 part Marketing Plan program for those of you who are serious enough to accelerate your business in 2009. Please look out for more details on this.