6 reasons why your marketing plan is more important than your business history
If your business had humble beginnings or went through troubled times that are forever on your mind, the feeling that its history is likely to hamper your chances of success is completely understandable.
In reality, your business history is simply not that important. Sure, pedigree and proof that you’ve been there, that you’ve done it, is a great thing to tell potential customers, but few will use that as the sole reason for choosing your product or service.
Also, your business history won’t help you find or lose customers; it just doesn’t relate. Just as a fabulous whiskey may have matured in the most unlikely places, the origins of your business are irrelevant.
What matters? A solid marketing plan. Here’s why.
1. It helps you strategize
Marketing plans, by their very nature, are strategic. They force the author to anticipate and consider the effects of promotional activity on both sales and the public image of the company. Great ideas fail without a plan, and your marketing plan is the only thing that will drive innovation and help you achieve your sales goals.
2. It helps you formalize your ideas
If you are embarking on a new era for the business – perhaps replacing an old product with something newer – the process of writing a marketing plan will help you formalize the idea behind the new development. You’ll spot areas you haven’t considered that relate to how they will be perceived, which in turn will help you create the perfect “new thing” for your business.
3. It gets you used to working on timescales
Companies that have been around for a while often fall into the trap of becoming too comfortable. Existing customers continue to pay their bills and there always seems to be a surplus in the bank account. This can cause timelines to slip for new developments and initiatives, and before you know it, the whole organization comes to a standstill.
Good marketing plans are based on achievable timelines for promotional activities. By developing and meeting these deadlines, your business will automatically adopt the very valuable habit of getting things done on time, thereby meeting deadlines and continuing to grow.
4. It will help you get financing
Once you know what you need to do, marketing-wise, you can identify the areas where you will need financial assistance. No bank manager or investor will hand over a dime if you can’t come up with a plan that details exactly what you intend to do with their money. With a marketing plan, you can do just that.
5. It aligns marketing objectives with business strategy
As silly as it sounds, marketing and business strategy are often very far apart. This happens when there is no plan for the first one. In such cases, expensive advertisements, trade shows and other forms of promotion are undertaken, but they are irrelevant to corporate strategy. As a result, they ultimately fail to provide a meaningful return on investment.
With a marketing plan, organizations can align overall business goals with marketing results. And that’s exactly how it should be.
6. It helps you develop an enviable public persona
Ok, so your company went through that torrid period three years ago when negative coverage of events reached the press. But that’s history – now is the time to rebuild the company’s public image, and you’ll only do that with a proper marketing plan.
By establishing the company as a trusted thought leader, your competitors will soon strive to be like you.
Conclusion
Your business can survive with its past history, however turbulent it may be. It cannot survive without a marketing plan. I hope this article has inspired you to start writing yours right away.
image credit
