Marketing is all about setting goals, so it is important that you understand the difference between hard goals and soft goals. A hard goal is one that can be quantified and measured, for example: increase sales by Christmas, or complete website updates by January. Soft goals are not quantifiable and are difficult to measure, for… Read the rest

Once you have completed your marketing and business development plans, I recommend creating a yearly marketing timeline of action items. Each item should indicate the costs, staff required, notes, and completion dates on the timeline. This can be a simple Excel spreadsheet or a complex Gantt chart. The idea here is to commit your resources… Read the rest

Marketing plans are not optional. They are the groundwork for action and the basis upon which informed marketing decisions are made. Creating a marketing plan is a way of committing your ideas to action. By assessing your goals and ideas and defining your Objective, Rationale, Project Leader, Timeline and Budget, you will be committed with… Read the rest

In the beginning, most small businesses do all of their marketing in-house. This is a good thing, but when you are writing all of your own press releases, designing your own brochures, and stamping your own direct mailings, you run the risk of getting burnt out. If your marketing plan is working, it may be… Read the rest

Over the years I have encountered a number of small businesses that do not have a marketing plan in place, despite operating for years. How can you have confidence in the growth of your business if you do not have a plan? A marketing plan forces you understand why you are in business, where you’re… Read the rest