How To Create A Good MARKETING PLAN That ACTUALLY Works

it's not hard to create a marketing plan
for your business the hard part is
figuring out how to build a marketing
strategy that is actually going to work
for example how do you reach customers
in a crowded online space and how do you
reach them at the right time and what
kind of message is going to work for
your brand it's a lot to plan for but
the good news is that there are three
simple steps that you can take to build
a flexible personalized and effective
marketing plan that will work for just
about any small business so guys in this
video I'm going to share three simple
steps you can take today to create a
marketing plan that is actually gonna
work so let's dive right into it
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number one build a road map not a rigid
plan there is no such thing as the
perfect marketing strategy Facebook ads
might not work for your business the way
they once did or your target audience
might change over time digital marketing
is a fast moving space that's only
getting faster so even a good marketing
roadmap is going to need to change every
few months the goal of your marketing
roadmap shouldn't be to build a
foolproof plan that you just follow
blindly it's all about creating it with
your ideal destination in mind so here's
how you're going to make your outline
first start with a specific strategic
goal so picture where you want to be in
6 12 18 months and then you're going to
reverse engineer how to get there and if
you're like what how do I plan for my
goal of having Oprah endorse my product
don't worry you're not supposed to have
all the answers if you do you're
probably not thinking big enough Second
Step as you reverse engineer your goal
you're going to want to set specific
marketing Milestones within this project
this can be sell sales numbers it can be
email list growth or SEO rankings the
next step is to set priorities for
everyone that is involved you cannot do
it all yourself so don't expect yourself
to you clearly want to prioritize what
is going to be most important be clear
about your marketing channels whether
that's content marketing PPC SEO PR and
video marketing these are all going to
be very different so choose one Max two
that you feel is going to benefit your
business and build a strategy there and
also be ready to make changes once your
marketing hits the real world if you set
big goals focus on prioritizing your
core channels and tracking a few key
metrics instead of a rigid step-by-step
plan the key is you're supposed to be
agile and ready to easily shift your
marketing strategy efforts to adapt and
experiment when things change because
they will time metrics to real Revenue
successful marketing is notoriously
difficult to measure and that is
precisely why you're watching this video
it is really easy to get excited when
your stuff gets a lot of views it gets a
lot of likes and comments but these are
what I would consider to be vanity
metrics these metrics aren't usually
what's going to move the needle or
result in more money for your business
so keep that in mind medium to large
size businesses with big big marketing
budgets have the luxury of prioritizing
these metrics but for small businesses
we really want to focus our energy on
the metrics that drives results all you
need is one tangible metric that's
directly related to revenue the most
important metrics are usually going to
be row as which stands for return on ad
spend and CAC which stands for cost to
acquire a customer every industry is
going to be different guys but you need
to find at least one metric that is
directly related to revenue and track it
month over month alongside any other
metrics that you keep in your dashboard
so other examples of important metrics
that you'll want to keep track of
include the click-through rate to a
dedicated landing page for a specific
product you build a social media
campaign around very important sales
revenue let's say from a seasonal
Instagram ad campaign you might want to
track the effectiveness of a referral
code in your email newsletter or
affiliate links from influencers and you
also might want to track how different
sales compare like does a 15 off work
better than a free shipping and you're
definitely going to want to track coupon
codes like a holiday discount at
checkout these are super solid examples
but the specifics are up to you the keys
you have to track at least some of the
monetary success of your marketing and
how it drives Revenue in at least one
tangible way or you're never going to
know how effective your marketing plan
is really and actually even worse you'll
never know how to make it even more
lucrative if you are starting to see
good results reward success
you have nearly Limitless options when
it comes to choosing the platforms and
channels for your marketing email
marketing podcasts sponsorships
Instagram ads SEO or one of the many
social media apps that seems to change
every few years you can't have a strong
presence on every single marketing
channel it's just not possible so don't
try to so if you spend your limited time
money and resources creating marketing
campaigns for every possible platform
you'll only dilute your impact so
remember focus on the goal you defined
in step one look for those signals that
move the needle AKA bring in the revenue
right we're really focused on that and
then double down on what is working if
your audience isn't on Pinterest don't
worry about making boards if your
Twitter isn't getting results you don't
have to keep tweeting but if your email
list is growing and you are reliably
driving traffic to your blog post and
the occasional sales landing page then
go all in make your newsletter as good
as humanly Possible A B test subject
lines to find the ones that people open
hire a writer to make it as engaging as
possible or reach out to influencers in
your Niche to feature them in your
newsletter you can't be everywhere all
at once but if you set a goal measure
success and double down on what works
your marketing strategy will change and
evolve as your business grows and that's
basically everything you need to get
started with an effective marketing
strategy today if you have an idea for a
small business you don't need a fancy
complicated marketing strategy the best
way to build a more effective marketing
strategy is really just to start today
start sharing your content start
spreading the word about your product
and be open to change as you learn more
about what does work and what doesn't
work because the best ideas usually
happen along the way if you thought this
video was helpful make sure that you
give it a thumbs up this actually really
does help the channel a lot and helps
our community grow and guys make sure
that you're subscribed so you don't miss
out on any future releases but yeah my
name is Michelle Valley thank you guys
so much for watching this is learn with
Shopify where we help you develop your
business and I cannot wait to see you
guys in the next one bye
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