Syneka Marketing is again featured within Inside Small Business, a magazine dedicated to the growth and sustainability of small businesses in Australia.
Our previous feature explored how Success Starts with a Marketing Plan and we have continued this theme to discuss how you can put your marketing plan into action.
A plan provides a guide, but it will only be as good as its execution. A marketing plan needs to be supported by an implementation schedule, to identify the tasks, timeframes, and resources required to achieve your goals.
For example, if you want to increase repeat sales by 20%, then you need to identify the actions that will achieve this outcome. Maintaining regular customer contact is an example of an activity that would often be undertaken to increase repeat sales.
Define the required tasks
Activities will include a series of tasks and you need to identify each of these elements. Using our example, you may consider an electronic newsletter to help maintain customer contact. Tasks would include the writing of content, the design of an email template and the dispatching of the newsletter.
Always consider the resources you have available, because setting unrealistic goals will diminish your ability to achieve the right outcomes.
Make sure you clearly identify who is responsible for each task, particularly if more than one person is involved. Responsibilities should form key performance indicators to measure staff performance. Timeframes need to be realistic, but should motivate personnel to take action.
Evaluate Results
Your implementation schedule should identify the outcomes that are expected from each activity. Keeping track of results, enables you to measure the effectiveness of each task and make adjustments if required.
Effective marketing is measurable, so identify how you will evaluate success. An email newsletter would be assessed on the size of the list, the number of people that read the content and whether it leads to repeat business. Evaluate each activity so you can consider whether improvements may be required.
Focus on Outcomes
The activities you undertake should support the outcomes you have identified in your marketing plan. Make sure that there are linkages to your objectives, otherwise question why you are spending time on something that offers little, or no value to your business.
Success starts with strategy, this is then followed by an implementation plan so you can deliver actions that grow your business.