Start Planning for 2012 Marketing Spending

A clear and cohesive plan will let you make the most of all marketing opportunities.

Yes, we said it: 2012. This year is more than half over, and as we find ourselves speeding toward Labor Day we are already working with many clients to budget for marketing activities well into next year. Maybe you have an existing marketing plan that just needs to be polished, eliminating those efforts that didn’t pay off in 2011. (How did those QR codes work out for you anyway?) Or maybe you need to develop a plan from scratch, complete with audience identification, goal setting, message creation, creative implementation, and results analysis.

The key benefits of developing a strategic marketing plan include:

• Developing a long-range view expediting decision-making.
• Building operating plans on market-driven research.
• Aligning and coordinating all efforts (print, web, radio, television, trade shows, etc.) to maximize efficiency and effectiveness.
• Identifying goals, measurement metrics, course corrections, and successful initiatives that should be considered in future marketing plans.

A clear and cohesive plan will let you make the most of all opportunities to promote your product or service in the marketplace – at the right time, using the right media, with a clearly defined product and the right promotion strategy.