Creating a Marketing Plan, Part 2
by Sandra Martini

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Now that you’ve got a list of your goals for the upcoming year, take a good look at them. You are most likely feeling a combination of exhilaration and trepidation with a little overwhelming sensation mixed in for good measure.

It’s okay, you’re not the first or only one to experience this. The next step is to break down each goal into manageable objectives. It’s as simple as the answer to the riddle "How do you eat an elephant?"

The answer is: One bite at a time. And that is how you tackle your goals in small manageable pieces -- categorize them into groups as to whether they are 10 year, 5 year or one year goals.

Let’s assume one of your goals is to make $100,000 in the next year. By itself, it may seem overwhelming, but let’s "take it one bite at a time."

1. Make it present tense.

It’s important to change the language of your goal so it reads as if you’ve already achieved it. This will activate your subconscious and let it know that you are serious about your goal.

2. Get emotional.

Make each goal your own by personalizing it and give it an emotion.

Watch what happens when we take the original goal of "My business will make $100,000 in the next year" and, factoring in numbers 1 and 2 above, change it to the following: "It’s December 31, 2007, I made $100,000 this year doing what I love in my business and I feel on top of the world!"

WOW what a change! See how alive your goal becomes?

3. Work backwards.

Start with your largest goal (in this case, ours is one year) and break it into smaller time periods that you can measure. For our goal, will you make $25,000 per quarter? Or, do you need time to ramp up so you anticipate making $5,000 in quarter one and then more for each of the last three quarters? Remember the goals have to be measurable and realistic and plan accordingly.

4. Know your target audience.

In order to reach your goals, you must know your target audience. And if you think that "everyone" is your target audience you are wrong, and wrong in a way that will cost you significant time, trouble and money

Assuming you have limited marketing dollars, you want to spend them wisely. If you own a wedding gown boutique, which would be the more profitable thing to do: Send flyers announcing a sale to everyone in your town OR send flyers only to those women who subscribe to bridal magazines, have hired a wedding planner or booked a hall?

The answer is obvious. Defining your target audience matters. It matters more than most anything else you will do.

5. Where are they?

Knowing your target audience isn’t enough. You must know where they hang out, what they like, what they dislike; and you need to be able to speak with them in THEIR language.

So where does this leave us? A brief summary to pull it all together:

You’ve written your goals in present tense. You’ve added emotion. You’ve broken your goals into smaller timeframes. And, you’ve identified your target audience and where they hang out

We’ll pull it all together in Part III, when we add the daily and weekly action steps that will get you well on your way to accomplishing your goals.

About The Author

Online Business Manager & Entrepreneur, Sandra Martini, publishes the 'Effective Entrepreneur' weekly e-zine. She also coaches small business owners to more efficiently manage their businesses while increasing profits and having fun. Sandra's coaching programs are available via teleconferencing, emails and telephone calls. For more information or to sign-up for ‘Effective Entrepreneur’, visit http://www.thebostonvirtualsolution.com today.

Part 1: Setting Overall Objectives
Part 3: Marketing Plan Into Action