And if the pandemic has taught us anything, it is what our society views as essential, and what is viewed as non-essential. But we know that just because our society has deemed something to be true, doesn’t make it so. Because the business world has seen increased demands and stress since the pandemic started in 2020, not to mention staff shortages, many businesses and organizations have been thrust into survival mode now more than ever.
Increased demands caused by the pandemic have caused some business owners and leaders to become stressed, but the truth is that business owners are often consistently busy with simply the day-to-day operations of their business, seemingly too busy to focus on areas such as marketing their business. Or, let’s say that your business is currently in growth mode, is highly successful, and you may be keeping up with the demands of your customers and don’t see a need for marketing at the moment.
While marketing may not seem necessary when your business is going gang-busters or striving to keep its head above water, it’s only a matter of time before your lack of marketing starts to take an effect on both your brand and your customer experience. Making it a priority to invest in an annual, strategic marketing plan, even if you're busy, ensures you always have a pipeline full of prospects and clients into your business.
While you and your business might be busy right now, if you are not putting forth effort in your marketing and advertising, or stop your marketing efforts, you may find yourself high and dry when it comes time to gaining new clients and serving your current ones long-term. So, do you and your leaders see the need to have a marketing plan in place? If not, we have worked with enough businesses to know that, the truth is, you can’t afford to NOT have a marketing plan in place.
By choosing to invest in and grow your marketing during busy periods and dry periods alike with an annual plan, you can work to help prevent a crash. We saw the proof of this during the pandemic. While some companies were quick to cut their marketing efforts when society shut down, others stuck with their marketing plan and saw the results pay off in the long term with a steadier, even increased stream of revenue.
You know the old saying, “The customer is always right…” Well, we like to say instead, “The customer always comes first.” Because let’s be honest, if it weren’t for them, you wouldn’t be in business! This all goes to say that it is absolutely vital to take a good, hard look at your customer experience to see what is working, and what isn’t working. A solid marketing plan will help you be intentional with reaching and serving your customers and target audience. And with the coronavirus pandemic permanently shifting the buyer experience, having a strong marketing presence online is no longer optional to meet customer expectations.
Planning out your marketing strategy lets you understand not just your target market and products/services but also the process of how you can bridge these two to achieve your business needs. Teams with marketing plans in place are more proactive, and often have a dedicated support team in the form of an agency to rely on. So you think about things in advance rather than just handling them when they occur.
With a marketing plan, you can place importance on areas that yield the best results. This can really save you from the headache of creating strategies that are not worth your business pursuing.
No matter the size of your business, a solid marketing plan and strategy make sure that everyone on your team has a plan and vision to refer to, and no one is left with questions. Everyone is given the exact instructions on what needs to be done to meet the company’s specific business goals.
Resist the urge to make important marketing decisions on the fly because it feels easier. This will end up causing a lot of unnecessary headaches in the long run! Not sure how to develop a predetermined marketing plan to work from? That’s where a team of experts can be your heroes…
Let’s face it, as a business owner or leader, you’ve likely come home from work some days feeling like you’re the only thing keeping your company running. If so…This is simply not healthy. Your business not only needs a team of solid employees to keep things going, but you need external partners as well.
Who is helping you determine what your business goals are? And who helps you execute your marketing ideas that can lead to a solidified plan that helps you reach those goals? Who helps you track ROI to ensure you’re seeing positive numbers? If the answer to these questions is, “Just me,” or "I'm too busy to be thinking about these areas" then it’s time to start delegating to outside business partners you can trust.
Our team at fuze32 is in business to help businesses like yours succeed! Contact us today to find out how we can take some of the work off of your plate and bring some much-needed relief to a busy business owner like yourself by creating and executing a marketing plan that garners real results. And if you found this blog to be helpful in your journey towards success, subscribe to our marketing blog to have more information like this delivered directly to your inbox every week!