When scheduling new clients I always ask whether they have a written marketing plan and budget.
Overwhelming, response proves that only a few of you are planning and some are oddly planning without implementing.
(???) I understand some plans are grand and revenue must come first to pay for the implementation.
But, if you allow the plan to overwhelm you nothing will get done at all.
Here is the simple solution to get you moving forward.
Ask yourself the following: What Do I Need Regularly? Look at your schedule a quarter at a time.
Do you attend regular networking events? What do you do to prepare for those events? Do you have a follow up action for after these events? Using a simple online calendar, an extra wall calendar or a spreadsheet can help you see your tasks for the entire quarter.
Plug in those events whose date is set first and work around them.
If you send a regular mailing or newsletter, write that data down and the preliminary tasks needed to get it to its due date - writing, gathering images, sending to printer, etc.
What important tasks always get put off? You have them.
I have them.
We all have them.
Perhaps you have a blog and put it off every week.
Plan to post on the same day each week allowing time to write and re-write for 30 minutes a few days in advance.
Gather topics as they come to you in a document file.
Then you can refer to it for something that you feel like writing about.
Keep adding these items as your calendar allows.
If you hold yourself accountable (rewards don't hurt either) you will get a lot done.
Are You Overloaded Some Weeks? If you plot out your marketing tasks and notice some weeks are overloaded - change the dates.
You can change things around or stretch out some preliminary tasks to even out your weeks.
If follow up calls come after a mailing, spread out your mailing so you're only making a reasonable amount of calls each week.
Don't be afraid to change things around.
We often over schedule ourselves.
Give yourself a break.
While this isn't a full marketing plan, it gets you headed in the right direction.
As your business grows, you can delegate some of these tasks and frees up your time to work directly with clients.
Eventually, you'll need a full marketing plan and help with its implementation.