Why it is Important to Include Strategic Marketing in Your Business Plan

“If you build it, they will come.”  That was sound advice when referring to the baseball diamond being built in a cornfield in the movie Field of Dreams. But to truly grow and expand your business, not only do you need a solid business plan, that plan needs to include strategic marketing strategies that align with your business goals.

Over the past several weeks I have had a half a dozen conversations with business owners who have reached out asking for advice and recommendations about marketing strategies for their business. That’s great, I love to talk about what we can do to help businesses grow.  But it would be disingenuous of me to start offering up ideas without truly understanding the business and why the business owner or executive leadership thinks that what we offer can be of help to them.

Sure, there are some tried and true strategies, but each business requires something customized that aligns with their goals and objectives, their budgets and their internal structure.

If you are considering hiring an agency to assist you with the development and implementation of a marketing strategy, give some thought to the following questions.  This information will help guide the conversation and will give us what we need to provide you with solid advice and recommendations.

• What is your organization’s history in the marketplace? What are your stakeholders saying about you?
• Why do you think marketing communications strategies will be important to your organization?
• Do you have identifiable and quantifiable goals? What is the timeline to reach those goals?
• Who are the target populations for these efforts?
• Have you allocated budget dollars for implementation?
• What is your definition of success?

We don’t expect you to have all the answers during that first phone call, but during our planning and development process, we will get there.

Ready to get started on growing your business through strategic marketing efforts?  Reach out, we’re happy to talk to you about it.