Shot from the hip marketing only gets you so far. Yes, you need to be nimble in order to take advantage of the wide range of marketing opportunities available to you today. However, you will always feel like you are running in circles if you do not have a marketing plan serving as your foundation to basic day to day marketing activities. Not only is this approach ineffective, it is also completely exhausting. Greatness rarely falls in one’s lap. The best of the best start with a plan.

Why are marketing plans so great?

Well, they…

1. align to your business growth objectives.
2. protect and build your brand increasing the value of your company.
3. generate revenue.
4. build awareness.
5. outline the tactics to embody the strategy.
6. support your sales team.
7. form a brand bridge from the company to the market..
8. close and speed up the sales cycle.
9. define your best buyers.
10. engage your target market.
11. generate leads and qualify leads.
12. provide a path for your marketing team to follow to be successful.
13. establish data-driven evaluation techniques to confirm ROI.
14. develop customer corridors and heighten the customer experience.
15. align appropriate marketing resources to tasks.
16. give transparency into timeline and budgetary requirements.
17. set expectations for executives and a tool to manage through.
18. uncover market segments for stair step growth.
19. position the company and products against the competition.
20. establish the appropriate marketing channel integration.
21. take advantage of current market trends.
22. create milestones to learn from tactics, and then pivot to maintain expected trajectory.
23. road map products/services to instigate working up-sells and cross-sells.
24. lead intel to innovate product offerings.
25. increase market share.
26. increase wallet share and customer loyalty.
27. slow churn and raise customer retention.
28. lengthen the customer lifetime value.
29. re-engergize the business lifecycle.
30. launch new product/service offerings effectively.
31. discern appropriate price point strategy.
32. provide the breadcrumbs on what works to do more of and what doesn’t to dump.
33. help the team to maintain focus and meet expectations.
34. determine what marketing staff with what skills are required.
35. orchestrate brand standards to maintain brand integrity.
36. act as the reflection of the culture to prospects and the customer base.
37. build sales funnels.
38. uphold the brand promise.
39. put creative on the right road to make impactful campaigns.
40. breakdown silos encouraging the entire company to work together for the greater good.
41. allow your business to attack the marketing in a way that is unique to you.
42. work to reach your short- and longterm goals simultaneously.

Greatness rarely falls in one’s lap. The best of the best start with a plan.

They fact is by developing marketing plans you can accomplish anything you set your mind on. The point is that when you plan, then execute that plan, your probability of success goes up astronomically. It takes time to create a marketing plan, but the amount of headache it saves in the long run is more than worth its weight in gold.

The time is now. The next year is fast approaching. What are you waiting for?