What is Marketing Planning Syndrome? It's a complex sickness
that afflicts 90% of small business owners because they don't create a
marketing plan that guides their business.
You will know you have this syndrome if you have any of the
following symptoms:
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You hate to plan.
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You find it boring.
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You think your business is different, so you don't need to
plan your marketing efforts.
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You don't like to write.
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You think plans are too much paper work.
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You tried it once and it didn't work.
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You don't know where to begin.
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You just don't have the time to make a marketing plan.
Studies show that if you consistently use a plan to spell
out how you are going to attract new customers to your business, you will be
30% more successful than a business that doesn't create a marketing plan.
Let me share 11 ways that can overcome the Market Planning
Syndrome to make your business more successful.
1. Make market planning your highest priority. You may be
good with financials; you may be a good technician at producing your product
or service; you may even be a good salesperson. But none of these activities
brings fresh prospects to your business. Marketing is the only activity that
brings a steady stream of prospects to you. If you don't get new customers,
you have no business!
2. Write it down. A plan in your head is just wishful
thinking. When you write it down, you give concrete shape to your efforts to
attract more customers.
3. Keep it simple. A plan does not need to be complicated or
long. The format of your plan is less important than the effort you take to
create a future direction for your business.
4. Focus on clear targets. Fuzzy thinking produces fuzzy
activities. Energy comes from selecting a very specific target and then
focusing on that target. You can't do this with generalities. You can't
focus energy on a generality. Generalities do not motivate, inspire or move
people to action.
5. Make your efforts measurable. What gets measured gets
done. We pay attention to what we measure. Measuring implies accountability.
Measurable means being specific about dates, amounts, quantities, quality
and the target results you have selected.
6. Incorporate your plan into your monthly calendar. Once
you identify the activities you are going to use to attract more customers,
incorporate them into your monthly calendar. Then each month perform the
activities that are due that month.
7. See your plan as preventive medicine. When you let your
business drift, you will run into problems, sometimes terminal ones.
Planning is prevention, anticipating and strengthening aspects of your
business so you can eliminate problems that rob your time, energy and money.
8. Don't wait until your plan is perfect. Plans are always
in transition. Get started and make corrections along the way.
9. You don't need all the answers! If you have a clear
target, there are forces that will begin helping you find the right
solutions--solutions that may not have been in your mind when you started.
Good plans create success. When you are clear about what you want, the
how-to-do-its will unfold for you. You attract what you focus on!
10. Act on your plan. When you create a marketing plan without action are merely day
dreams!
11. Commit to your success. Success starts with a firm
commitment and decision that you are going to succeed. You must make the
decision that you will succeed with your plan.
To strengthen your decision, add positive emotions to it.
Imagine what it will feel like when you succeed. How good is the feeling?
Einstein said the imagination is far more powerful than the intellect. The
more emotion you attach to your planning targets, the more success you
achieve.
The key is to decide what you want. Tap into the feelings of
what it will be like to have what you want and then move forward without any
doubts.
I hope these suggested cures for Market Planning Syndrome
motivate you to create your own plan on how to attract more customers to
your business in the next three months or six months or year. It's the
easiest, no-cost way to create a more successful future for your business.
